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Positive surveillance is beneficial for a dancer’s psychological health; it assists in motivating, guiding and giving them structure throughout their dance career. In contrast, negative surveillance, based on judgment, criticism and the impossible attainment of an ideal body, has a detrimental impact on a dancer’s health. The results also revealed that body weight is perceived as the principal object of surveillance.
Each person becomes his own surveillor’ (Harvey and Rail 1995, 27). This omnipresent gaze eventually leads to self-surveillance of the body as well as the adaptation of social behaviour.
‘The ballet studio is a panoptic place,’ she writes, ‘even the barre as “backstage”, is a place of surveillance by instructors, and self-surveillance by dancers looking in the mirror
‘The power of discipline moulds docile, political bodies that display more ability but in fact are controlled’. ‘Physical appearance’, ‘beautiful lines’ and an ‘ideal body type’.
Scrutinized more closely after being asked to shed some pounds dance plays a significant role in feeding dancers’ obsession with their bodies:
Under weight surveillance, dancers tend to think of themselves as a ‘mass of flesh’ (a blob) rather than as an artist. Mirror encourages body surveillance and often reminds the dancer that her body does not match the ideal body type,
Lateral surveillance manifests itself as competitive observation and comparison of appearance and habits between dancers
Body docility: Surveilled Obljectified Controlled Disciplined
Spatial division of individuals • Control of their activities, • Organization of individuals into groups • Coordination of these different groups
Cellular (located bodies in (spatial Enclosures) Organic (Specified Repetitive activities) Genetic (Trained and Timed in hard work of production) Combinatory :Division of labour and organizing ranks & classes as units of production- Marx, Capital, vol. 1. 311-12) (Hierarchical Isolation)
