Being Thin: A Ballerina's Requirement

In the world of ballet, eating disorders are highly prevalent. Since George Balanchine told his dancers he wanted to 'see the bones,' it has seemed as if the skeletal physique is a requirement for female ballerinas. Along with the professional standards of good feet, 180 degree turnout, contortion-like flexibility, long legs, and a short torso, has been added thinness.

Ballet is highly competitive with a limited amount of young girls fitting this mold. Here lies the great danger: that these young aspiring ballerinas will see weight control as the easiest way to acquire one of the necessary attributes for the ballerina, thus creating an increase in eating disorder occurrences amongst dancers.

Companies like the New York City Ballet have slowly begun to understand this and women such as Dr. Linda Hamilton are putting together wellness programs to help inform and support dancers in leading a healthy lifestyle conducive to maintaining a ballet career for as long as possible. As positive as these programs can be, I worry that it is not enough. This is not a recent issue, dancers have been advised to eat better (or simply eat) by nutritionists for years but they continue to smoke their lunch outside of the studios.

The hope is that with more resources available through wellness programs, dancers will seek help/treatment or advice. But unless thinness is eliminated from our idea of the perfect ballerina, the issue will persist. As Edith d'Addario, director of the Joffrey School says, "We tell the students that they don’t have to look like someone else. But it’s ‘mirror, mirror,’ all the time." So in regards to their eating habits she says that we will continue to inform them, "but do they listen? They sit there eating yogurt all day."