Abstract

This thesis is an ethnographic study of fine art dancers' identities, vocational life, and the dance culture. It explains the dancers' process of becoming and living as 'artistic beings,' and shows how dancers take on their journey of self-discovery, as well as how they are motivated through the feeling of empowerment and inspiration. The exploration starts with the analyses of the socio-cultural dynamics of a dance production team. Non-structured interviews are conducted with the director, ballet master, twelve dancers, two choreographers, and a few employees in the administration. In the process, the research objective develops into an investigation of the dancers' vocational life, their identities and philosophy, which keep them disciplined and focused. First, the structural characteristics of the dance community are explored, and characteristics such as mobility, 'connectedness,' and rich social networks become the focal point in analyzing the dance culture's structural frame. Second, the contextual characteristics of the culture are examined. Here, the dancers' identity construction, philosophy, objectives, reality, value/belief system are carefully analyzed. Finally, the empirical data are presented, incorporating the analyses of their notion of vocational life. The distinctiveness of their identities and reality will be highlighted, and the structural and contextual characteristics of the dance culture will fuse into each other.