K-Mart

K-Mart

Many young dancers and their parents are attracted to the ballet with thanks due to cheers from the audience members, the bright lights, the shiny sequins, the colorful and fancy tutus, along with the silky satin pointe shoes. Where else can dancers make their dreams become reality by living fairy-tale lives such as Cinderella going to the ball, and falling into the arms of her handsome prince. Ballet allows these dreams to magically come true. When you truly get down to it, the shadows of the bright beaming spotlight create an abusive world consisting of eating disorders, mental, verbal and physical abuse, constant competition, injuries, fatigue and plain undernourished dancers. The fantasy world that they dance in is simply that-fantasy.

We all look at ourselves in the mirror on a daily basis and pick at our flaws. Self-body image is under valued by society today, and even less valued in the lives of a dancer.

A man and a woman performing a modern dance.

Valentine dance, school

Scene at square dance in rural home in McIntosh Co...

A dancer has no choice but to stand in front of a mirror hour after hour, day after day, during practice and compare herself amongst all the other dancers. Media and society continuously display the images of bone thin models and actors, wearing tight fitting clothes which zone in on their slimming body. Thanks to advanced technology models, actors and actresses can be airbrushed, and given the touch ups they need to make them model material. In the ballet world success or failure lie in the dancers own hands, no airbrushing can be done on stage. What used to be considered model material has dwindled down to a slim size 2. While models and celebrities are becoming slimmer, the rest of society is becoming heavier. Thanks to the cultural ideas of feminine beauty, young women, especially athletes feel a strong desire to be thinner...