Imagine being in front a mirror every day for two hours or more with an instructor telling you critiques. She’s a great instructor, but every time you do something incorrect, you look in that mirror and see something wrong. She says, “Tighten your belly!” All of a sudden you look in the mirror, putting your left hand on the top of your stomach and your right hand on your back adjusting your figure.
Imagine being in front of a mirror after doing your warm up and stretches and looking around the room seeing beautiful girls analyzing and criticizing their bodies. They think they have big thighs or no core.
Imagine being in front of a mirror getting ready for a competition, and your instructor or team member says if you aren’t first then you’re last.
Dance has taught me so many amazing things but, no one takes the time to reflect on the bad traits we carry.
That mirror is supposed to help you, but sometimes that mirror hurts you mentally and even physically. You see yourself in tight clothing at all angles, and what you see, may not be something you like. A constructive critique or comment about your “belly” becomes more obvious to you. One hour turns into two, two hours turns into three and a half. Next thing you know the mirror is only showing your belly, or thighs or another physical trait you are all of a sudden self-conscious with.
The “ideal” dancers body includes long limbs, thin torso, long neck, and the perfect feet. Because of social media, posters or pictures, and yes even some dance instructors, this “ideal” body type is constantly being beaten down onto a dancer's mind, causing girls to go to the extreme to achieve this body type: such as eating disorders.
As a dancer, I suffered from an eating disorder for at least three years. It began my freshman year of high school when some girl at school and two girls at my studio told me I had a belly. Young minded, too self-aware, and being in front of that mirror, you feel over exposed. You feel like that mirror is taunting you and showing you every bad part about you and that everyone notices it as well. So what did I do? I went to the extreme. You want it to stop. You want all the comments to go away, and you want the mirror to stop showing you your imperfections.
Dancers, we forget that our bodies are perfect the way they are. God made us all beautiful. We neglect that our bodies can do impressive and amazing things that others cannot do. Instead, we see our blemishes and imperfections. You don’t have to have long legs or long arms to do a triple pirouette. You don’t have to have a long neck to be graceful and you most certainly don’t have to be underweight to be gorgeous. You are perfect the way you are.
Believe it or not, dance is very competitive, especially on the competition side of the dance world. Certain studios only do competitions rather than performances because they want to win. Winning can be fun. It goes to show that your hard work, sweat and dedication was awarded, recognized and accomplished.
What happens when instructors and team members only want to win and make that the only goal? What happens when we don’t win? I’ve seen dancers go into slumps and sobs after not winning a competition and some even say, “All that work was for nothing."
No! You went out there, you competed and you didn’t win. But did you nail that turn sequence you had a hard time with? Did you get into the music and perform with your heart? That’s winning, and that’s what a dancer's attitude should be. Do the best you can, have fun, and aim for the best performance for you and your team.
Dance has taught me how to take constructive criticism, how to rehearse and give everything 110 percent at every practice. You develop endless loving bonds with your teammates and instructors. The desire to perform for others is worth everything. We fall and get up and we keep dancing and smiling. You see the makeup, the smiles, and the performance we put on for you. You don’t see the sweat, the tears, or the frustrations we have towards our bodies or goals because all of that is displayed in front of the mirror.
