Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Success – I easily converted my CV into PDF form but it won’t up load it to the blog, keeps saying it won’t accept the file so back to the drawing board again tomorrow to get it on the blog to complete Adesola’s task!!

I was interested in Adesola’s comments on our body imagery as seen on networking sites as dancers and whether there is any validity in being able to manage what people think of you. This is one of the real downsides I think to using Web 2 and networking sites and a subject very close to my heart and one of my “soapbox” subjects.

In this internet age, people don't just judge you based solely on their interactions with you. They are searching for your name online, through a variety of search engines and social networks and people  are curious to learn more about you, and your personal life, whether you like it or not. Everyone is watching everyone else !!!

Unfortunately this means we become obsessed with our appearance and physical attractiveness becomes of overwhelming importance and with all the latest techniques available on the internet there is the ability to “fake” your appearance and “airbrush” your photos and even edit your talents and manage your own image just how you want it to be.

My view is that this provides a breeding ground for a completely unattainable expectation for ones-self regarding body image and looks and cruelly encourages us to believe that looks are the most important aspect of our identity! And in the extreme it can have devastating and detrimental consequences when we read of models and dancers who commit suicide because of the pressures of obsessing about unattainable “body image”.

During my years at college it became an obsession particularly with the girls and I have witnessed everything from expressions of doubt, fear, despair and self-disgust or alternatively, of contempt and self-righteous smugness in supposedly bodily superiority amongst students when the issue of the dancer's body arose, or when they faced the studio mirror. The forms of being bodily wrong that students despair over are endless and the increasing numbers who suffer from eating disorders is quite frightening. We were constantly told that in the dance world it is more important how you look than how you dance and we all fretted whether we were too short, too tall, too fat, too thin,too flat-chested, too busty, disproportionate, too big in the hips, thighs or shoulders, too short   in the neck, or too long in the torso relative to the legs. We were constantly told we needed to find “a look”. The number of times more talented students have been overlooked for someone who has the “right look” are more than I’ve had hot dinners.

I’m afraid being the subject of bullying as an adolescent about my appearance I am a very strong advocate of proclaiming that the dance world should re-examine it’s attitudes toward body image and culture. For example; Why should it be that only tall, slender people can be professional ballet dancers. Shouldn’t ballet be something open to everyone? True anyone can take classes but they wouldn’t be accepted into ballet school no matter how good they are on technique!

 I have fought body image issues for 5 years since I hit puberty and it presented me with boobs and curves. At 11 years old I was destined for ballet school – an associate dancer with Northern Ballet Theatre and soloist with English Youth Ballet and National Youth Ballet till I suddenly reached puberty at 14. My technique and skill was no different but my body had completely changed and I was rejected by every ballet school, quite cruelly being told I was the wrong shape for ballet!

 I even found a web site today that allows you to see yourself as you would look if you lose or gain weight and it is quite simple, you upload your picture and move a knob on a scale up and down depending on what you want to see. It is smart marketing for the diet and exercise industry but very bad for self esteem and sites like these increase disillusionment, depression and loneliness.

In the professional dance industry, diversity in shape and size of bodies is now becoming more acceptable than ever but it still has a long way to go and the idea of creating the perfect virtual image via the internet fills me with a sense of dread. How will any of us keep our individual identity if we are all “Avatared”?

An avatar is a computer user's representation of himself/herself or alter ego whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games,^[1] or a two-dimensional icon (picture) used on Internet forums and other communities^[2][3].

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(computing)

I wasn’t surprised to find when I googled Avatar that there were numerous sites offering to Aavartise yourself for free, including a link on “Facebook” and “You tube”.

Whilst I think there are wonderful opportunities to enhance and promote ourselves via the net and create a network of contacts I am also cautious about the wider implications of  its use and would support the regulation and monitoring of the use of “faking” . I understand the government are already looking at the regulating of “airbrushing” in the advertising and modeling world and  there could potentially, one day, be laws introduced that would require all airbrushed images to contain a small ‘kitemark’ to show they are not real.

Image Source: campaignlive.co.uk

 Airbrushing is known to distort reality, providing a ‘fake’ ideal that young people aspire to. To me this is a disturbing concept. The prospects to be able to create ourselves as the perfect image are endless via the internet but can then we deal psychologically with the reality..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photo_manipulation

Photo manipulation is the application of image editing techniques to photographs in order to create an illusion or deception (in contrast to mere enhancement or correction), through analog or digital means.^[1]

A close friend of mine experimented with the use of airbrushing and editing for a photograph to advertise himself as a dancer. He had the floor lowered and his legs lifted to imporve the appearance of his leap and the height of his jump. This obviously showed him looking great - but it wasn't real. But would it 've convinced a potential employer togive him an audition ?

I have witnessed girls handing their headshots in at auditions and the photo barely resembles the reality due to digital techniques and airbrushing. Is it a case of "the survival of the fittest" and we all "join 'em if we can't beat 'em?" What do others think?
If we are to be merely judged on a photograph in order to be considered for an audition  then are we creating  a "cyber world" that merely judges us an an image of ourselves that appears on networking sites?


Confucius once said: 'Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.'


These simple words should echo a deeper meaning for all those who seek to find beauty in the eyes of another. Why should one believe that beauty is about looking like someone else? One should be able to accept that everyone is unique and beautiful in their own way and that being different is not such a bad thing. For true beauty is not what others see in you but what you cherish and nurture in yourself’.

I fear that in a virtual world we will all loose our individuality and that’s what makes us all unique and beautiful. It certainly is an interesting concept as Adesola says but I think we have to approach it with caution as somewhere along the way we will loose our real identities and what a place it would be if we all looked exactly the same in society’s acceptance of what is attractive.  I want to be known for my talent as a dancer but I know to move in the professional world I have to be realistic and use the tools available to network and promote myself and that as a dancer it may seem at first glance that it’s all about looks as dance is a visual art but I like to have a more optimistic view of things and hope we are coming into an age where technique and skill are more important than raw aesthetic and I don’t have to seek to look like someone else. Traditionally, dancers have been known to be obsessive about how they look, which is even more reason to encourage positive body image. I can only hope and have faith !!!!!