“A dancer in my company had a minor injury and decided in her spare time to teach me her role in our upcoming production. I had been taught from a very early age to learn everything and jumped at the chance. However, not only was I shamed for learning this role, I was told I …
“As long as I can remember, I always had more muscular legs than my peers. Teachers always warned against overworking the quadriceps and having bulky legs. Already having what was deemed overdeveloped quads, I reacted by working really hard on my jumps almost to have a reason for the natural shape of my body. However, …
“I started to take ballet seriously aged 10 when I was 11 I joined a top vocational school. I suffered bad emotional abuse the teacher frequently shouted and once hit me when I didn’t apply a correction correctly. Before class I developed anxiety where I would regularly feel nauseous however I thought this was normal …
“I feel a great sense of shame surrounding my experience of developing mental health problems whilst in vocational dance training. Since the age of eleven, I internalized the notion of there being strength in silence, that to visibly or audibly disclose a struggle was a sign of weakness and a sure sign that you would …
“Where to begin. I was in the most abusive company for a few years. I’m going to use (they) for the director because I’m still uneasy about sharing. I was so unhappy, and I wanted to leave all the time, but I felt sort of trapped. If you wanted to audition and the director found …
“Dance has been one of the most wonderful gifts I have ever discovered, but it’s also brought me so the most hardship and pain. I’m a tall dancer and I hit puberty early which I appreciated while I was at school, but the minute I put on a leotard and tights I loathed everything about …
“There are many stories I have from my time dancing. Which I will share throughout this growth of this platform. For now I will simply summarize a description of the ballet world. Ballet is, and always will be, my first love. The thing that became my identity. It consumed me, pulled me close, pushed me …
“I was always a little bit bigger than everyone in my studio but it didn’t really bother me until we hit about 13 years old. Everyone around me started having eating disorders and I felt like there was surely something wrong with me if *I* wasn’t restricting too. It started as a pack mentality, conforming …
I’ve been dancing since I was three years old, at serious pre-pro schools the entire time, so I have been pretty steeped in the culture from a very early age. One thing that I noticed that is very harmful is the amount that weight impacts the way that people view not only you, but also …
“I have felt tricked and misled by the encouragement I received, that while you would suffer greatly, it would be worth it, because your career would be spectacular and unlike any other. My teachers’ faces and realities told me otherwise, but I went on. When I reached the professional level and fully realized that I …
