As a dancer, I have always been acutely aware that putting my body on display as art could field negative criticism. I received my first “fat talk” while attending a big-name summer intensive as a teenager in 2001. Shortly after transitioning from barre to center in our morning class, I was called upon for what […]
Confidence is an important part of a dancer’s success. But for many dancers, industry pressures and body ideals often cultivate a narrative that is overwhelmed with self-judgment, ridicule and dissatisfaction. In fact, body weight surveillance has a detrimental impact on a dancer’s health. A 2018 study suggests that in addition to mirror usage and dancewear […]
For students and performers of all ages, body image and eating disorders can be serious issues. The dance company MusEffect confronts these topics in a new video. In “Look At Me—Celebrating the Authentic You,” dancers (including familiar face Mollee Gray from “SYTYCD” Season 6) perform in partners behind MusEffect’s resident spoken-word poet Azure Antoinette and […]
At Love Your Body Week 2012, students at All That Dance papered studio mirrors with reasons they appreciate their body. It’s usually in middle school or early high school that dancers first begin understanding, talking about and fretting over weight. That’s why, when fostering positive body image in young dancers, one Seattle studio calls on […]
Rosie Herrera, artistic director of Miami, FL-based Rosie Herrera Dance Theater, began her training late, at age 18. With her belated beginning came those all-too-familiar self-doubts about her body as a dancer. After graduating from New World School of the Arts with a BFA in dance, she began studying with Brigid Baker and finally learned […]