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In this section, I argue that the embodied experience of dancing was often enjoyable, focusing in particular on visceral feelings of bodily liberation, freedom and empowerment that young people felt as a result of physically moving their bodies.

Many young people said that the embodied experience of dancing, the feeling of physically moving their bodies, was often enjoyable. For example, at the dance school, Isabel (14) explained:

When I dance I can.. like sometimes when I do lyrical pieces in Modern I can like move my body. And I like, it’s a bit of a weird thing to say [Emma: Laughs], but I like doing circular springs and erm... leaning over [demonstrates a side bend using upper body] [Emma: Yeah], like counter-balancing my weight. I don’t know, it just feels nice.

Isabel indicated that the physicality of dancing provided a source of enjoyment. In particular, Isabel enjoyed doing ‘lyrical’ dances in her Modern class (lyrical dance is a style of Modern dance blending elements of Ballet and Jazz, typically involving smooth, fluid and expressive movements) because it enabled her to ‘move her body’. Isabel experienced a sense of bodily liberation and freedom of movement when she performed lyrical dance movements that felt pleasurable at a visceral level. Isabel also explained that she liked dancing certain Modern dance steps such as ‘circular springs’, as well as movements that involved ‘leaning over’ with her upper body and ‘counter-balancing’ her weight, because they felt ‘nice’. Isabel found the physical embodied sensations and kinaesthetic experiences (e.g., the sense of stretch, extension, fluidity and grace) involved with dancing these particular movements enjoyable.

At the dance school, Rosie (17) similarly indicated that the experience of freedom of movement was enjoyable when watching back video footage of her Modern ‘Warm Up’:

I quite like the exercise because it’s quite like erm, it’s quite, like you can swing yourself around and stuff [...] like it’s like quite a flowy one [Emma: Yeah]. And you feel like your body’s going the right way and stuff [...]. [T]here’s like lots of highs and lows in it, so like you go from like right up on demi-pointe with your hands in the air, to like a like forward bend with like erm knees bent [Emma: Yeah], so it’s quite like erm up and down quite a lot, that’s

quite fun [...]. [I]t’s just quite like flowy, like you just erm, it kind of all runs into the next bit, and there’s like, there is moments of still actually where you have to stand and balance, but then that moves quite quickly onto like another bit [...] when you’re like running round the room [Emma: Yeah]. I quite like that. [...] I enjoy dancing it because of that.

Rosie explained that she enjoyed the physical experience of dancing the Modern ‘Warm Up’. The exercise allowed Rosie to ‘swing’ her body around, for example taking her body from a high up position ‘right up on demi-pointe with your hands in the air’, to a low down position with the upper body in a ‘forward bend with [...] the knees bent’. Thus, the exercise required and necessitated a freedom of movement or a bodily ‘looseness’. Rosie also described the dance as ‘flowy’, explaining that although there were moments of stillness, the movements ‘kind of all [run] into the next bit’. This ‘flow’ created a fluidity, ease and smoothness of movement that Rosie found pleasurable. When participating in dance classes at the dance school, I found that I often experienced a feeling of enjoyment and bodily pleasure from physically moving my body, and that it could result in feelings of bodily freedom and liberation. This is highlighted in the following extract from my fieldwork diary in which I describe my experience of dancing a Modern ‘kicks’ exercise during a dance lesson:

Miss Sally splits the class into two groups and puts the music on. I love this exercise. I stand facing the mirrors with my feet together [...]. Miss Sally counts us in. I ball change to second, sticking my bottom out and trying to keep a flat back. I shimmy forward with my weight back. I can feel the shimmy reverberate through my chest. I kick my right leg, my left leg a little higher, then throw my right leg into the highest kick I can, whooshing my arms upwards into the air. I feel strong and powerful. I step ball-change to face the back. A moment of calm. I turn towards the back and throw my legs upwards. I land, thud. I quickly turn out of it and straight into the step ball-change. I propel myself into the splitlet and then throw myself into the développé leap, taking my arms to a high V. I thud to the ground and step backwards. I push my back leg up as quickly as I can, taking my arm upwards, making a strong, straight line from the top of the fingers on my left hand to the toes on my left foot. This exercise feels SO nice to dance, the steps all kind of flow into each other. The movements are so big and involve your whole body – you can really throw yourself into it. It feels liberating to dance. (Fieldwork notes, Modern class)

I argue that this exercise was particularly enjoyable to dance for two reasons. First, the exercise involved ‘big’ movements such as kicks and leaps which required me to ‘throw’ my ‘whole body’ into them. The experience of ‘throwing’ my legs, ‘whooshing’ my arms and ‘propelling’ my body made

me feel ‘strong’ and ‘powerful’. I was most aware of the power and strength of my own body when I felt myself ‘thud’ to the ground following the développé leap. Thus, the feeling of dancing these movements was both empowering and liberating. Second, when dancing the exercise I felt that ‘the steps all kind of flow[ed] into each other’, resonating with Rosie’s description in the previous example. This fluidity of movement was incredibly pleasurable. Thus, the physical experience of dancing this exercise resulted in a sense of empowerment, liberation and freedom of movement that was extremely enjoyable.