My mother signed me up for dance classes when I was three years old. Granted, I did not take those classes seriously nor did I try very hard to be a better dancer until much, much later. In those early days, dance was just something I went to every week to see my friends. There came a point in time when I really had no idea why I kept going to the biweekly classes. Perhaps the habit deterred me from choosing to stop, but I also knew that if I let myself quit, the chances of me dragging myself back to ballet classes were close to none. In the end, I still endured and continued to dance. But dancing is not as easy as many people perceive it as. It comes not only with physical problems but mental and emotional issues as well.
As a dancer, I’ve heard most of the stereotypical ballerina descriptions. “Oh, you do ballet? So do I!” (This is usually when he/she makes an oval with his/her arms above his/her head and twirls in an ungraceful circle.) There have always been those encounters with people who don’t take dance seriously, who think ballerinas just run around and wear elaborate tutus. Many, if not most, people don’t realize how difficult ballet really is, even for those who don’t pursue dance as a professional career. The grueling training a dancer goes through is meant to teach him or her the proper techniques and help them achieve the best physique possible in order to execute the moves in combinations. Dancers are often expected to be incredibly slim and composed of muscle. I have heard from my dance friends, some of the skinniest girls I know, complain about their body shape, saying they need to lose weight. All these problems may seem trivial in the grand scheme of things, but to us dancers it's these small thoughts that build up over time and cause massive insecurities.
I’m not saying every dancer feels insecure about his or her physique, but there are a good number that do. The problem is not the supposedly ingrained idea that girls want to be skinny (because there are plenty of male dancers out there who may suffer from these same problems,) but that dance does require physical fitness, and a lot of dance moves are more easily accomplished when the body is slimmer and more muscular. And it’s not only weight that dancers can feel insecure about. Ballet dancers, after they reach a certain level of mastery in techniques, often begin pointe work which involves balancing one’s weight on the tips of one’s toes. Modern day dancers use pointe shoes to dance en pointe, but these shoes can leave feet with scars and even disfigure them. Dancers can feel very uncomfortable with the state their feet are in, especially if they have been practicing pointe work for a long time.
While some dancers may be very open about their insecurities, many keep quiet for fear of the stigma that comes with body image issues. Young dancers frequently are already insecure about their physiques, but negative remarks can often make the situation worse. Sure, you may think dancers want to be told that they are skinny and by commenting on their slim figures you are offering a compliment, but the tone in which these almost accusations are spoken makes a simple remark just as bad as an insult. Dance training is hard enough, and to give negative comments on a dancer's physique just adds insult to injury. Perhaps these problems that dancers face seem trivial, especially those who do not dance. However, these are the societal problems that one aspect of our community faces in their attempts to achieve a career.
