Ballerina Farm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was born in 2005 and the Mormon bloggers were numerous, prolific and well known. Beautiful photography, gorgeous children and thoughtful writing, it was all very curated, albeit in blog form. This just feels like an amped up version, consistent now with the tenor of Instagram. It's all less real. But the seeds have certainly been there for years. just significantly more over the top. Thank you for the pp who noted her julliard training was basically a dance intensive over the summer. I mean really...as a mother of a college daughter who dances, this is not the same as being " julliard trained." The whole situation is unreal.

She graduated from Juilliard with a BFA in dance in 2012. She went for a summer intensive, fell in love with it, and went back for college.

A BFA from Juilliard qualifies someone to be described as "Juilliard trained".

I stand corrected. But the reality is that she did little professionally with that BFA so not surprisingly she holds on to that credential as a part of her identity but that part of her life is in the past. It was a road not taken. And unlike her peers who pursued it, who had the courage probably to do so...she did not. It's a way to perhaps stay connected to that part of her....but she seems deeply conflicted about having had to let it go. Let's be honest. Otherwise it would not continue to be quoted as a part of her life over and over again. I find it sad. Some of us have been around long enough to see through when people do this.

It's a huge feat for a girl from Springville, Utah (a small town outside Provo, very conservative), homeschooled with her 8 siblings, to get into Julliard. It's not a path people in her orbit were taking. It was painful to read her comments about ballet and what it meant to her to give it up. She names her social media the Ballerina Farmer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was born in 2005 and the Mormon bloggers were numerous, prolific and well known. Beautiful photography, gorgeous children and thoughtful writing, it was all very curated, albeit in blog form. This just feels like an amped up version, consistent now with the tenor of Instagram. It's all less real. But the seeds have certainly been there for years. just significantly more over the top. Thank you for the pp who noted her julliard training was basically a dance intensive over the summer. I mean really...as a mother of a college daughter who dances, this is not the same as being " julliard trained." The whole situation is unreal.

She graduated from Juilliard with a BFA in dance in 2012. She went for a summer intensive, fell in love with it, and went back for college.

A BFA from Juilliard qualifies someone to be described as "Juilliard trained".

I stand corrected. But the reality is that she did little professionally with that BFA so not surprisingly she holds on to that credential as a part of her identity but that part of her life is in the past. It was a road not taken. And unlike her peers who pursued it, who had the courage probably to do so...she did not. It's a way to perhaps stay connected to that part of her....but she seems deeply conflicted about having had to let it go. Let's be honest. Otherwise it would not continue to be quoted as a part of her life over and over again. I find it sad. Some of us have been around long enough to see through when people do this.

The BFA is the last thing she did before she got pregnant and stopped doing anything not kid and husband centric. Its a huge part of what she identifies with before she became a mom-wife-farmer.

[Anonymous]

Disgusting to have 8 kids fend for themselves

[Anonymous]

Someone on Reddit searched the property records where they live in Kamas, Utah. Her name isn't on the Deed to the house or surrounding property. How about that? Might we also speculate that the Neeleman family had an air-tight prenup drawn up? She finishes her last year at Juliard pregnant and gives up her professional dancing career to marry a rich boy and follow his dream of living on a farm. She reported that she couldn't wait to get to NYC at 17 to attend Juliard. She loved the energy of the City. And here she is at 35, raising and homeschooling 8 kids with no nanny on a farm in Kamas, Utah, that isn't even hers. Stories like this are why I am not raising my daughter in a religion built on patriarchy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone on Reddit searched the property records where they live in Kamas, Utah. Her name isn't on the Deed to the house or surrounding property. How about that? Might we also speculate that the Neeleman family had an air-tight prenup drawn up? She finishes her last year at Juliard pregnant and gives up her professional dancing career to marry a rich boy and follow his dream of living on a farm. She reported that she couldn't wait to get to NYC at 17 to attend Juliard. She loved the energy of the City. And here she is at 35, raising and homeschooling 8 kids with no nanny on a farm in Kamas, Utah, that isn't even hers. Stories like this are why I am not raising my daughter in a religion built on patriarchy.

She has homeschool teachers to homeschool the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone on Reddit searched the property records where they live in Kamas, Utah. Her name isn't on the Deed to the house or surrounding property. How about that? Might we also speculate that the Neeleman family had an air-tight prenup drawn up? She finishes her last year at Juliard pregnant and gives up her professional dancing career to marry a rich boy and follow his dream of living on a farm. She reported that she couldn't wait to get to NYC at 17 to attend Juliard. She loved the energy of the City. And here she is at 35, raising and homeschooling 8 kids with no nanny on a farm in Kamas, Utah, that isn't even hers. Stories like this are why I am not raising my daughter in a religion built on patriarchy.

Allegedly she is also not on the business filings - it’s just him listed on the records for Ballerina Farm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Someone on Reddit searched the property records where they live in Kamas, Utah. Her name isn't on the Deed to the house or surrounding property. How about that? Might we also speculate that the Neeleman family had an air-tight prenup drawn up? She finishes her last year at Juliard pregnant and gives up her professional dancing career to marry a rich boy and follow his dream of living on a farm. She reported that she couldn't wait to get to NYC at 17 to attend Juliard. She loved the energy of the City. And here she is at 35, raising and homeschooling 8 kids with no nanny on a farm in Kamas, Utah, that isn't even hers. Stories like this are why I am not raising my daughter in a religion built on patriarchy.

Allegedly she is also not on the business filings - it’s just him listed on the records for Ballerina Farm

That's sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was born in 2005 and the Mormon bloggers were numerous, prolific and well known. Beautiful photography, gorgeous children and thoughtful writing, it was all very curated, albeit in blog form. This just feels like an amped up version, consistent now with the tenor of Instagram. It's all less real. But the seeds have certainly been there for years. just significantly more over the top. Thank you for the pp who noted her julliard training was basically a dance intensive over the summer. I mean really...as a mother of a college daughter who dances, this is not the same as being " julliard trained." The whole situation is unreal.

She graduated from Juilliard with a BFA in dance in 2012. She went for a summer intensive, fell in love with it, and went back for college.

A BFA from Juilliard qualifies someone to be described as "Juilliard trained".

I stand corrected. But the reality is that she did little professionally with that BFA so not surprisingly she holds on to that credential as a part of her identity but that part of her life is in the past. It was a road not taken. And unlike her peers who pursued it, who had the courage probably to do so...she did not. It's a way to perhaps stay connected to that part of her....but she seems deeply conflicted about having had to let it go. Let's be honest. Otherwise it would not continue to be quoted as a part of her life over and over again. I find it sad. Some of us have been around long enough to see through when people do this.

It's a huge feat for a girl from Springville, Utah (a small town outside Provo, very conservative), homeschooled with her 8 siblings, to get into Julliard. It's not a path people in her orbit were taking. It was painful to read her comments about ballet and what it meant to her to give it up. She names her social media the Ballerina Farmer.

Naomi /Love Taza was from Utah and got into Julliard too. There are lot of mormons who take this path

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://wetookthetrain.blogspot.com

Here is her old blog. Much more normal.

Clearly the early years were much different than her life now… nyc, england, brazil. Not sure she realized utah was the last stop on this adventure. Her world definitely seems a lot smaller now, but I don’t actually follow her story so what do I know.

[Anonymous]

I don't get why people think she is a special case. The dancer to sahm route thing is VERY common, in and out of mormonism. Women typically do not stay successful ballerinas for that long, though there are exceptions. She married well financially. She may or may not be happy with a dh who could be a jerk, but she isn't some poor jailed creature with no agency.

[Anonymous]

Late to this, but I own a social media agency that works with high-level influencers. And yea, it’s all fake. There’s massive amounts of money that go into creating a brand like BF. There’s always a wealthy dad who funded it. Many of them are former performers, whether dancers, actors, singers, etc.

People like to promote the image that they were just a regular person who started posting online and things took off, but there’s a ton of strategy and money behind it. Andrew Tate didn’t happen by accident, there was an intentional strategy to get him plastered across the internet that took a LOT of money. Anytime a pretty 22 year old girl who posts outfit or dance videos randomly gets reposted by celebrities and gets millions of followers, she paid to get those celebrity endorsements. The alpha males surrounded by beautiful women? Those women are paid to be there, they have zero interest in the guy. Everyone pretends to be WAY wealthier than they actually are. Loads of people buy fake followers/views/engagement (ever notice how troll comments always come from private profiles? They’re fake).

Social media really needs to be treated the same way as TV. People need to recognize it’s fake. Hopefully there will be more legislation in the future, but probably not for 10-20 years.

[Anonymous]

She issued a statement, obviously not crafted by her (it's too well written), basically saying she loves her life. Yeah right. She admitted in the Times article that she wanted city life.

I think she could have done so much better than a rich guy who fantasized about the icky pioneer life and set about recreating it. Raising 8 kids on a farm whose only access to schooling is a "teacher" who comes over is just sad to me. Bu

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't know who this woman was before the Times article. Having read it, looked through her feed, and now read through this thread, what I'm struck by is the certainty of those posters here who think she's a victim issuing desperate passive-aggressive cries for help, OR a victim who can't admit to herself that she's miserable.

How on earth do y'all square this with the fact that she also apparently is a very savvy self-promoter who created an incredibly lucrative social media presence?

Her lifestyle is bizarre to me, but if you're criticizing it as a product of sexist patriarchal fantasy, maybe look in the mirror, because it doesn't get more sexist or patriarchal than to say that a woman who's achieved this level of fame and financial success ACTUALLY is secretly miserable and desperately needs our help, even if she won't admit to herself that she wants to be rescued from the life she says she loves.

This. +1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Late to this, but I own a social media agency that works with high-level influencers. And yea, it’s all fake. There’s massive amounts of money that go into creating a brand like BF. There’s always a wealthy dad who funded it. Many of them are former performers, whether dancers, actors, singers, etc.

People like to promote the image that they were just a regular person who started posting online and things took off, but there’s a ton of strategy and money behind it. Andrew Tate didn’t happen by accident, there was an intentional strategy to get him plastered across the internet that took a LOT of money. Anytime a pretty 22 year old girl who posts outfit or dance videos randomly gets reposted by celebrities and gets millions of followers, she paid to get those celebrity endorsements. The alpha males surrounded by beautiful women? Those women are paid to be there, they have zero interest in the guy. Everyone pretends to be WAY wealthier than they actually are. Loads of people buy fake followers/views/engagement (ever notice how troll comments always come from private profiles? They’re fake).

Social media really needs to be treated the same way as TV. People need to recognize it’s fake. Hopefully there will be more legislation in the future, but probably not for 10-20 years.

I believe everything you are saying, but who is making money off this? I get the ballerina farm with their millions and millions of followers might be making some money. But what about all the mommy influencers with like 100,000 or less followers. Constantly asking people to DM them a certain word for tips on recipes or time management or whatever. Any of them making money or at least good money? Seems like a MLM to me. When they pay for followers, etc., invest in the business, and then get nothing back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter was born in 2005 and the Mormon bloggers were numerous, prolific and well known. Beautiful photography, gorgeous children and thoughtful writing, it was all very curated, albeit in blog form. This just feels like an amped up version, consistent now with the tenor of Instagram. It's all less real. But the seeds have certainly been there for years. just significantly more over the top. Thank you for the pp who noted her julliard training was basically a dance intensive over the summer. I mean really...as a mother of a college daughter who dances, this is not the same as being " julliard trained." The whole situation is unreal.

She graduated from Juilliard with a BFA in dance in 2012. She went for a summer intensive, fell in love with it, and went back for college.

A BFA from Juilliard qualifies someone to be described as "Juilliard trained".

I stand corrected. But the reality is that she did little professionally with that BFA so not surprisingly she holds on to that credential as a part of her identity but that part of her life is in the past. It was a road not taken. And unlike her peers who pursued it, who had the courage probably to do so...she did not. It's a way to perhaps stay connected to that part of her....but she seems deeply conflicted about having had to let it go. Let's be honest. Otherwise it would not continue to be quoted as a part of her life over and over again. I find it sad. Some of us have been around long enough to see through when people do this.

It's a huge feat for a girl from Springville, Utah (a small town outside Provo, very conservative), homeschooled with her 8 siblings, to get into Julliard. It's not a path people in her orbit were taking. It was painful to read her comments about ballet and what it meant to her to give it up. She names her social media the Ballerina Farmer.

Naomi /Love Taza was from Utah and got into Julliard too. There are lot of mormons who take this path

DP. There seems to be a subset of them that go into entertainment/sports to spread the message. The houghs and the Osmonds come to mind. I also had a friend in high school whose dad and uncle were in the NFL and whose aunt was a Dallas cowboys cheerleader.