HEALTH AND WELLBEING
THE awarding of Taryn Brumfitt as Australian of the Year has brought to the fore the crisis among young people of self-hatred and psychological damage due to unhealthy body image.
Body dysmorphia and eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia have been around a long time, but there is increasing awareness of the devastating, life threatening consequences and the role society plays in their cause and treatment, especially with the increased awareness of mental health in general. Criticism of body types and shapes,”body shaming”, is no longer acceptable in our society.
How does this fit with the aesthetic ideals of dance, and especially ballet?
Ballet dancers are traditionally required to have a very lean physique and “ideal” physical proportions: long legs, long neck, highly arched feet, and so on. While proportions can’t be changed, the requirement for leanness has brought about terrible consequences. Dancers have long been particularly prone to eating disorders. In the past, a culture developed of deliberate starvation. Dancers were weighed in before class, insulted and ostracised by their directors and coaches and commanded to lose weight without being provided with any dietary or psychological support. Such deprivation found fertile ground in an old-fashioned mythology that suffering for art was to be admired, especially when combined with a more modern, American-inspired, “you can do anything you want if you try hard enough” philosophy. Not having the “right” body was seen as a
