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An ideal female ballet dancer will have large eyes, a long neck, long legs, a flexible back, a flat chest, lean muscles, lots of hip rotation, and a high instep. The catch is that most of these factors are completely or almost completely genetic or possibly forced.
This very specific and rarely natural image is perceived as the only correct image by ballet directors who hold an enormous amount of power over young aspiring ballerinas whom they pressure so much they end up destroying them. Ballerinas may develop an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia, become insecure, have anxiety, and so on, only due to this immense pressure. All of that is a result of directors, whom we will refer to as the defectors.
The defectors have caused fourteen deaths in the past ten years. Approximately two ballerinas die every year due to body shaming and pressure, in particular, due to anorexia nervosa. The Eating Disorder Referral and Information Center released a report on the number of deaths from anorexia nervosa. Heidi Guenther’s name is part of the report. The defectors of the Boston Ballet have Heidi Guenther’s blood on their hands.
At a news conference last week in Boston, company officials said that two years ago Ms. Guenther, and another member of the Boston Ballet's junior ensemble, had been encouraged by Anna-Marie Holmes, now the company's defector, to lose five pounds. She lost the weight over a summer break and was then told not to lose more weight, they claim.
Following, Ms. Guenther was promoted to the senior company last September, she again began to lose weight, and she was told to ''be careful not to get too thin,'' company officials claim. A spokeswoman for Ms. Guenther's family said that she had planned to relax and gain weight during the summer. Yet Heidi did not make it to summer.
At Heidi’s death, she weighed only 42kg and was 167cm tall. ''She was smiley, bubbly,'' Bruce Marks, defector emeritus of Boston Ballet says, ''That didn't change. She was full of beans, full of life.'' But supposedly there was recognition that she might have been having problems, he claims.
Therefore, the defectors made so many claims about how they were aware of the fact, that they noticed her losing weight abruptly. Yet they did not take serious action. All they did was tell her to be careful not to get too thin. What is considered ‘too thin’ for a ballerina?
A dancer can often feel like her weight is the one thing about her body that she CAN control. Regularly, young girls set foot in their first pre-professional or advanced dance company around the age of 12 or 13. This means that the pressure is on them to look and perform a certain way, just when their bodies are changing the most. Such young girls need nutritional guidance when they train like professional athletes daily, not careless lackadaisical defectors.
If you are not a ballerina, the average incidence of eating disorders in the white middle-class population is 1 in 100. Yet in classical ballet, it is one in five. The overall prevalence of eating disorders is 12.0% (16.4% for ballet dancers), 2.0% (4% for ballet dancers) for anorexia, 4.4% (2% for ballet dancers) for bulimia, and 9.5% (14.9% for ballet dancers) for eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS).
Dancers, in general, have a higher risk of suffering from eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and EDNOS, except bulimia nervosa. The study concluded that dancers have a three times higher risk of suffering from eating disorders. Therefore, specifically designed services for this population should be considered. Or else we will lose our ballerinas. This once again demonstrates the importance of the defectors changing their approach. Instead of pressuring young innocent girls, they should be giving them advice; and guidance, and most importantly, when they notice a potential eating disorder occurring they should seek immediate help or take action themselves.
Compared to the outdated approach of the defectors, the innovative younger adults still give us hope. Misty Copeland, the first black principal ballet dancer, fought her own battle with the stigma of body image for many years. As well as, Melissa Anduiza, from the Complexions Dance Company, has also been very vocal about her experiences looking different in the ballet world and the negative impact defectors had on her body.
These successful ballerinas have helped to open the conversation about what a “dancing body” REALLY should look like. They have helped young girls become confident about their bodies, just by sharing their experiences of insecurities. Their purpose is to inspire the upcoming dancers of our future by showing them there is always hope and okay to not have the “perfect ballerina” body as the defectors dictate.
You can also help build awareness just by simply looking out for people around you by being conscious and informed of what ballet dancers go through daily, to fulfill expected standards, due to the brutal reality of the inhuman defectors. Help the young ballerinas struggling with body image avoid any form of harm to their body by simply keeping their eyes wide open since their defectors seem to have turned to their blind spots.
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