What motherhood opens in dance: the circulation of knowledge in the experiences of dancers who are also mothers

Abstract

In a dialogue with critical studies on domination and resistance, this work underscores the agency of dancing mothers to articulate maternal experiences with artistic training. Based on the data collected in an ethnographic fieldwork carried out between 2014 and 2020 with a group of dancers who are also mothers and participate on the professional dance circuits of tango and contemporary dance in Buenos Aires, the article emphasizes how professional dancers who are also mothers bring to bear insights and knowhow that permeate rigidly established boundaries between the different spheres of everyday life. Although the erasure of motherhood reveals one of the core ways that gender inequalities are replicated on the dance circuits surveyed, it is possible to see how the experience of motherhood becomes an empowering resource for action and artistic creation.