rebeccmeister | rambling from a former ballet dancer. (Reply)

From:

gfrancie.livejournal.com

all ballerinas must hold their hands just so and have extremely little body fat

That is actually the influence of George Balanchine. Part of that had to do with the fact that when he was first starting out as an instructor/choreographer he could only get very young girls (they were about 11/12 years old) so there was this look that became fashionable. And many of his muses/wives were tall and quite trim so it set a trend and then became the standard.

If you look at dancers from an earlier era (take a good look at the Degas dancers) they were a little more....varied.

Ballet itself is very much about structure and self-control and extreme athletic ability and how far you can push the body in terms of flexibility, height and movement.
I grew up training to be a ballet dancer and it was very much about touching the sun. Though I was fortunate to have an instructor who kept a close eye when it came to making sure sure we were being healthy with our bodies. (she essentially blackmailed me out of an eating disorder I had started to develop)

When a ballerina gets to a point where it is difficult to constantly perform (essentially aging out like any athlete) they often take up teaching. There are a number that have children while they are active dancers and continue working. They obviously can't dance while heavily pregnant but many jump right back into it.

The thing is to be a good dancer with a good strong career you can't really take on an eating disorder because it does end your career earlier. Gelsey Kirkland was a good example of that. (she also had a drug problem) Where as the ones who do maintain a healthy lifestyle and take care of themselves can dance for a very very long time.

Of course this is all chatter about classical ballet. You should see some modern ballet pieces that Mark Morris does. He tends to incorporate dancers of different sizes and shapes and has a real sense of humor with in his work. He likes to play about with gender and bodies so it gives it a much more intriguing look and experience.