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The Body of Ballet


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This issue bothers me greatly! My dd is regularly in tears about being fat. Goodness! In regular clothes she looks thin, in a leotard, you can see some flesh at the bottom of the hips. How on earth one avoids that during the hormonal stage of 15/16 I don't know.

 

I haven't clicked the link to the recommended book yet, but will. She has been tired lately so we've started on iron supplements as well as multi vitamins which goes against my grain since we like to grow our own food and prepare every thing from scratch to eat healthy naturally. 

 

It is so hard for them when they look at themselves in the mirror next to others who are skinny or verging on anorexic. Unfortunately the result of the disease can be fatal as we know too well. If only ballet schools and companies were more sensible about the whole deal.

 

We recently saw POB perform and my dd was entranced by the gorgeous dancing but discouraged at the slightness of build of the dancers. All of her friends who have been accepted into the Australian Ballet school or the associate program are the waif-like ones so dd will not even consider applying. (To be fair, she doesn't want to attend that school because she thinks AB is too contemporary.)

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Last month I attended one of the "Focus on Style" seminars at RBS.  This one was Focus on Russian Style and a teacher from the Vaganova Academy of St. Petersburg came with two senior girls to give the demonstration class.  (The girls will go into the Graduation class next year).  It struck me quite forcibly how "normal" these girls looked, beautiful, elegant but feminine too - not skinny or scrawny.  Very similar to UK senior girls.  Earlier seminars have been reported in Dancing Times, so possibly next month's issue will have photos and analysis.  I would suggest the teacher of dramascientist's dd is behind the times!

 

By chance I met and ended up sitting next to another member of this board - perhaps she will have something to add.

 

Edited to add last sentence.

 

Hi, Pas de Quatre. It was good to meet you. What an interesting seminar it was, though I must say that I have enjoyed them all. Just the English School to go now!

 

The Russian girls did indeed look elegant and feminine and it was a joy to watch them dance.

 

Sadly, earlier in the "Focus on Style" series, there was a student participating in a masterclass who was veering towards anorexia, with her ribs protruding and her arms painfully thin. I just hope that she is being given friendly & understanding guidance to help her to overcome her problems before she reaches a critical stage. The daughter of a friend suffered from anorexia and I know how many years of help and even stays in hospital it took for her to return to a more normal pattern of eating.

 

Recognising the potential for anorexia developing is part of the battle, and discussions with and support for dc is essential. The mutual support and advice given in this forum is wonderfuI, and whatever the topic there is always someone with a useful insight that they are willing to share. Long may that continue!

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My DS is training in the US at a vaganova school and I have always been quite impressed by the absence of the scarey stringy looking dancer type amongst the girls. The only one I can think of who is exceptionally thin is genuinely naturally so (she is a close friend of DS so he knows this for definite). You can see a good selection of school performances at http://www.youtube.com/user/KirovAcademyDC so can see for yourself a lot of the girls are quite stocky and muscly... all the teachers are Russian, many trained at the vaganova school but clearly they aren't insisting on the underweight profile- all the messages we get from the school via newsletters re nutrition talk about the necessary food needed for muscle strength and stamina...

 

As far as I am aware the majority of concerns with the boys focus on how tall they will be, as there is a general assumption that to be a leading man you need to be taller than your partner (who is of course on pointe) so as not to look daft. Though of course you can always find exceptions...I personally think the boys get rather forgotten in the nutrition debate- i know my DS struggles with eating enough both in quantity and frequency. I have to send him protein bars to supplement his meals as the school just doesn't make it easy enough for him to snack inbetween academic and ballet classes...

 

I also agree re parents profile- DH and I come from completely different genetic types- he is a shortish and very stocky 5' 8", my family are all tall and lean (I am 5' 7", older sister 5' 8", younger brother 6') except for my younger sister who is only 5' 4". DS takes after my younger brother (DS is about 5' 11" at 15 yrs old). How would evaluation of me and DH given any clue as to who DS would take after?!

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