Intertextuality and Dance: An Approach to Understanding Embodied Performance of Gender in Dance Discourses

By critically reviewing and discussing existing scholarship, this article considers how individuals construct their embodied performances of gender while navigating the diverse teaching–learning paradigms experienced within dance discourses. The inherent relationships that exist between dance education and gender have been substantially considered throughout dance studies scholarship. However, these inquiries often concentrate on pedagogy or traditional gender roles and expectations in dance education and performance. In this inquiry, I recognize embodied performances of gender as intertextual constructs. I believe intertextuality is foundational to the dance experience, and is directly related to how ideas about gender are disseminated and consumed. I contend that participants in dance discourses have continuous access to their past, emerging, and future sociocultural interactions and experiences (i.e., texts). Participants accept, reject, and consider these texts in relation to one another to gain understanding. This intertextual processing points to individuals’ somatic authority over their embodied performances of gender.