Ballet is a form of art that takes discipline, health, and good life choices. Perfect bodies for the stage are elongated forms from head to toe, with a small body and a long swooping neck.
You must look like you are floating across the stage, so appearance is everything. Weight is the biggest issue that professional dancers deal with, which explains why ballerinas are so skinny.
Why Are Ballerinas So Skinny?
1. Lack Of Food Means Skinny
Ballerinas are pushed every day to lose weight. Look thin and graceful when dancing, with no signs of bulges or bumps. The lumps and bumps that are present in most humans.
Ballerinas are the exception, though. Skipping food throughout the day gives them the frame that the stage loves. Still, if not careful, they will become plagued with malnutrition and weakness from lack of nutrients.
It was such a problem that many dance studios brought on a nutritionist as part of the staff, ensuring that all the dancers ate correctly.
2. Ballerinas Are Always Exercising
Practice makes perfection a common mantra in any good dance studio. Top ballerinas in every town across the globe will all tell you that they live in the studios.
Exercising may not be the goal, but it has been shown that dancing is one of the best ways to lose weight. That is why many weight loss regimes incorporate some type of dance movement.
Dancers that are dedicated can be found practicing every second that they can. Practice means exercise, which means weight loss, even if they do not want any.
3. Ballerinas And Self Image
Self-image is everything for people around the globe. Still, ballerinas must be even more aware of their bodies and how they move. The smaller their frames are, the smoother their dance moves are.
If you have ever been to a dance studio, you will see that they are full of mirrors. Reflections are designed to allow the dancer to watch their form, but it makes them see their body differently.
A way that makes them always think that they are too big. Too overweight to dance in a ballot and too big to get the leading role. So big that you starve yourself even more than you already are.
Self-image of ballerinas is one of the leading problems that they face. Over 50% of dancers have an eating disorder. Even though they know they need to eat for nutrition, they are told to fast.
4. Balllerinas Are Pushed To Weightloss
Ballerinas usually start their careers young. 5 years is the average age to start dancing, but they do not begin formal ballot dancing until they reach 8 years old.
From that time on, they are pushed to control their weight. Losing weight is not an option but a necessity if you want to be a top dancer.
Unfortunately, a ballot is not just about technique but how you look. If you do not fit the producer’s idea of a ballerina, you will be sidelined and once again told you are too heavy and must lose more weight.
It is not just their producers and trainers that push for more weight loss. The public has a set standard that they expect to see, which is skinny and frail, like a tree branch that has fallen off the main tree.
5. Competition Is At A New Level
A new level of fitness is expected from every ballerina. If you want to be one of the top performers that get picked for the lead roles, you will need to be a next-level athlete.
Perfection will never be achieved if you are not thinner, smoother, and more aggressive than the one dancing next to you. Perfection from the producers’ viewpoint, anyway.
6. Lifts Are Vital In Ballet
One of the main reasons that people love to go to the ballot is to watch some of the dance moves that the professionals do efficiently. Movements such as the lifts that spotters and ballerinas complete.
A lift requires two things. A strong person to be the one lifting, and a skinny person to be lifted. Strength and balance are vital, which leads women to lose more weight.
Think about it this way; is it easier to lift a bottle of water over your head or a case of water? There is no comparison, which is what ballot takes into account.
The lifter has to follow the same set of rules like the one being lifted, so even though they are strong, the lighter the person is that they are lifting, the better off the routine will go.
7. Thin Means Advancement
Whether it is the way things should be or not, the thinner you are, the more likely you will be to advance in your dancing career.
If you put a little bit of weight on over the weekend, you will be pushed backward, away from your goal of being center stage.
“Eat nothing and see how far you can go.” A common mantra that ballerinas looking to advance tell themselves. Even when they are so hungry that they feel like they will faint.
To learn more, you can also read our posts on why you walk so fast, why you are so bad at running, and why abs are attractive.
Final Thoughts
Being an athlete takes a ton of dedication. Being a ballerina is a step above the average athlete, so professionals from other sports, such as football and basketball, learn to improve themselves through dance.
Ballet is not a side sport you can work on when you have time. It is a lifestyle in which you are all in or out. Weight and form are essential, which is what it all boils down to.