Danza e corporeità: la rappresentazione del proprio corpo in preadolescenti praticanti e non praticanti danza classica

During preadolescence sport plays an important role for body perception, especially when sport is practiced at competitive level (Sundgot-Borgen & Torstveit, 2004). Among different sports, ballet has an important impact on body perception and satisfaction, in particular for adolescent girls (Price & Pettijohn, 2006). The present qualitative study aims to investigate body perceptions in two groups of preadolescents practicing ballet and not practicing ballet through “Drawing Me” graphical test. Results suggest that ballet dancers’ drawings, especially in bodily forms, are more detailed in the drawn sexual characteristics if compared with non ballet dancers’ drawings. Furthermore, ballet dancers tend to represent themselves dressing their “scene costumes” while they are dancing. These first results suggest that competitive ballet dance produces in preadolescent dancers a diffe- rent body representation if compared to not ballet dancers that corresponds to a different mentalization of the body. This difference opens interesting future research areas.