ABSTRACT
The dance studio is a space where bodies are observed and disciplined for various reasons from one's performance of gender to one's body size. In this chapter I explore how my experiences dancing at an adult dance studio are indicative of and connected to a larger narrative of compulsory femininity. TAPS, the dance studio, offers everything from ballet to BUTI yoga, but everything comes with extra coaching beyond the dance instruction. Through narrative theorizing I explore how the unsolicited weight loss tips as well as the implicit critiques of my (lack of) femininity demonstrate the unspoken rules of binary gender performances within dance studios.
