what a crock

[cassidyrose]

She wanted to counteract the stereotype that ballet dancers are all tall, thin and reluctant to eat. "You can't rehearse and train and perform eight hours a day without eating," Hymes says. "Dancers are not dropping dead left and right of anorexia, or there would be no dance."
...

You could say it's easy for Hymes to stay in shape: She's 5 feet tall and weighs less than 100 pounds. But over the years, and during a 15-year professional career, she's had her share of problems with her height and weight.

...

Her teacher in Connecticut advised her, "Lose 10 pounds if you want to be a dancer." She did, but cautiously. "Since I loved food, I knew I had to do it a certain way -- I didn't want to develop any bad eating habits. I just made sure all the calories I consumed were doing me some good."

Fortunately, after training with the School of American Ballet, Hymes was hired by the Ohio Ballet, which didn't have New York's absolute passion for tall, thin dancers. Hymes was happy with her weight, she felt healthy, enjoyed eating a variety of foods and never felt deprived.
...

"Dancers are just like everybody else, except they get more exercise and it's extremely disciplined -- that's why they look the way they do," Hymes says. Dancers need energy, stamina and muscle, no matter how slim and ethereal they look from the audience.

First of all, many, many dancers are sick with anorexia and bulimia. Just because they are not "dropping dead" does not mean they are not sick and will not have life-long problems. A choreographer I worked with knew that two of his dancers were bulimic, and another had abused speed to stay thin. This is in a company of about 15 people. Ballet teachers across the country kick out children from their classes for being "fat", not to mention they refuse to train adults above a certain size. I've seen girls nearly pass-out during dance classes from not eating. I cannot believe she is actually trying to sell this pile of crap as the truth.

Second of all, a 5 foot woman weighing less than 100lbs is tiny and very "acceptable" for most professional ballet companies. What a load of shit to claim that this dancer had to dance somewhere free of the "tall and thin" madate. She was ableto dance professionally largely because she was under 100lbs. She could have gotten work in almost any major ballet company given she was trained well enough. This is not the case for a 150 or 200lb dancer. The article makes it sound like it is some radical move of self-acceptance to accept one's body as thin enough at less than 100lbs, Please.

Third, the notion that dancers "look" a certain way is asinine. The notion that any dancer above 100 lbs is undisciplined is asinine as well. At my absolute thinnest and smallest, when I was actively either bulimic or anorexic, I only could get down to 140 lbs and a size 6 (at 5'4) and I still would have been too big for professional dance companies. I hate, hate, hate it when professional dancers/choreographers act like they are size-accepting and body-loving because they tolerate size 6 women in their companies. They won't even let size 8 women in (and, yes, this is true). This is not size-acceptance and it makes me sick that it is being painted as such. They make it sound like it is so cool and edgy that not all their dancers are a size 2--some are a size four, and mayebe ::gasp:: a szie 6. Show me a size 12 or a size 22 dancer in one of their companies and then I will be interested. Show me a dancer in any one of the mainstream companies mentioned in this article who has a single female dancer with even a hint of a belly and I wil be interested. I have yet to see it and I am sickened that the dance world thinks a 100lb adult female is on the "large" end of the acceptibility scale.

Barf.

Comments

[queensheba.livejournal.com]

Plus, aren't eating disorders somewhat common in female athletes too? I believe there's probably also a lot of pressure on gymnasts, at least, to stay small.

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

They are extremely common among female atheltes, especially gymnasts.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Second of all, a 5 foot woman weighing less than 100lbs is tiny and very "acceptable" for most professional ballet companies. What a load of shit to claim that this dancer had to dance somewhere free of the "tall and thin" madate.

That part, at least, doesn't sound like a load of shit to me. She's not merely too short, she's WAY THE FUCK too short. And 100lbs on a five-foot frame is heavier-looking than, say, I am... and I'm way wider than the ballet stereotype.

Show me a dancer in any one of the mainstream companies mentioned in this article who has a single female dancer with even a hint of a belly and I wil be interested.

Or even boobs, fer cryin' out loud. I do get a little tired of seeing boobless ballerinas. Not that I don't respect the work they did to excel in dance... but why can't someone with breasts have just that much talent and just that much ability to work hard? I'm sure she can; she'll just never be on stage with the mainstream company.

All of this eventually goes back to viewer demand, I'm sure. THAT'S what bugs me. The enemy isn't the company manager who knows what to hire in order to stay afloat. The enemy is "the public"... us. Much harder to fight.

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

That part, at least, doesn't sound like a load of shit to me. She's not merely too short, she's WAY THE FUCK too short. And 100lbs on a five-foot frame is heavier-looking than, say, I am... and I'm way wider than the ballet stereotype.


True, it's short and I am sure she faced issues due to the height thing. I don't mean to belittle what she issues she has faced. But, many short women get dance jobs as long as they are thin. And I know she could possibly look heavier than a taller small person, but knowing that when I weigh 140 on my 5'4 frame I am a size 6, and she is less than 100lbs on a 5'0 frame, my guess is she is about a size 4.

Or even boobs, fer cryin' out loud. I do get a little tired of seeing boobless ballerinas. Not that I don't respect the work they did to excel in dance... but why can't someone with breasts have just that much talent and just that much ability to work hard? I'm sure she can; she'll just never be on stage with the mainstream company.

You are exactly right. Those who get onstage are those who are either naturally boobless, or have starved themselves to get there. I've danced in a few professional shows (as one the "fat dancers") and most of the women look pre-pubescent naked. I am not knocking anyone for lack of boobs, but I think that idealizing the pre-pubescent body-type is damaging.

All of this eventually goes back to viewer demand, I'm sure. THAT'S what bugs me. The enemy isn't the company manager who knows what to hire in order to stay afloat. The enemy is "the public"... us. Much harder to fight.

Yup. But until more companies say "to hell with it" and truly open the doors for larger dancers change will not come. Big Moves produces our own shows and commissions our own choreography to combat this type of prejudice and we have received a great reception. By producing sold-out shows we can show other companies that this can be done and there is a markey for good dance, no matter what the size of their dancer. However, it is an slow, uphill battle. We hae only produced modern dance and burlesque shows. We haven't even touched the ballet world yet.

An interesting side note, working with the "fat dancers" has become to the, oh so trendy thing to do among a small sub-set of San Francisco choreographers. We are riding the wave and hope to get legitmate respect out of it in the long run.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

My ex-roomie was 5'2" and 100 lbs, and though she was slender (flat-bellied), she had hips and medium boobs, and I'd say she had more fat on her than most professional ballet dancers I've seen.

She was no Krissy Keefer, though.

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

I know that different people will look different at the same weight--I do not presume to know how any individual looks at 100lbs. However, we are talking about a professional ballerina here, and there are strict standards governing how professional ballerinas can look--that knowledge is what prompted me to make my assumption about the size of the woman in question. Also, the article stated that post-professoinal career, the woman weighs less than 100lbs. I would have to guess that she weighed even less while dancing professionally. Also, as athletes (including dancers) tend to have a lot more muscle mass than the average person, they tend to weigh more than other people of comparable size. Therefore, a 90lb ballerina is almost certainly going to be smaller than a 90lb non-athlete due to the dancer's high muscle mass.

And Krissy, while larger than a professional ballerina, is still "acceptable" modern-dancer size, and is still a smaller than average woman. See this photo: http://www.dancemission.com/brigade/cavew.htm (she is in the front, seated).

I do not mean to demean anyone's body-image struggles, or struggles to get work as a dancer. However, I am tired of companies claiming they are size-accepting because they have one size 6 or size 8 dancer.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Wow, she looks a lot different from when I last saw her dance in the late eighties.

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

Was she bigger then?

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I don't remember her as having much waist, though she was muscly, so she may have just had a well muscled torso and small breasts. She wore a tutu (I saw her two or three times in the Revolutionary Nutcracker Sweetie, and she was the fairy), and I remember thinking of her upper body as cylindrical with breasts just sort of *there*, and as having thick legs. But that might also have been muscle.

[sistercoyote.livejournal.com]

We saw a production of The Nutcracker this Christmas season that included several very tall and NOT ethereal dancers - two of whom had bosoms. They were plenty graceful and were probably size 8-10 girls is my guess.

Not perfect, but an improvement.

And, yes, eating disorders are very common in gymnasts. Not so much swimmers, where you're expected to be built something like a fireplug, but.

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

Very, very good to hear. Was it a professional company, or semi-professional? Also, people tend to look quite a bit bigger onstage than they actually are (I am still suprised at how small some dancers are when I see them off-stage).

[sistercoyote.livejournal.com]

I *think* (but don't quote me on it, I have to ask my Mom) it was either the ABT or whatever the Joffrey turned into.

And, yeah, I'm taking that into account. The one girl looked like she could have been a 14-16, but I figured there was no way...

[porcinea.livejournal.com]

www.madshak.com

Hm.

[cassidyrose.livejournal.com]

All the dancers pictured look fairly typical for modern dance companies. Modern companies tend to have more muscular and slightly larger dancers than ballet companies. However, it is still expected that the dancers maintain an extremely low % of body fat.

well said.

[nevers.livejournal.com]

i agree and sympathize. i hate when people say, "well, modern's more accepting of different body types, isn't it?" sure it is, but like you said, modern dancers are still thinner than the average woman. and college dance is supposed to be more accepting of different body types, but the teachers are still going to give the most attention to the thin girls.