TW: eating disorders, body image, body dysmorphic disorder
It's no secret that ballerinas struggle with eating disorders. With so much pressure to be extremely skinny, ballerinas often have an eating disorder to lose weight quickly. Eating disorders in girls can start from as young as 12 years old. It's quite shocking to see that so many ballerinas have eating disorders and are hurting themselves so they can be accepted by the ballet world. Why is something that looks so delicate to the normal person actually much darker than people realize?
THE BALLET ENVIRONMENT
The ballet environment is quite harmful. Ballerinas constantly compare themselves to their peers. It's a competition to look the best out of everyone. They want to get the approval of their teachers for how they look. Because by getting your teachers to like you, you'll get the lead role that you want. With the rise of social media, it's even easier to compare yourself to people that you don't even know. Ballerinas might post pictures of themselves and get lots of comments on how good they look. By reading these posts, younger ballerinas can internalize those messages and think that they need to look the same way.
In ballet, you are taught to always be better. To strive for perfection. When you are in dance class, you need to remember the corrections that your teachers constantly give you. You need to execute the movement as best as you can and have proper form. But sometimes strive for this perfectionism can be damaging. Dancers can take these critiques too seriously and start to blame the way they look. They might have lower self-esteem because they are saying such negative things to themselves. However, they don't even realize it because they think that they have to be perfect and that's how they'll get there.
BODY DYSMORPHIA AND EATING DISORDERS
Body dysmorphic disorder is being so hyper-fixated on certain flaws that you have, that it causes you to have a negative body image. Because ballerinas dance in front of a mirror every day, they can easily pick out flaws that they think they have. They are more likely to develop body dysmorphia from this body checking practice. This is very dangerous as it could lead to anorexia or bulimia.
Anorexia or bulimia can cause serious damage to the body and it's tough for people to recover. There can even be long-term effects if the case is severe. Many ex-professional ballerinas have come out admitting that they've had an eating disorder. They discussed the mental challenges they faced and the difficulty it took for them to feel okay again. Some of them feel they can't go back to dance because of what it did to them.
WHAT WE SHOULD BE DOING
Growing up in the ballet environment, I have known many dancers who struggled with eating disorders. I've seen where it has completely broken them down and they feel like they can't do it anymore. We need to enforce more positive self-esteem in dancers. Those negative critiques should not be used to shame a dancer's body. Teachers and parents of young ballerinas should teach them about having a positive body image. They should discuss that not everyone's body looks the same and that's okay.
I know that it can be very difficult for ballerinas to see themselves positively, but it's important to not let perfectionism get too deep into our heads. We should be doing the best we can with the body that we have been given.
Comments