In a dancer’s world, body image is everything. The quest to be thinner, lighter, more ethereal takes on a whole new meaning when leotards, tights and often bare legs and chests (for men) are involved. This is the perfect foundation for an eating disorder. The statistics for reported eating disorders in the United States seem low affecting 20 million women and 10 million men, but in the ballet world, they are anecdotally more prevalent. In a 2004 study conducted by Sungot-Borgen and Torstveit, female athletes in an aesthetic sport such as gymnastics, ballet, and figure skating, were found to be at the highest risk for developing an eating disorder. And if you can’t pinpoint an eating disorder, certainly disordered, ritualistic eating exists, even if it does not meet the full diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder. Eating disorders are amongst us: they are in sports; the arts; on the street; in the house next door to yours. In an image-driven sport and art where the body is the primary instrument and the drive for perfection is intense, every bulge, curve, and dimple is carefully scrutinized. While dancers may not admit to an intense fear of gaining weight as is typical with a textbook case of Anorexia Nervosa, their profession demands low weight; their passion for dance demands it, and it supersedes all other needs, even those consistent with a long and healthy life. In a dancer’s world, when the curtain opens on performance day, no collarbone, rib or hip bone is too bony to showcase: just read Gelsey Kirkland’s Dancing on My Grave.
Daphne Reinhart, LGPC – Therapist at The Body Image Therapy Center. If you would like to get in touch with Daphne please call 443-602-6515 or email [email protected].