My aunt was a professional ballerina, and danced with a company in Europe for a long time. Now she is 68 and her body is wrecked. Her feet are destroyed and she can't even walk in bare feet or socks without pain, and has to have supportive shoes all the time. She has osteoporosis. She openly speaks about the culture of eating disorders, and the insane things she did along with dancers in her company to stay thin, and she admits that this has destroyed her health permanently.

And she still has eating issues.

S/o would you send your “chubby” kid to ballet classes?

Excuse the “chubby” word but she (like me) is not a naturally thin person. She is little but really wants to take ballet. I’m a bit worried it’s going to scar her for life. The other little girls in the class are rather thin.

She does not care - just wants a tutu and to twirl.

Anonymous wrote:What I am seeing in this thread is people with ballet experience saying that, yes, this is a very real danger. And the parents with kids in ballet saying, no, not my kid...everything is fine.

What you're seeing is the people with professional ballet experience are saying it's a real danger, and the people with kids in ballet are saying we're never going to put them in a high pressure school where going professional is even part of the conversation. In this case, what's "best" for ballet training isn't best for mental health. Hard to believe around here, but not everyone needs to be the "best". Those of us who are aware of these issues made a conscious choice to avoid the crazy.

What I am seeing in this thread is people with ballet experience saying that, yes, this is a very real danger. And the parents with kids in ballet saying, no, not my kid...everything is fine.

Hmm, I'm one of the PPs who danced seriously until 18. Not that many of us smoked, and most of us ate just fine. But there were definitely girls who starved themselves and the worst part was that they were constantly rewarded. I remember so well standing at the barre behind a girl who was our class and later company star. As we were doing our plies, I watched her leotard literally hang off her bony butt, thinking "this can't be healthy." Two seconds later, the teacher came around to tell me to suck in my tummy, before moving on to her and exclaiming "beautiful!" I was 5'5 and weighed around 105lbs at the time. She must have been 10 lbs lighter.

I think the question is whether the kid is able to truly recognize the fact that this kind of thing is insane and to therefore ignore the crazy talk and behavior. Only you know your kid.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, this is concerning, but we are proactive. My daughter is passionate about ballet and dances in a pre-pro program. It greatly alleviates her anxiety, which is another concern of ours. To her, ballet is almost a therapy. She sees a nutritionist.

I've also found that it is helpful for her to be able to see how the professionals eat backstage - and they definitely eat, and heartily. She knows that those who have made ballet their livelihood have to nourish their bodies to deliver results and I have found that modeling them has been a good influence on her. I realize not all ballet studios offer the opportunity to interact with professionals before/during shows but ours does.

No they don't! And if they do eat heartily they are vomiting it up! And they smoke! I was a professional ballet dancer. They constantly abuse their digestive systems (laxatives, "Ballerina Tea", bulemia, anorexia) and they almost all smoke to deal with hunger pains.

My daughter liked ballet a lot, but as she grew older and I could tell that she would never have a "ballet body" (without starving herself), I steered her toward other types of dance and sports. She was much happier playing soccer and doing hip-hop dance classes than she was in ballet anyway, which she found too restrictive and serious.

If I were a boy mom, I'd probably keep my son out of wrestling for the same reason - unhealthy emphasis on weight and a comfort level with doing extraordinary things to maintain or drop weight.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, This is a very real concern. I have been a professional dancer for decades. I have taught at the university level. Yes, ballet has a huge eating disorder rate that does not happen at the same rate as other techniques. it is not opinion, it is well documented, even in companies that preach a healthy body image. The prevalence in gym, or mens wrestling for that matter does not excuse ballet. Yes, this worries me. It is an unfortunate engrained norm.

+1

Anecdotally, my spouse has professional dance experience, and we have several good friends in the opera/ballet/modern dance world, and those who had serious ballet experience consistently tell us that disordered eating is rampant. Ballet has a *very* particular ideal body type, even more restrictive than other dance forms. If it doesn't worry you, you're not being a responsible parent. You have to be proactive about body image and healthy eating, as well as not pinning your self-worth on your success as a ballet dancer, because you have to counter a deeply entrenched culture. Pretending it isn't so is just sticking your head in the sand. You might ultimately decide that you are still going to permit and encourage your child to pursue ballet as a serious activity, but you have to know what you're getting into and how you're going to deal with it.

I was a ballet dancer until 10th grade, when my parents became concerned about the pressure to maintain a certain weight and look (FYI, at the time I was 5' tall and weighted 98 pounds). They encouraged me to take a break and spend the summer taking tennis lessons, then try out for my HS team. I made the team and dropped ballet (BTW, the ballet footwork and agility is really great for tennis). I still love dance of all kinds, but, wow, am I glad my parents were proactive. I saw too many dancer friends develop eating disorders in HS and college.

Anonymous wrote: I was a ballet dancer. I had an eating disorder. I danced through college.

However, I attribute much of it to my crappy home life rather than to ballet, although ballet reinforced it. Ballet was my safe space. I had the eating disorder for about 3 years (age 12-15).

My daughters do ballet. However, I do not want them to be as serious as I was. It is too difficult for many reasons...not just body image.

I actually am planning to start a studio soon with all forms of dance and have it be less serious than the traditional training I had. I want them to love it but not at a price.

Sounds great. Where are you located. I want to keep an eye out.

My nieces take ballet. Their ballet studio seems to be very aware of this issue. They do not emphasize thinness, do emphasize strength and healthy bodies. My nieces do not have any eating disorders or body image issues.

I don't think ballet should be forbidden for girls who want to do it, if the school is aware of the eating disorder issue and very proactive. Parents definitely need to be careful to pick the right school.

I was a ballet dancer. I had an eating disorder. I danced through college.

However, I attribute much of it to my crappy home life rather than to ballet, although ballet reinforced it. Ballet was my safe space. I had the eating disorder for about 3 years (age 12-15).

My daughters do ballet. However, I do not want them to be as serious as I was. It is too difficult for many reasons...not just body image.

I actually am planning to start a studio soon with all forms of dance and have it be less serious than the traditional training I had. I want them to love it but not at a price.

My cousin and a friend both took ballet right through high school. Neither of them will allow their daughters to participate because of the issues around ridiculous weight expectations.

Anonymous wrote:It can also cause all sorts of health problems. I had a friend who has knee issues now. I'd rather my daughter do something safer. There are too many issues with ballet.

But this has to be evaluated in comparison with other activities though. Look at the annual ER-related injury rates for basketball and gymnastics, the concussion rates for football. Our kids can't live in a vacuum.

I attended a high school for the performing arts and it was a known fact that the dancers had eating disorders. It was accepted like no big deal. Most started before teen years.