Paper short abstract:

Based on empirical data, this paper will discuss examples of ballet dancers’ creation processes and demonstrate how creative practice allows individuals to experience a strong sense of agency with shared ownership and ‘authenticity.’

Paper long abstract:

The notion of authenticity is highly elusive in a performing art production of ballet and contemporary dance. First, a process of dance creation involves multiple forces of appropriation. Although there exist designated roles of choreographers and dancers, creative ideas are collaboratively thrown and bounced back during a creation session between those who choreograph and perform in the piece. Negotiations between movements that derive from both accidental improvisation and a carefully planned framework are the core interests of dance professionals' creative practice. The experiential nature of dance creation becomes the most stimulating motivational factor for dancers' career choices.

Second, a 'completed' artwork is interpreted by individual performers' minds, and two dancers will never dance the same choreography in an identical way. Choreographers often expect that the ownership of a danced piece should 'belong to the performers.' When an interpreted artwork is blended with individual performers' characteristics and quality, the shifting of 'ownership of dance' from choreographers to dancers occurs.

Third, the ephemeral nature of performance never allows an exact replication of an artwork. Dance professionals often observe the absence of a clear notion of a 'finished and identical product' as 'the beauty of dance.'

Based on empirical data, this paper will discuss examples of dancers' creation processes and demonstrate how creative practice allows individuals to experience a strong sense of agency with shared ownership and 'authenticity.'