ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the bodily aesthetic and symbolism performed in men’s and women’s artistic gymnastics. Notions of gymnastic conduct, discipline and respect for both opposition, coaches and judges, contribute to formal competition protocol, all helping to define the visual spectacle that is artistic gymnastics in the modern-day era. However, much of this aesthetic material stems from a bygone age in the activity of gymnastics. In this chapter we discover how these aesthetic features, such as control, poise and balance, were influenced by the church towards the end of the Renaissance period c:1700s, when, in keeping pace with advances in science and medicine at the time, religious approval was needed for particular kinds or styles of exercise for health maintenance in the general population. On the basis of its bodily aesthetic, the named activity of gymnastics fitted the bill for such approval.
