Figure 1, Heidi Guenther
Curtesy Los Angelos Times
Figure 2, George Balanchine and Patricia Mcbride
Curtesy Business Insider
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Ballerinas aim for the impossible, using every muscle in their body to create the illusion
of using none at all, balancing their entire weight on the tips of their toes. They resemble beauty, grace and perfection.
Ballet is beautiful, however, the ballet world is not.
Many styles of dance, specifically ballet contribute to an unhealthy body image in
young women. Professional ballet companies are notorious for conducting "weigh ins" and using small costumes to decide who gets leading roles. It doesn’t have to be this way, there are ways to use dance to empower women, and promote body acceptance. Many participants in pole fitness say that the diversity of body type in the sport, as well as the supportive community have helped them accept their own body.
Ballet training can promote unhealthy eating habits, and put pressure on dancers to maintain an unrealistic body type. In an interview with The New York Times, professional member of the New York City Ballet, Lauren Lovette, discussed her experiences with body trauma. During lockdown,
Lovette gained 6 pounds, describing her body she says,
“It doesn’t look anything like a dancer.”
Lovette also explained a diet she subjected herself to in the past, “if I get picked up in
that lift, I can’t have a whole sandwich, I need just a couple of carrot sticks or some nuts.” (The New York Times).
The thin, long legged and slender body type is often celebrated in ballet, this puts pressure on dancers to look a certain way.
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Isabelle Fatima Barlaan, in a study for the Dominican University of California,
conducted interviews with the dancers in their program to see the correlation between body dissatisfaction and ballet. The findings in the study show how dancers are often subjected to the same pressures as Lovette. A participant noted,
“Yeah definitely, I think I would be lying if I didn’t come to class, like every day walking in, I see someone who’s slim and slender and say like wow I wish I looked like that.” (Barlaan).
Barlaan explains, “This pressure participants felt to look a certain way relates to the
idea that ballet dancers, who looked slim and skinny, were recognized and rewarded more than those who did not appear to be slim and skinny.”(Barlaan). While dancers are required to have tremendous strength to perform and improve their skills, maintaining a specific figure is just as important when it comes to getting leads. Balancing these two requirements encourages an unhealthy body-image and perception of what it means to be fit.
Dance does not have to be this way, studios that are inclusive of all body types, and place focus on strength and technique have a positive impact on body image with participants. In a 2015 study on “poll fitness and body image” for The University of Alberta, Ariel Dimler quotes a participant in her study who had previous experience in traditional styles of dance, “I was unable to progress any further because the other ladies in my class had started so much younger and were a different body type than me, so if you weren’t in that select group you weren’t chosen to perform” she says,
“pole is much more inclusionary… it becomes less about “oh, how do I look in the mirror” and it becomes more about “look what I can do.” So that’s largely the reason as to why I’ve stuck with it.”
(Dimler).
When dance is based on skills and not body type, dancers are more empowered by the
skills they are doing, and the strength they require. This is not limited to pole fitness, ballet can achieve the same results. In Barlann’s study on the program at their university, she notes, “In comparison to other dance schools and programs they have participated in, the LINES program is more accepting of body diversity. All different kinds of body types were celebrated in this program, therefore, most of the participants felt little to no pressure from their peers or instructors.” Barlaan explains, “The pressure and dissatisfaction roots from the dancer’s own insecurities and past experiences during their adolescent stages.” (Barlaan). The dancers in both studies, despite the styles being near opposites, all benefited from the focus being on their technique and strength. Pole fitness however, does not have the same stereotypical “look” ballet dancers are pressured to conform to.
In all of my research regarding pole fitness, it is a style of a dance that truly empowers
women. In Dimler’s study, she shows how pole fitness helped a participant recover from her eating disorder, in the participant’s words,
“I feel like no amount of therapy could have done for me what pole dancing did for me.”
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Dimler adds on to this, “According to participants, pole fitness is a means by which women learn to accept their bodies as they are. The inclusivity of pole fitness, in which different body types are accepted, was identified as an important aspect of learning to accept your body. Pole fitness was also discussed as a way to love and care for the body.” (Dimler).
There is huge discussion about community in these dance environments. Dance
communities can be both positive and negative for dancers. Dimler notes, “although all the women are learning the spin at the same time, each participant is working on the spin by herself, at her own pace. This allows for an environment that, according to the participants in this study, allows each woman to develop her own inner confidence, regardless of the other women present.” (Dimler). What’s interesting about this finding is how the women in this class aren’t comparing themselves to one another. Furthermore, it makes sense because the women aren’t competing for a singular spot in the next level. In pole fitness, you move up in classes as you naturally progress, there isn’t a set time or limit to members in the next level. In ballet companies, Lovette mentions in her New York Times interview that directors often use costume sizes to determine who gets starring roles, which sets up a competitive environment.
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There are many ways to foster a positive environment in dance studios. While dance, specifically ballet is often associated with low self esteem, it does not come down to dance itself that is harmful. Dance is a powerful form of self-expression that can empower and heal its participants. When contrasting pole fitness with ballet, we can see the variables that target body image, positively and negatively. Body inclusivity, focus on technique, as well as promoting healthy diets all contribute to ways dance can empower and celebrate all participants.
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Dance is beautiful, it’s time to make the dance world beautiful, too.
The Movemeant Foundation, is a nonprofit, committed to making fitness inclusive and body positive. Their program “Generation Confident” is a middle school curriculum, “that fosters discoverability of the many ways our bodies can move and helps them to develop healthy, positive relationships with their bodies.” (Movemeant Website). In Barlaan’s 2019 study, she claims that fostering positive body image
in dance starts young. Programs like Movemeant, are crucial to educating young women on healthy fitness habits and promoting body acceptance. To donate or learn more about the Movemeant Foundation, visit their website!
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Finally, if you are struggling with your body image,
you are not alone. Call or text the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) at
(800)-931-2237
or visit their website, for a free online screening, treatment options, and to access additional educational resources.
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Works Cited
Barlaan, Isabelle. Dominican Scholar Dominican Scholar Senior Theses Student Scholarship Body
Dissatisfaction among Ballet Dancers Body Dissatisfaction among Ballet Dancers. 2019, scholar.dominican.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1152&context=senior-theses, 10.33015/dominican.edu/2019.HLTH.ST.01.
Diesenhouse, Susan. “DANCE; in a Darwinian World of Weight Control (Published 1997).” The New York
Times, 2021, www.nytimes.com/1997/10/12/arts/dance-in-a-darwinian-world-of-weight-control.html?pagewanted=all. Accessed 22 Apr. 2021.
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Dimler, Ariel J. “Pole Fitness and Positive Body Image: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.”
ERA, 2015, doi:doi:10.7939/R3BG2HN65.
Mehren, Elizabeth. “A Dancer’s Death Hints at ‘a Cult of Secrecy.’” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times,
17 July 1997, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-jul-17-ls-13399-story.html. Accessed 22 Apr. 2021.
Movemeant Body-Positive Curriculum — Movemeant Foundation. “Movemeant Foundation.” Movemeant
Foundation, 2014,
movemeantfoundation.org/curriculum. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021.
“National Eating Disorders Association.” Nationaleatingdisorders.org, 2021,
www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/. Accessed 20 Apr. 2021.
“What Is a Ballet Body?” The New York Times, 2021,
www.nytimes.com/2021/03/03/arts/dance/what-is-a-ballet-body.html.
Artwork by Emilia Schettino
By: Jayne Mendenhall
May 3rd, 2021
Monster in the Mirror:
Body Image in Dance
The ballerina weighed 93 pounds.
Heidi Guenther, just 22 years old, died of cardiac arrest on June 30th, 1997. Guenther
was born in California. Like most professional dancers, she danced from an early age. When Heidi was 12 years old she earned a scholarship to the San Francisco Ballet School, where she was first encouraged to lose weight. In the following years, Heidi dropped down to 110 pounds. In 1994, her efforts were rewarded, and she joined the Boston Ballet. There, director Anna-Marie Holmes motivated Quenther to lose even more weight. Ballet companies reward unhealthy eating habits, and put pressure on dancers to maintain an unrealistic body type, while there are ways to use dance to empower women, and promote body acceptance, the ballet world must change.
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Heidi broke her foot during her first season, and did not
seek medical attention out of fear she would lose her contract. Instead she rested, this caused her to gain 5 pounds.
In 1995, Holmes told Guenther that if she didn’t lose the five pounds she gained while recovering, she would be fired. (Mehren).
Guenther’s mother noticed that the thinner her daughter was, the more parts she was
given. In 1997, the Boston Ballet noticed how underweight she had become, and told her not to lose any more weight. While the company suspected she was suffering from an eating disorder, they chose against following up with her about it. In the summer of that year, Heidi suddenly stopped breathing while on vacation with her family. (Mehren).
Heidi Guenther’s tragic death stirred controversy in the ballet community. This was not an isolated incident, and the directors at the Boston Ballet only represent a small fraction of the pressures put on professional dancers to be thin.
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In Guenther’s journal, she wrote, “They always pick people for parts who are skinny." (Diesenhouse).
Who created this image of the starving ballerina? What is a ballet body? Known as “the father of American Ballet” George Balanchine first created the idea that you must be able to see the bones of a successful dancer. Balanchine chose dancers with long, thin limbs and a childlike torso. (Diesenhouse).
It’s an unspoken rule in the dance world. It's not often said directly, “you are too fat to dance.” No, it’s much more passive. As Guenther and her mother pointed out, the thinner you are, the more rewards you are bound to receive from companies. It seems that time and time again, ballet companies don’t prioritize the safety, physical and mental health of their dancers. This needs to change.