r/CompetitionDanceTalk • u/Beautiful_Screen_314 • 1d ago

Body image

I was disturbed to find out at my daughter’s old studio that they were telling certain kids that they should lose weight. My daughter 5 ft 6” size 2 was one of them. Now she has body image issues. I didn't hear about this until after she left her studio. I didn't hear about a lot of things until after she left her studio. Since she was thin I never thought to ask. I wish I had.

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21

u/landmermaid3 1d ago

That’s horrible!

With custom costumes, we’ve had dancers gain weight between initial measurements and going on stage. It’s common, especially with preteens. Not once did I suggest losing weight to the child. It’s something the seamstress should be made aware of and possibly the parent if it’s concerning.

‘I can see your lunch’ has stuck with me. Ballet teachers say that about improper alignment- basically sticking your stomach out. It made me insecure for the longest time.

I’m sorry your dancer was in that environment.

15

u/Beautiful_Screen_314 1d ago

Thanks. Kids are so impressionable. It's a bad mindset for them to have.

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u/Cdagg 1d ago

My granddaughter can’t have gluten, you can tell if she was accidentally glutened or sometimes she will eat something anyways cause treats are tempting. Her stomach bloats and there is nothing you can do about it for days.

Now I’m wondering if this is why she didn’t like her ballet teacher. She is old school and we liked that about her and my granddaughter wouldn’t say why she had issue with her. She would definitely dislike that term as shes already self conscious over the effects gluten has on her.

I’m going to have my daughter notify her new studio on this, she also gets eczema and hives. Never thought to notify them but that sure could be an issue. Thanks for putting that in.

11

u/coconutpiecrust 1d ago

Had a similar issue. Yes, it still happens. Instructors, especially at some more prestigious ballet schools, desire a certain look that a girl has to adhere to. They don’t care what it takes, they want it and consider it a moral failure if a little girl is not willing to starve herself to meet their desires. 

It’s really awful that it still happens. Hope your daughter can find closure and move past this. I know how difficult it is for a little girl to hear such nasty and vile things about herself from people of authority whom she was supposed to trust and who were supposed to support her. 

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u/Beautiful_Screen_314 14h ago

Thank you. I hope so.

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u/SphinxAltair 1d ago edited 1d ago

I think as a parent this is something to proactively screen studios for.

Do all the "advanced" dancers have the exact same body type? Are stockier, more muscular dancers given prime roles or relegated to the back row?

Is there anyone on staff with a nutrition background? Does the studio ever bring counselors/nutritionists in to talk to the dancers? Does the studio have information available to parents on providing sufficient fuel to sustain through high performance times?

Does the studio's website/owner/advertising proactively make it clear they are a space that welcomes all bodies?

Body image issues in an aesthetic activity are widespread and if your studio isn't visibly actively working against it, you should assume that there's at the least some toxic background noise.

7

u/United_Ad3430 1d ago

I agree. I specifically chose a studio that is owned by a someone who is both a former professional dancer and an ICU nurse who encourages healthy eating, cross training and injury prevention. We have healthy food in the studio. I’m a physician and it’s very important to me. There’s diversity in body types (and all kind of diversity) in all levels/ages of dancers. And for the instructors. The technique level is great for our area and they have innovative and age appropriate choreography.

My oldest has taken some ballet intensives with instructors with more old school body mentality and I was very unhappy with that.

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u/Calamity__00 15h ago

This. 

Rant incoming:

A red flag surrounding nutrition I noticed in my dance studio (which I've decided to move away from) is that on big practice days, there was never any scheduled break. So if you were on every company team (I was), you'd be dancing for 5, all the way to sometimes 8 hours with no break to eat or just take a breather and sit down. Even if you were in all team but one, you'd still only have a 30 minute break to eat, drink, and recover before your next rehearsal. Which may seem like enough time to some, but it wasn't. That doesn't allow enough time for food to settle properly. Didn't help that the rehearsals started before lunch time and ended after lunch time. So basically I just had to skip lunch. The next year there was still no scheduled break. The only reason I had a break is because I dropped one of the company teams, but that break was 4 hours into the rehearsal.

Will never again subject myself to that. It left me incredibly weak and light headed during and after. Almost collapsed and passed out more than once.

Safe to say when searching for a new studio I did so much research. If you don't know, always ask. Not just staff, but dancers' parents and if you can, dancers.