Heidi Guenther Dance Body

To see the bones Heidi Guenther danced with the Boston Ballet and suffered from an eating disorder during her career. Her devastating journey ended her life when she was 22 (Kelly). At her death, she weighed one hundred pounds (Dunning). Dancers are naturally competitive and many, like Guenther, are so determined and passionate about it to ignore their necessity for their main source of energy, food. Ballet is a visual art form that uses the body to convey a story to others. This constant attention brought on dancers’ bodies often causes the development of eating disorders. An eating disorder is classified as an unhealthy change or disturbance of eating behaviors and body weight (“Eating Disorder”). Many programs have been introduced to attempt
Ballet, for years, has been known for dancers with a sylphlike body structure (Kelly). The ideal dancer is expected to be thin and well proportioned. Dancers tend to be naturally competitive and often struggle with the overwhelming attention brought to their body shape, causing many to develop eating disorders. Classical training and the high demands it requires is another cause of eating disorders (Kelly). Between 1966 and 2013, many studies have been conducted in attempt to find a ratio of eating disorders among dancers. These studies show that around 16.4% of dancers have been classified with a general eating disorder, 4% have been diagnosed with anorexia, around 2% of dancers have bulimia, and 14.9% have eating disorders not otherwise specified (Arcelus). Dr. Michelle Warren, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center’s gynecologist and obstetrician and expert in Menopause and Hormonal Disorders, says, “Dance is one of the worst areas. The average incidence of eating disorders in the white middle-class population is 1 in 100. In classical ballet, it is 1 in 5,” (Dunning). Many professional companies have an on-site nutritionist to suggest proper
Companies in New York offer informal and confidential help to dancers who suffer from eating disorders. Along with this help, nutritional workshops are held regularly (Dunning). Marianela Núñez and Thiago Soares dance at the Royal Ballet. In the attempt to raise awareness to eating disorders, they raised £1.2 million to install a new unit for adult eating disorders at the Glenfield Hospital in the Bennion Centre (Clark). Betty Oliphant says, “The staff is not allowed to discuss weight with the students. Some of them do, however, when my back is turned. But really, they should not,” (Kelly). However, despite attempts at resolving eating disorders, it is still not enough. 16.4% of all dancers still have been classified with a general eating disorder, 4% with anorexia, 2% with bulimia, and 14.9% diagnosed with an eating disorder not otherwise specified (Arcelus). Many companies, also, continue to select their dancers by their physical appearance instead of their ability to dance which places the dancers under a lot of stress and pressure to change their bodies to fit the standards of these desired companies. Grace Edwards points out also that it is not only the dance community’s fault for having such high standards on dancers but also the audience. Edwards says that, as spectators, people are accustomed