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ong legs and arms to match. A long neck topped by a small head. A short torso and a slender figure. These are the components that comprise George Balanchine’s ideal ballerina and have been the standard for the last century. While there is some variation here and there, the majority of dancers who do not meet these requirements never make it into the New York City Ballets of their dreams. Superficially, this does not seem like an issue of huge importance. Ballerinas are working professionals, and as such are expected to show up to work looking the part, right? Realistically, however, there are very few dancers who have these proportions. In chasing after these unrealistic standards, many dancers are driven to such extremes as eating disorders
The theatre is full of young men and women. The gas lanterns dimly light the room and the silhouette of a figure can be seen in the shadows of the stage. As she emerges, she is like a dream: a tall, elegant body with a form fitting bodice and tutu. She is entrancing on her tiny pointe shoes as she floats across the stage. Love and passion fill the air as she moves in such a way that is almost magical. The Romantic Ballet Period introduced the aspects of theme, costume, and new technique to the dance world and its influences are still seen in contemporary works in ballet.
Works Cited Asantewaa, Eva. Yaa. " Alonzo King lines Ballet." Dance Magazine. 08 May 2012:
(“Ballet History”) During the romantic era ballerinas started to dance on pointe. The first dancer to do this was 18-year-old Marie Taglioni. (Raftis) Art and literature influenced the romantic ballet. Marie Taglioni born April 23, 1804, was a famous Italian ballerina during this era. (Raftis) Her father Filippo Taglioni trained her. (Raftis) She became the first dancer to dance on extreme tips or the points of the toes. (Raftis) She made her debut in Vienne in 1822. (Raftis)In Paris the performance was called La Sylphide, it was the first performance of the romantic ballet. (“A Brief History of Ballet - Illustrated by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.”) The play was a mortal man loving and destroy a supernatural creature. Filippo Taglioni created this play. He was an Italian dancer who was known to create the romantic style of ballets. (“Ballet History”) This play inspired many other plays with a similar theme. The focus of romantic ballet was an otherworldly being or ghostly spirits. (“Ballet History”) This theme was known to be performed by women mainly. The costume that is widely known is the romantic tutu. (“Ballet History”) During this, the romantic era gas lighting was also used compared to before where candles were used for theatre. The effect of gas lighting allowed for directors to use dim light. (“Ballet History”)
It is reliant on proper technique, fluidity, and coordination. Ballet technique includes alignment, pointe technique, and core techniques. Alignment includes proper posture of the dancer’s head, shoulders, and hips being vertically aligned. Each dancer needs to perfect the turnout, which is the movement where the dancer’s legs are rotating outward and it emphasizes clean footwork including enabling correct body positions, angles, and lines. It is imperative that a ballet dancer masters each detail in order to express complete fluidity throughout the dance such as proper posture, keeping shoulders down and toe pointing. Russian ballet is known for dramatic high extensions and dynamic turns throughout their dance like Pavlova did in The Dying
Ballet is one of the world's oldest and newest forms of dance. One man that created new audiences for ballet and mastered the dance to its fullest was none other than George Balanchine. He brought the standard ballet to levels no one has ever seen before. In the world of dance, there have been many wonderful and talented choreographers but Balanchine's work affected the dance world so much that he was a legend long before his death. Not only was he legendary worldwide but also his influenced American Ballet. George Balanchine's unique style of dance created the "American style" of Ballet.
This happens because ballerinas are forced to pick up choreography that is thrown at them in just minutes. Although, ballerinas do not start out with a brain that is ready and capable to remember information and the snap of a finger, their ability to do this grows over years and years in training. This leads to success in academic studies because the brain of a dancer has the ability to look at information and remember it with rapid speed. Their brains have been trained to work at extremely high speeds and this translates into their studies. This allows ballerinas to perform well on tests, quizzes, and exams because of their capability to take information and store it into their brain with exorbitant speed.
to the world of professional dance where incidents of Anorexia almost appear to be an occupational hazard as demands for thinness prevail in the dance world. The film explains that dancer’s tend to be abnormally thin, often 15% below ideal weight, which is the equivalent of an anorexic weight. Today the profession recognizes that this is a deadly psychiatric disorder which
Young girls and women symbolize femininity with being a ballerina. Kelso comments that in the shadows of the spotlight lurks an abusive world of eating disorders, verbal harassment, fierce competition, injuries, fatigued, and malnourished dancers (Kelso, 2003). In today’s world of ballet, dancers suffer from always being in pain, worrying their body image is not the right look they need to have to get lead roles resulting in the development of eating disorders, and male ballet dancers are stereotyped as being homosexual when most of the male dancers are in fact heterosexual.
...he ballerina both physically and narratively drew focus to the increasingly vital role of the supernatural, unattainable woman in ballet. The spectacle of Romantic ballet could not be so exuberant without its visual presentation in scenery and dance style, yet the pinnacle of Romantic ideals became the woman in her ethereal, supernatural presence. Giselle was built as a vision of Romanticism as changes in lighting and illusion centralized around her plotline, floating, skimming dance steps enhanced her ethereal qualities, and the narrative of the ballet itself projected her as an unattainable, otherworldly being. She was an isolated spectacle, both mysterious and alienated. The ballerina became the epitome of awe and mystical beauty in reflecting these Romanticism ideals. The ballerina was the most effective expression of a supernatural presence in Romantic ballet.
One of the hardest pressures that dancers have to get through is the pressure from the media. The media places harsh, rigid, and false ideas of dancers on to the mass public. Constantly bombarded by commercials, magazine ads, posters, etc., the idea of being thin and beautiful is what the society thinks of as the “norm”. The truth is “these ads portray women who have a weight way below average, and have no imperfections” (Karyn p.1). Many ads are airbrushed to give the models the look of being flawless which many women and girls do not realize. Since that look is “virtually impossible to achieve” many dancers will develop an eating disorder feeling that “it is their only road to achieve this goal” of being thin (Karyn p.1). When thinking about it, the whole point of a commercial is essentially to sell happiness. If selling happiness is the goal and the use of models is prevalent in the commercial, then it can be concluded that the only way to achieve happiness is to be just like the commercial by having the product being advertised and looking like the person advertising it.
Even though Gelsey Kirkland was a graceful and amazingly fit dancer, George Balanchine, then director and choreographer of the New York City Ballet, approached her during a barre routine, pointed to her upper chest and whispered, "I want to see bones." At 5'4 and 100 lbs, she was already under weight for her height, so did she really need to lose more? Although shocked and appalled by her directors comment, she immediately put herself on a diet. By the end of the season she was down to 92 lbs, a virtual dancing skeleton. She kept this weight off for many years, sometimes by eating one apple a day, cut into fourths with an added spoonful of cottage cheese. Unfortuntately she didn't think about how this behavior would affect her in the future, all she cared about was the "then and now." The "little girl" body image is something that has plagued our young female athletes in the performance arts for a little over 40 years. Unfortunately, I feel the subject about changing our society's mind abou the "little girl" image is useless to write about. Dancers, gymnasts, and figure skaters are always going to have this image attached to them because it is what we want to see. We are not going to change the way people think, so it's time to try and find another solution. What can we do to possibly discourage these athletes from resorting to anorexia and bulimia?
Approximately 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies. This can mostly be contributed to societies standards of what men and women are “supposed” to look like. This image is often affected by family, friends, social pressure and the media. Unfortunately, only 5% of women naturally possess the body type often portrayed by Americans in the media (“11 Facts”). "Body image" is the way that someone perceives their body and assumes that others perceive them, but the athletes who have a specifically hard time with body images are ones such as dancers, ice skaters, and gymnasts. The perfect body of a gymnast is someone who is about 5 feet tall
On the first day of classes there was a total of 25 students (only three of which where male) and none had experianced the classical training that balanchine grew up with in russia. Part of the reason there where such few students was that the united states was still going through a time of great depression. The arts in general where hard to afford, and dance was primarily used to represent the social struggle of the people. Classical ballet, being posh and very structured did not well represent the feelings of the average American citizen. However, the few students attending the school where shocked about balanchines training; how innovative it was compared to their old technique. One student, Lisa Chalmers, recalls, “at the school of amerian ballet I had a feeling of importance that I ahd never felt before. Balanchine took ballet from being an old artform into a modern one that didnt need story to be entertaining”. Also Ruthanna Boris, one of the first 25 students to attend, claims balanchine was the first teacher she ever had to lead by example, and use physical contact to help improve form. Balanchine explored different styles with his students and pushed their capabilities to the limit, ultimately creating ballet dancers that the public enjoyed. These dancers where neoclassical, or ballet dancers with western influences incorporated into their classical
Ballet is a beautiful and romantic type of performance art. It originated in the Italian court systems in the 15th century (Jonas). Since its origination, ballet has undergone many changes and gained worldwide recognition. Filled with elaborate costumes, cheering audiences, lights, weightless movements and beauty; ballet is admired by many. On the magical stage ballerinas can become whoever they wan to be, and perform in a world of fantasy. For these reasons, children, especially little girls, all over the world dream of becoming ballerinas when they grow up. However, becoming a professional ballerina is an extremely difficult accomplishment, in which few will achieve (Kelso 1). The world of ballet may seem to be filled with glitz and glamor but, behind the curtain there is an entirely different story. There are extreme demands and pressures put on these young dancers to be very thin and nearly perfect. Some of which include body and weight demands, competition, and social pressures. These constant pressures can lead to a negative body-image and even debilitating eating disorders (Price and Pettijohn).
Believe it or not, but beauty pageants encourage girls to live healthier lives. Yes, some contestants do try to get skinnier through unhealthy means and develop eating disorders, but in any sport a person is at risk for an eating disorder. Often times in dance you hear stories about ballerinas or other dancers starving themselves to fit into their costumes or starving themselves to become light enough to lift. In swimming, people starve themselves to reach a perfect weight so that they can gracefully move through the waters at high speeds, leaving nothing but a trail of bubbles. Don't you recognize what is happening? Beauty pageants are not the only sports the people who participate in might suffer through eating disorders. In fact girls will try their best to get their body healthy and toned by eating well and exercise. The average contestant's BMI rate is 18.9 according to Statistic Brain. The National Heart, Blood, and Lung institute states that this is a superb BMI that is not underwei...