Shaping up to dance......................

Whilst researching article after article to do with body imagery and dancers it has always been difficult finding anything specifically relating to other genres of dance other than ballet.  While the literature abounds with studies examining classical dancers, considerably less has been published about modern dancers so  I was really pleased to come across a couple of articles that discusses these issues with a contemporary dancer.

The first is an interview with a male and female dancer with a contemporary dance company called Pilobolus. In my case I was more interested in what the female dancer had to say as I am concentrating on the female dancer for my inquiry question but the whole article is an interesting read.......... see reference and link to read the whole article.

Interview with dancer............... Annika Sheaff

1. How does being a professional dancer affect your body image? Self-image?
Unfortunately I think dancers tend to have a very skewed sense of self. Dancers are conditioned from a very young age to be very disciplined. They are told what to do and exactly how to do it. And that mentality of always trying to get the step perfect spills over into the way dancers think about everything, I think. For me personally, my body was never an issue until I went to college and gained about 20 pounds. Then the school started to tell me I should slim down and that feeling of having someone watch your body, and keeping an eye on you to see if you lost weight, well it stays with you for a long time. Some dancers never let it go … lucky for me I joined Pilobolus and they wanted me to be strong and healthy so I gained a lot of confidence back!  

2. Did you feel differently about your body before you began performing professionally? How so? Is the climate different in school or training?
Yes, during training and school I never thought I was good enough, and I always found something about my body that I didn’t like. I never had any eating disorders or physically hurt myself, but in terms of the way I viewed myself … I wasn’t in a good place. Then leaving school and joining a professional company I gained so much self esteem! My directors told me in the beginning to trim up, but that happened automatically just by dancing so much each day. After about the first 3 months of touring and dancing my body looked great, I felt great, and I started to find myself again. It was wonderful! Pilobolus has a very healthy attitude towards body image.

3. How do you think your expectations of your body differ from those of a professional athlete?
I never thought about this before! I guess a basketball player just needs to get the ball in the hoop, and at the end of the day it doesn’t matter what his body looks like, only that he or she can accomplish this task. For me, I have to be able to do 130 rigorous shows a year and look great doing it! I expect my body to be strong and injury free, and the audience expects a beautiful body onstage to look at. So, I think the difference is that athletes probably don’t worry if their butt is getting a bit big if they can still run and jump just as well. Whereas a dancer would worry about it a lot because people are paying to come see us move.


4. What do you value most about your body?

When my body is feeling great and pain free is when I am super happy with it. It is hard to dance through pain and injury, and it happens. I also love the fact that that I am 5’7″, curvy, and strong!!


5. Do you struggle with food and eating? If so, how so?
No! I love food so much! Sometimes I feel guilty after eating a huge piece of cake … but it won’t stop me from eating it! It will just make me run a little further the next day! ha ha!

6. Do you compare your body to other bodies? Whose? Why? When?
Of course! All the time every day! I compare myself to the women on the cover of Sports Illustrated, to other dancers, to any woman who I think has a great body! I think that is only natural. I try not to, but I always do, especially at dance auditions. An audition is just a big fiasco with lots of judgment in the air … it is hard to not compare yourself to the competition.

7. Do any aspects of the dance community fuel negative body image? Or are dancers generally pretty supportive of each other in this area? Does it vary from style to style?
I think it does vary from style to style. I think dancers try to always be supportive of each other. I would assume in the ballet world that it is extremely important to be very skinny, that is their aesthetic. Whereas in the break dancing world, or the hip hop world being skinny wouldn’t matter. They might be worried about a 6 pack, I am not sure! Dancers are very aware of their bodies no matter what style they dance.

8. Do the members of your troupe work out together? What does a dancer’s workout look like, roughly?
I wouldn’t say the dancer of Pilobolus work out together. We warm up together before a show. There are 2 women in Pilobolus, sometimes we hit the gym together but most of the time we don’t. A dancer’s warm up or work out if going to vary a lot depending on what genre they are in. Ballet dancers will take a ballet class every day. Jazz dancers may do a ballet or a jazz warm up. I have no clue how street dancers, hip hop artists, or breakers warm up! At Pilobolus we run around, jump, do push-ups or sit ups, do our “dailies” (moves that are hard for us that we have to do in the show). We just make sure our bodies are very warm before we start rehearsal, and the process of getting warm is different for each dancer.

9. Does being acutely aware of your body make you hypersensitive to the aging process?
Not really, I mean everyone is getting older! The only thing I ever think about is the fact that I know I can only dance as long as my body lets me. If I treat my body well, hopefully I will dance for a long time … or until I have kids anyway!

10. What is the most amazing thing you’ve ever done with your body?
Well, once I did 6 pirouettes on pointe! That was pretty amazing! I also challenged myself to go canyoning in New Zealand … that was scary and awesome! But honestly, joining Pilobolus and learning how to move in a completely new way at age 22 is probably the most amazing thing my body has ever done for me!

I found this article really useful as it reiterated for me that many dancers regardless of the style see others as perfect and ourselves as imperfect. It also is further evidence that dancers do have issues and worries and struggles with body image especially during their years whilst training. It seems even in the contemporary world there is  evidence that dancers suffer from a heightened sense of his or her own body, because they know they are being judged by their appearance every time they step on stage.

The second article I reviewed was printed in the Observer on 15th April 2007  entitled , "Size zero cast aside as dance shapes up", by dance critic Luke Jennings.

Jennings reveals how the emaciated waifs he remembers from his ballet training days have been replaced in some dance companies by strong-muscled women, while three top dancers tell how they learned to love their curves.

Jennings comments; "Dance and fashion have so much in common. Both are body-centred. Both involve performance, display and self-expression. They also share a dark side - a potentially fatal obsession with weight and body-image. Since the cultural revolution of the 1960s, female dancers and fashion models have presented near-identical symptoms of damage, with failure to live up to extreme physical ideals resulting in drug and medication abuse, mental health problems and even death from starvation. While fashion is on the rack, however, dance has moved on, establishing a new and liberating aesthetic which puts it way ahead of the curve. The size issue has been confronted, dance is in recovery, and as performers like Rambert's Mikaela Polley and Angika's Mayuri Boonham attest, the medium has become a celebration of women's experience, intelligence and power. How did this happen? How did a minority art-form come to make fashion look so unfashionable? How did strong come to be the new thin?"

Jennings goes on to reveal his experiences as a dance student; "When I was a ballet student in the 1970s, when things were very different. Thinness was everything, the manifestation of an extreme aesthetic which idealised the ethereal and shrank with horror from the 'civilian' body-shape. All female ballet dancers subscribed to this ideal but it was never made clear how it was to be achieved. There was no nutrition advice or counselling, no understanding of the effects of dieting on the adolescent body. Instead, everyone smoked like chimneys, and many of the girls lived on little more than cottage cheese and black coffee. There was also an unofficial, semi-secret trade in 'slimming pills' (actually amphetamines), for those vital crash weight-losses before Solo Seal exams or company auditions.

Clare Park was in the year above me, and severely anorexic. 'No one talked about the state I was in,' she remembers. 'There was no support. And I was only 16. The school's attitude was: if people fall by the wayside, too bad. There's always another dancer waiting to take her place.' Park left ballet, became one of the most iconic fashion models of the 1980s and is now a photographer. A self-portrait, inspired by her memories of anorexia (in a box, naked, with her mouth bandaged), became the cover-image of Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth.

For us boys, never giving food a second thought, female body-angst was part of the wallpaper: always there, never directly addressed. We were vaguely sympathetic, but there was stuff we didn't want to know, like when a friend, after a birthday blow-out at Patisserie Valerie in Soho, breezily announced that she was going downstairs 'for a quick chuck' as she had a costume-fitting that afternoon. For all its weirdness, I loved my time as a dancer, but it was not, overall, a happy world. Four colleagues I knew well died of heroin overdoses".

He goes on to say that "the gothically skinny 'bunhead' with her sunken cheeks and freaky eating habits - once such a staple character of ballet schools and companies - is now becoming out of favour". He reports that; " 'If a girl or boy looks too thin or unhealthy, they are not allowed to perform,' says Jane Hackett, director of the English National Ballet School in London. 'As performing is the main motivation for these young, talented people, it quickly has the desired effect.' At the Australian Ballet School in Melbourne, resident psychologist Lucinda Sharp agrees that the days when dancers lived on cigarettes and coffee are over. 'There was a time when very, very skinny dancers were fashionable, but we have a very strong holistic approach to the health and welfare of our students.' At the Melbourne school, as in London, students aren't allowed to perform if they fall beneath a healthy weight".

Jennings goes on to say that; "There are still thin dancers in ballet. But ballet is only a part of dance, and thin is no longer the standard. If there's a physical ideal in dance now, it's one of sleek, streamlined, long-muscled power. Forget the vaporous sprites of yesteryear, today's dancers are as likely to be lifting the men as being lifted. Look at the women in British ensembles like Random Dance or the Henri Oguike Dance Company. Look at Sylvie Guillem with her ripped physique and steely limbs. They're amazing. Like comic-book heroines, like Promethea or Lady Deathstrike. What dance has achieved, and fashion hasn't, is a change in its core aesthetic. Strength is a democratic ideal, because anyone can be strong - anyone can be a super-version of themselves. A dancer can look like a real woman, and her performances are all the more believable because of it. Do-anything types like London Contemporary Dance Theatre's Linda Gibbs, Rambert's Lennie Westerdijk, and Nederlands Dans Theater's Mea Venema. Those women, and others like them, remade my perception of the female dancer".

Included in the article are three interviews with professional dancers from different genres of dance:

Mayuri Boonham, 36
Angika Dance Company
I was born in Birmingham, and was sporty at school. Captain of netball! I was tall for an Indian girl - 'Where are we going to find you a husband?' my parents used to say despairingly - and I was dark-skinned. I was aware very young of the hierarchy of shades of brown. The ideal look was fair... so I took up sunbathing! I'm fine with the way I look.

I always admired Bollywood dancers, the way they moved, their womanly figures, and I used to create my own shows in the living room. At 13, I began to study Bharat Natyam (North Indian classical dance), and I've been studying, performing and choreographing ever since. My guru is Prakash Yadagudde. I got married at 21 [to the sculptor Nigel Boonham] and this enabled me to pursue dance single-mindedly. Without Nigel - no career. I owe him everything.

Anglo-Saxon supermodels are like another species to me. I've never admired thinness, and I don't identify with the images in fashion magazines. I analyse what I see intellectually and move on. Abnormally thin people are just ugly. I see someone in the skinny jeans, the shoes, carrying the expensive handbag, and I think oh no. They've fallen for it.

As a dancer, you have to control your diet, but technically and responsibly. You also need fitness of mind - at the moment I'm reading a book about mathematics, Bob Dylan's autobiography and a Salinger novel. It's harmony of the body, mind and feelings that brings dance alive. You're trying to transcend your physical form. Right now the company's just back from Germany. A sell-out tour of our Urban Temple programme. It was fantastic, but it was hard work. You've got to be strong.

Laura Morera, 29
Royal Ballet
I lived at home in Madrid until I was 11, then went to the Royal Ballet School. I was very homesick, I didn't speak English, and I didn't have that slender British look. In Spain you're doing fouettes (advanced turns) by the age of nine, and I was muscly. I've had to learn how to avoid muscle-bulk, to lengthen the body out, to balance strength against line.

My ideal at school was Darcey (Bussell). Beautiful, tall, glamorous and strong. Later, though, I realised that picture-icons are negative. You have to be your own icon. Beauty comes from happiness, and I'm happy with the way I am. There are things I'd change but I've learnt to meet myself halfway. If I look at my body it's for dance, not fashion. I don't have any vanity but I'm a perfectionist, professionally speaking.

I look at fashion magazines and frankly I don't know what designers are thinking. To look like some of the models you'd have to be half-dead; I get angry that designers play with people's lives that way. And the editors make me angry too: you see a picture of some celebrity, she's clearly anorexic, and they put her in the best-dressed list.

The truth is that if you become half a person in weight, you become half a person in spirit. So for the sake of my relationship (with dancer-fiance Justin Meissner), I stay whole. I feel passionately about this, and I want young dancers to know that, yes, you have to make sacrifices, but at the end of the day we're not models - we need strength.

At the Royal Ballet no one's fanatical about your weight and look - they want you how you are. That's why Britain is the most theatrical country in the world. I'm truly spoilt here.

Mikaela Polley, 35
Rambert Dance Company
I grew up in Essex and trained locally and at the Royal Ballet School. A friend had anorexia; it was horrifying seeing her mother having to feed her up before dance competitions. Some girls at the Royal were on the thin side. We had no nutritional information given to us. We were very aware of our body-shapes though - everyone wanted longer legs and slimmer calf-muscles. My strength was jumping; I was always very toned.

I joined Birmingham Royal Ballet, but I was always picked for the modern stuff. I felt more comfortable with it, there was something to attack, something with real physicality. I joined Rambert in 2001. There was more individuality among the female bodies. At 5ft 3in I was one of the smaller ones but my upper body strength grew fast, and that was fine. I've always felt confident about my body, and content with what I've been given - breast size, bum size and so on. I've put my body through a lot as a contemporary dancer, but I've come out fairly unscathed.

You can tell when women are underfed. You see the legs; they're all knee-cap. You can tell from the chest-bones and those thin arms. Looking at other female dancers, I'm moved by people who are grounded, who can move through space, who have weight. I like to appreciate that it's a woman on stage.

Right now we're rehearsing Anatomica #3 by Andre Gingras, which sees bodies as exhibition sites. We're looking at people who exhibit themselves - politicians, models, porn-stars - and at new and extreme ways of presenting the body. It's a high-energy, very physical work. All of us are strongly influenced by performers: they have power, negative as well as positive.

I found this article informative for my line of inquiry as it discussed body image issues with a real honesty and discussed the issues with three professional dancers, getting veiws straight from the horses mouth so to speak. Interestingly the reporter Jennings himself had trained as a ballet dancer and whilst as a male did not feel the same pressures to conform to certain aesthetics in body image he was able to give the benefit of his own experiences that he witnessed with female peers who suffered and ended up with eating disorders.


The article was also further evidence that the expectations in the dance world have been so closely and intricately linked to the fashion and celebrity world and the pressures to achieve the perceived 'perfect body' have been historically embedded on the dance world to conform and increasingly so since the 1960's. It was encouraging to read that all three dancers despite the pressures within the industry have embraced their bodies and accepted them as they are. Again all three dancers are mature and experienced and have learned to live with their bodies and accept who they are but as young dancers felt pressures.


It was interesting that Jennings thought the article was evidence that there was a definite shift taking place in the dance world that was not happening in the fashion world. "Increasing numbers of women have been turning to choreography and taking control of the dance-making process. Women who are empowered and have no time for the traditional, passive image of the female dancer - their performers are athletic, assertive and pro-active".
He concludes his article with, "fashion continues to view the image of the physically and emotionally adult woman with horror. If there is to be a change in aesthetic, however, it's precisely those adult women who must initiate it, as they did in dance. With luck, there's a generation of whip-smart new designers out there, waiting to kick the old order into touch. Waiting to prove, as in dance, that strong is the new thin".
There is no evidence that the revolution in dance has completely taken place as Jennings advocates in his article, but there is some evidence that some improvements are happening in the dance world and there is some initiation there but with a lack of conviction from all walks of the profession. I think the link between the two (ie: fashion and dance) from the research I have conducted is still intricately there and there is still a long way to go.
The article was written in 2007 just as I was a 16 year old entering my first year at vocational dance college. Certainly at my college the traditional aesthetic image of the 'thin' dancer was advocated as the 'perfect body for dance' even in the contemporary classes. Muscle and strength in the female dancer was often labelled as 'fat' and those who were larger were advised to lose weight. The findings from my questionnaire's, interviews and observations would suggest that the revolution that excited Jennings and inspired his article is still in its infancy for the dance profession but at least is the start of something positive to initiate a change. I do agree with him though that it is dance practitioners themselves that need to bring about the change and challenge current accepted ideals.

Reference

http://www.alreadypretty.com/2010/03/dance-and-body-image-interview-with.html..............

http:// www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2007/apr/15/dance.healthandwellbeing&urlHash=-1.9315457902082914E-184

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2007/apr/15/dance.healthandwellbeing
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1083/is_7_82/ai_n27945073/

The size of problems women face......................

Did anyone see the article in the Sunday Express November 13th about Dawn French and her weight loss? Interestingly the article debates "why when it comes to a woman's achievements none is considered greater than dropping a dress size?


Not gaining a degree, or sustaining a successful career in a male dominated world of television comedy or winning an award  as a  best-selling author, not maintaining a successful relationship or finding happiness alone, not raising children or devoting oneself to a successful career". 

The article says, "It's sad but true that in the eyes of the popular press none of the things a lady can do in her life will ever be as impressive as a dramatic weight loss. If a woman was to bring about world peace she would still be derided in the gossip columns for doing it whilst carrying a few extra pounds."

Dawn French received more accolades for turning up for her best author award because she had lost weight than for her award as an author. The focus was turned away from her literary achievements to debate her weight. One columnist even suggesting that Dawn's proclaiming she was 'fat and happy' for many years must be a lie suggesting she has always been a beautiful woman but her weight loss now meant that her beauty is easier for all to see. Even insinuating she must have had a secret gastric band fitted and lied about it.

The article adds, "What is worse is the inference that any woman who has any spare flesh on her must be perpetually miserable which adds to the pressures women feel to conform to a 'thin ideal' ".

Interestingly in the same newspaper several pages earlier there is an article claiming "10% of teens visit anorexia websites". On such websites are pictures of ultra - skinny models and celebrities, such as Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie to boost motivation and encourage young people to follow an anorexic lifestyle. Mary George of eating disorder charity, 'Beat' says, "this encourages young people to follow the trend and is extremely dangerous".

Another article featured Rosario Dawson, who lost weight to portray a drug addict dying of AIDS in Rent, who spoke out on body image in American culture and had some pointed words about expectations on women and their bodies. 

She says, "It's a form of violence in the way that we look at women and the way we expect them to look and be for what sake? Not for health, survival, not for enjoyment of life, but just so you could look pretty,"She  discussed industry-wide pressures to maintain an ideal body type. After losing weight to play a drug addict dying of HIV/AIDS in the film "Rent," she said she was stunned to hear compliments about her figure. “I remember everyone asking what did you do to get so thin? You looked great,” Dawson recalled. “I looked emaciated.”

So it would seem that according to the popular press, for women in particular, size really does matter!!   We are a body conscious society and the pressures on women to meet certain ideals is momentous and anyone in the spotlight who loses or gains weight will be in the news.  My personal interest in this media pressure is how that can affect the female dancer who faces even greater aesthetic demands and how can we ensure within the dance industry we promote healthy and happy dancers.

If anyone has any observations or experiences of how such articles and the pressures of body imagery in the media affects them, please let me know as I gather further data and evidence to inform my inquiry question...............................
 do you feel any pressure from the expectations to conform to a certain body shape or ideal?

On the eve when the press have announced that research reveals that 'British Women Are the Fattest in Europe' - how does that make us Brits feel? And more importantly the psychological effect that has on all women.

 The article reports that "Last month Health Secretary Andrew Lansley launched a new "ambition" to bring down England's obesity levels by 2020 and said people need to be honest with themselves about how much they eat and drink. Overall, Britons should be eating five billion fewer calories a day than at present, he said".

Data agency Eurostat, which looked at 19 countries, found nearly a quarter of UK women - 23.9% - were recorded as being obese in the year 2008 to 2009.The UK's high levels of obesity are in stark contrast to those in countries such as Romania, where just 8% of women were classed as obese along with 7.6% of men.

Interestingly the report on the BBC news website was the 5th most popular news story of the day which would suggest a lot of us are interested in reading about our weight issues and had attracted 717 comments on its blog  page.  What really interested me was that the report also suggested that "the figures suggested that the proportion of women who are obese or overweight falls as the educational level rises". So does this mean in weight matters, education could have a real significant effect?!

Some of the comments left on the web page were also interesting both positive and negative about weight and health issues, but one in particular attracted my attention; "Why does everyone get so obsessed by other peoples weight? Every individual knows if they are overweight or not. Let people live their own lives and stop judging people by their size and eating habits. Everybody big or small has the right to be respected as a human. Look beyond the size and see the person".

It appears size and weight issues are big news ?! Weight  is discussed and documented everywhere.  As I queued to pay for my 5 items in M&S I noticed all the glossies advertising diets and weight loss plans for Christmas and advertisements of how you can drop a couple of dress sizes in time for the party season  - weight is really a social issue and is debated everywhere!!!

 Researchers report that women’s magazines have ten and one-half times more ads and articles promoting weight loss than men’s magazines do, and over three-quarters of the covers of women’s magazines include at least one message about how to change a woman’s bodily appearance—by diet, exercise or cosmetic surgery.

It is wonderful for a woman such as Dawn French to drop from a size 22 to a size 16 and especially gratifying to hear that she states she did it to become fitter and healthier for her daughters sake and it would be great if the press reported it as such and  encouraged all women  to be healthy and happy in whatever shape or form that their bodies take.


Obviously we all should pay attention to what we are eating especially when cheap fast food is so readily available and tempting  and there are indeed cases where  women do need to lose weight to be healthy, but there are right and wrong ways to go about it. Giving anyone complexes about their bodies isn't healthy and in a society where size really does matter the young dancer is particularly vulnerable to the pressures and can easily be influenced !!

"Abnormal eating patterns are most likely to develop during the mid- to late teens, a period of considerable physical, psychological, and social change. While the exact events that lead to the evolution of these disorders are unknown, there are two common milestones that can trigger disordered eating, especially in those with a biological predisposition. The first is the occurrence of a traumatic event, such as the death of a loved one or a divorce. The other is the adoption of a strict diet, which may be even more pivotal than a personal trauma. In fact, rigorous dieting has been identified again and again as the most common initiating factor in the establishment of an uncontrollable pattern of disordered eating" - extract from an  article 'Eating Disorders (Nutrition and Well-being A to Z) .

 The article continues to state,  "Individuals with eating disorders are obsessed with food, body image, and weight loss. As many as 70 million people worldwide are estimated to suffer from these conditions, with one in five women displaying pathological eating patterns.

Professions, activities, and dietary regimens that emphasize food or thinness may also encourage eating disorders. For example, athletes, dancers, models, actors, diabetics, vegetarians, and food industry and nutrition professionals may have higher rates of disordered eating than the general population.

 Societal influences also contribute to this illness. Increasingly, Westernized culture portrays thinness as a coveted physical ideal associated with happiness, vitality, and well-being, while obesity is perceived as unhealthy and unattractive. This has encouraged a growing sentiment of body dissatisfaction, particularly among young women. Endless images of unrealistically thin models and actors in all forms of media further promote body dissatisfaction—one of the strongest risk factors for the development of disordered eating".

This is further illustrated in my findings through questionnaires and interview with dance practitioners, all said they had body image issues in their training years but had later learned to accept their bodies as they had got older and more experienced. All had experienced body image issues at  some point in their lives. I think this reiterates the importance of my inquiry in that in our education of dancers we need to ensure we promote happy and healthy dancers    -   if dancers are  better informed they can make healthy choices and learn to like what looks back at us in the mirror!

One obstacle is that the slimming industry is big business -  Obesity is a major public health problem affecting increasingly large numbers of people worldwide.  A rise in eating disorders is also accompanied by a rise in obesity in western culture but suprisingly eating disorders and obesity, usually seen as very different problems, actually share many similarities. In fact, eating disorders, obesity, and other weight-related disorders may overlap as girls move from one problem, such as unhealthy dieting, to another, such as obesity.

"Most teens don't suffer from either anorexia or obesity. They are more likely to engage in disordered eating behaviors such as bingeing, purging, and dieting. These behaviors are associated with serious physical and emotional health problems. We've got to get back to three square meals a day, healthy meal planning, nutritious snacks, and regular physical activity."
- Richard Kreipe, MD, Chief, Division of Adolescent Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center.

Weight is  certainly big news ! The stakes are huge. On the one hand, women who are insecure about their bodies are more likely to buy beauty products, new clothes, and diet aids. It is estimated that the diet industry is worth,  in the UK alone, £2bm and anywhere between 40 to 100 billion in the US but on the other hand, research indicates that exposure to images of thin, young, air-brushed female bodies is linked to depression, loss of self-esteem and the development of unhealthy eating habits in women and girls.

This focus on beauty and desirability "effectively destroys any awareness and action that might help to change that climate." (Kilborne).

Once responsibility for our own well-being has been accepted and all the sensible measures to regulate weight have been adopted, loving acceptance of the body is the key to the transformation of suffering.  

References:

Sunday Express - Sunday 13th November 2011. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2058243/Dawn-French-weight-loss-Comedienne-shows-svelte-figure-Galaxy-National-Book-Awards.html

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/british-women-fattest-in-europe

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-

15901351http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/27/quote-rosario-dawson-speaks-against-cultural-body-images/

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm

Eating Disorders - effects, food, nutrition, body, diet, fat, vitamin, weight, habits, Diagnosis, Prevalence, Risk Factors, Causes, Treatment Modalities, Outcomes http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Diab-Em/Eating-Disorders.html#ixzz1btX48yXW
http://www.athealth.com/consumer/disorders/obesityeatingdis.html

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/women_and_girls/women_beauty.cfm

Analysis and results of questionnaire data

I posted a questionnaire on my blog and via Facebook and also targeted 30 specific dance practitioners. These were a cross section of females aged from 18 to 50 years old and included vocational dance students, professional dancers, choreographers, dance teachers, agents, artistic directors and fellow BAPP students from my original SIG for module 2 who were also looking at similar issues.

I compiled a list of 10 questions to establish their opinions and views on body imagery in the dance industry and to inform me for my research for my inquiry question.    

Although the actual number who completed the questionnaire was disappointing I have detailed the questions below and a summary of the corresponding answers in the sample.

Data gather - questions

1.       Do you feel pressure to conform to a specific body type?

80% said yes. 20% said no.

2.      Have you ever felt uncomfortable about your body image?

100% said yes.

3.      Would you consider surgery to correct any 'defect' you feel you have? If so, what and why?

Most answered only for medical reasons would they consider surgery.

4.      Have you felt pressure about your body from other people?

22% said friends. 33% said agents. 44% said employers. 44% said school peers. 33% said magazines. 11% said television.

5.      Do you think we are a 'body conscious' society?

      100% said yes.

6.      Where do the ideals stem from and the factors that influence a dancer’s body image?

7.      Will dancers go to any extreme even damage their health to get their moment of glory and because they want to dance so much?

50% said yes. 50% said maybe.

8.     If dancers felt empowered to challenge behaviours and attitudes could this alter behaviours and attitudes?

40% said yes. 10% said no. 50% said maybe.

9.      Should we in the dance industry be doing more to promote a healthy dancer and change attitudes towards body image? If so, any suggestions how?
100% said yes

10.  In this modern society where consideration of diversity and equality are advocated and there are discrimination laws and human rights laws challenging practices, how can we as dancers make sure we try to take responsibility to promote, with regards to body image, our own well being in a tough industry?
100% said through better education  

Summary of responses

Here is a compilation of some of the reasons given for the outcomes above.

Even though I didn’t get as many responses for my survey as I had hoped it was still very interesting and helpful towards my inquiry. Most of the results confirmed the findings of my research of other literature from the articles and websites I found, agreeing:

·         that we are a body conscious society

·         that all these female dancers surveyed  suffer from body ‘hang ups’

·         everyone feels the pressures regarding body image from the media and even more so as a dancer, this is more prevalent from agents, employers, school peers and magazines with less pressure from friends and television

·         most felt it would be a hard battle to change attitudes within the dance industry as they are so deeply embedded and there is no regulation or built in checks and only half felt that it  would change

·         all felt better health education would be welcomed and should be encouraged and is the way forward for the dance industry to get away from the unhealthy skinny dancers  that have been prevalent in recent years

·         it was also evident that young dancers  suffer body image issues but as dancers get older and more experienced they learn to accept their bodies and become more comfortable and confident     

Everyone I sent the survey to has either studied dance, teaches dance or is in the performance industry as I thought I would have different opinions and thoughts which would give me a wider variety of views.

I selected 2 of those who answered the questionnaire to interview further and asked them the following questions..........................................

 Who in your life has made you feel the most beautiful physically and what did they do or say?

No 1 said her husband always tells her she is beautiful.
No 2 said her parents always told her she was beautiful and just perfect the way she was.  

Who contributed most to your feeling uneasy and dissatisfied with your body and what did they do or say?

Both replied their teachers at college who suggested they lose weight. One said she had a real complex at college as each day they would be lined up and comments would be made about their bodies and each week there would be a public weigh in. Comments such as "I can see your breakfast" - she said this often made her feel humiliated and she felt pressure to go on a diet to conform and to try and feel she belonged and to avoid further humiliating remarks.

  

What are your beliefs about what life is like for the "culturally-defined" gorgeous woman?

What experiences do you think these women have that you do not?
One said that when she was at college she presumed they had an amazing life , lots of boyfriends, money, the best jobs, travelling the world but now she is older she doesn't put so much stock on such things and knows that the fame and glamour doesn't mean happiness.

The other said she thought they would get more job opportunities.

Would you trade places with them if you could?

One said she would've when she was younger but not now.
The other said no she would not, there would be too much stress and pressure to maintain her looks living in the public eye and being always on show.

How do you imagine your life would change if you looked like them?
Both said they probably would have had more job opportunities and therefore earned more money and probably been more successful.   

If you could change something about your body, what would you change?

One said bigger boobs.

The other said longer and thinner legs.

How do you imagine this change would impact your life?
Both said it would give them more confidence and they are convinced they would have had more success in their dance careers.

When in your life did you start comparing yourself to other women?

Both said whilst at school

How much of your time and energy goes into these comparisons?

One said - nowadays not much at all, I've learned to accept myself the way I am but when I was a dance student it was constant as the competition for jobs was so fierce and you couldn't help but compare yourself to others and see all your own flaws in the mirrors - leotard and tights takes no prisoners.

The other reply was that it still makes her feel very negative about herself and she feels a failure if she doesn't lose weight when she feels the need to - such as for a special occasion.   

How much time in your life have you spent thinking about changing, promising to change, wishing you could change aspects of your body?

One said she no longer does that anymore as it is wasted energy and she just accepts her body shape and tries to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle but admits she wasted a lot of time in her college days wishing she could change things about herself.

The other says she feels like she has been on a diet her whole life and constantly battles to make the right weight.

How do you feel when a woman much smaller than you starts talking about how fat she is or how she just has to lose a few pounds?

No 1 said nowadays she would just laugh about it but admitted in the past to finding it rather infuriating.

No 2 said it makes her feel upset and angry as she has to struggle constantly with her weight. 

How do you feel about her and how does it make you feel about yourself?

No 2 said, It makes me feel that I must be really obese if she thinks she's fat and it depresses me. I also think to myself what does she think of me then.

Were there any important messages your parents taught you about physical beauty, size, shape?

No 1 said her mother was always monitoring her food from an early age as a dancer and encouraged her to be "skinny".

No 2 said her parents always told her she was beautiful the way she was and to be happy and healthy.

Do you still believe these messages? Are they good or harmful for you?
No 1 said she felt she should have had more freedom to make her own choices but No 2 felt her parents hadn't really helped her prepare for the realities of the dance world and its expectations with regard to body image and she wished they had had a stricter regime on her as a child but now she was older she realises the messages were the right ones.

Did you know any very large women when you were growing up?

Was their size discussed?

How did you feel about what was said about their size?

How did you relate these statements to yourself?

No 1 said she couldn't really remember many really big women but a friend of her mother's was always referred to as "my fat friend" which I never thought about at the time but now think it is rather demeaning.
No 2 said she always felt large women were discussed in a very uncomplimentary way and believes there is a "weight - ist" element in society that are discriminatory towards larger people as if they are less worthy people and therefore less successful and less deserving. I think it made me not want to be viewed in those terms.

Conclusion - what this means for my inquiry

The data collected confirms the findings in other articles and literature that we are a very body conscious society and that as female dance practitioners we are very aware of the pressures we are under to conform to certain body cultures. We constantly struggle with body image. We are concerned about our weight and whether our size and shape is acceptable to others, often failing to accept ourselves and struggling with weight issues which can manifest into eating disorders for many. The recurring message in the literature and data collected is that better health education  would help the dance industry try to change the attitudes and demands and promote happier and healthier dancers.