Dancing into maternity: the lived experiences of Vietnamese professional dancers

ABSTRACT The image of dancing into the spotlight alludes to glamor, which clouds the artists’ back-breaking work and practice. Meanwhile, there is scant research on the lived experiences of professional female dancers. To address this gap, this study explores the lived experiences of eight Vietnamese professional female dancers who are married with children. The findings reveal their enormous challenges in their professional, social, and personal lives to stay in the profession and navigate their roles as partners and mothers in their families. Their stories were unmasked in the hope to foster a deeper understanding between dancing careers and the public, and provide insights into the female dancers’ challenges in keeping the dance body in shape after pregnancy and childbirth, which is hardly featured in dance scholarship in Vietnam.