Women's Agency

by: Lisa Gloff
The readings for this topic begin with an entry from Sojourner Truth, a female slave in the late 1800s, and end with a discussion on the role of female ballerinas in George Balanchine's ballet "The Four Temperaments." The piece from Sojourner Truth is entitled "Ain't I a Woman?" A hard-working but uneducated slave woman wonders why some men are saying that women are frail and need help getting into carriages, while another man says that woman don't have the same rights as men because Christ wasn't a woman. I love her simple logic that states, "Where did Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman!" She knows she is strong and as capable as any man, and has endured beatings and the births 13 children. In her mind, she deserves the same rights as men, and as White women. The website, womenshistory.about.com/od/sojournertruth, states that Sojourner Truth name means 'traveling preacher' and she in fact did travel and became a part of the suffrage movement and gave that speech in 1851 at a women's convention in Ohio. The next piece, “The Freedom of Woman” challenges Puritan views that the female body should be concealed, either completely or partially. The speaker is a dancer that feels that exposing her body is art, that it is ‘real, true, untrammeled.’ The article about Balanchine, “The Balanchine Woman,” goes into depth about how the female ballerina is portrayed in his ballets; there are conflicting views that feel that the ballerina is being 'manipulated' vs. 'supported' by the more powerful man. “If Balanchine did ‘glorify Woman’ the question remains: whose idea of Woman is she?” (p. 280) The point about the female being displayed, which is passive, vs. the male, who performs the action, was interesting to me. As I have watched numerous ballets over the years, I have always felt that the ballerina is a strong, powerful, graceful athlete. I felt that the male’s role was to highlight the ballerina, not control her. This article makes the point that Balanchine created his ballets for the male point of view, and “denies women their own agency.” See for yourself by viewing a live performance of Balanchine’s ‘The Four Temperaments” on YouTube