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Redefining what it means to have a "ballerina body"
Brut America
Follow
3/25/2025
"I felt that if I wanted to be successful as a ballet dancer, I needed to be as thin as possible."
After overcoming an eating disorder, this ballerina is fighting to make ballet inclusive to dancers of all shapes and sizes.
Category
🦄
Creativity
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
I think ballet can be really toxic for people.
00:06
Historically, it has been very white, very thin, very cisgender.
00:18
Each day that I put myself out there, it makes it okay for others to put themselves out there
00:23
as well.
00:24
For others to see themselves seen in the ballet world.
00:27
For kids growing up to see someone who looks like me and to feel like maybe they can do
00:32
it too.
00:54
I didn't see body diversity in the ballet world when I was growing up, which really
00:59
contributed a lot to my issues with self-worth as a dancer, to my struggles with body image.
01:04
And really, I mean, I didn't see anyone performing on stage when I would go see companies perform.
01:10
I didn't see anyone in dance magazines, dance catalogs.
01:18
The culture and expectations of the dance world, specifically the ballet world, certainly
01:22
contributed to my eating disorder, but definitely wasn't the only cause.
01:27
But the culture of ballet, especially with how it idealizes thinness even more severely
01:33
than our general culture does, really made me hyper-focus on that because I felt that
01:38
if I wanted to be successful as a ballet dancer, I needed to be as thin as possible, especially
01:44
as someone who grew up in a slightly larger body.
01:51
To truly put my eating disorder behind me, I needed to have some time away from dance.
01:56
I needed to have not just the extra time in my week, but I needed that brain space to
02:01
reevaluate what I wanted ballet to look like for me.
02:05
I needed to reevaluate, you know, was ballet something I really still enjoyed?
02:09
Was I doing it because I loved it or was I doing it because I wanted to continue manipulating
02:13
my body?
02:14
Every day, I post ballet photos and videos on my Instagram and I put myself out there
02:29
and celebrate myself for where I'm at, for where my body is, for who I am.
02:35
And that can be really scary because while I get a lot of support, I do get hate as well.
02:49
It is really for the black sheep of this dance world.
02:53
People who may have felt pushed away because of their size, because of their gender, because
02:59
of their race, because of their disability, because of their sexual orientation, basically
03:04
anyone who has felt that they didn't belong in this classical ballet world, Brian wanted
03:10
to make a place where they could be celebrated, where they could be appreciated, where they
03:14
could be treated as the professional artists they are.
03:17
And with being a virtual company, we can bring our works to people who otherwise might not
03:22
be able to have professional ballet in their lives.
03:42
I am currently interning at a group practice specializing primarily in treating eating
03:47
disorders, body image concerns, and trauma.
03:51
And I wanted to specialize in these areas because of my own healing journey, my own
03:55
recovery.
03:56
The therapists that I've had along the way have been so instrumental in my healing and
04:01
they were able to help me tap into my own inner resources.
04:05
We just need some guidance in cultivating these resources within ourselves and wanting
04:10
to be able to make eating disorder treatment more accessible, wanting to be able to make
04:15
it more ethical, wanting to be able to help others in the way that I have been helped.
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