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38
“Another Art Form About To Be Ruined”: Ballet School Slammed For Adding Plus-Size Dancers
Interview With Expert
The Royal Ballet School’s push for inclusivity—by including plus-size dancers and same-gender pairings—sparked a heated debate online
Some welcomed the idea, saying, “dance is for everybody to enjoy,” but critics shook their heads and said, “another art form [is] about to be ruined then!!”
The Royal Ballet School is currently emerging from the shadows of an alarming body-shaming scandal. Following the controversy, it was revealed that the London-based school would be moving away from the archetype of a “slim” female ballerina.
Highlights
- The internet was divided over the Royal Ballet School’s push for inclusivity.
- Iain Mackay, artistic director of the school, said audiences would see more plus-size dancers and same-gender pairings on stage.
- He said audiences now want dancers they can “relate” to.
- Netizens were not thrilled by the idea, with some saying, “another art form [is] about to be ruined then.”
RELATED:
The Royal Ballet School’s push for inclusivity left the internet divided
Image credits: The Royal Ballet School / YouTube
“Audiences want dancers they can relate to,” Iain Mackay, artistic director of the school, told The Times in his first interview since taking charge.
While answering a question about whether more plus-sized ballerinas would be taking the stage, he said, “absolutely.”
Image credits: royalballetschool
“I think this is already happening,” the former pupil at the Royal Ballet School said.
“They have been required to be more physical than ever before. Dancers that can tell a story, but dancers that are incredibly capable technically,” he continued.
Iain Mackay, artistic director of the school, said audiences now want dancers they can “relate” to
Image credits: royalballetschool / Hannah Cook
Iain, the ex-principal at Birmingham Royal Ballet, asserted that even same-gender partnering would become more common, and audiences would see more “male, male” and “female, female” pairs on stage.
This would help “create new audiences” as well, he said.
Image credits: The Royal Ballet School / YouTube
Not all social media users were thrilled to hear Iain’s comments, with some calling the idea “mind-blowing, ridiculous, impractical” and “gross.”
“You would need a very strong man to lift a plus size like they do in ballet,” one said, while another wrote, “What a shame Art is now corrupt.”
The future “of what, damaged knees? Stop promoting obesity,” said another critic.
In addition to online comments, The Times also carried an op-ed that slammed Iain’s comments.
“No one wants to see a fatty at the ballet,” the writer wrote in his headline. “It just doesn’t stack up.”
“Sorry, but I’m not paying to see that,” one critic harshly said
Image credits: The Royal Ballet School / YouTube
On the other hand, some netizens expressed support and said the shape and size shouldn’t make a difference.
“There are some extremely good plus size girls/ladies enjoying ballet classes,” one said. “Dance is for everybody to enjoy.”
“Shape and size should make no difference what so ever as long as they have the talent to perform ballet or are learning to,” another wrote. “I can not wait to see them perform and shut the lot of you up.”
Image credits: The Royal Ballet School / YouTube
Experts believe the evolution of ballet to include queer pairings has already quietly been underway.
“While classical Western European ballet is a classically-codified and traditional dance form, it is not (as many believe) written “in stone” but is always evolving. Current historical repertoire already has many potentially non-binary/queer characters, such as Rothbart in Swan Lake, in many productions; Mother Ginger, in The Nutcracker, the cross-dressing sister characters in Sleeping Beauty; possibly the Jester in Swan Lake, etc. etc,” romantic ballet expert Jeff Friedman told Bored Panda via email.
It’s important that these characters are not used “as a form of objectification and as objects of amusement and pity only,” said the Professor of Dance Studies and Founding Director of Integrated Dance Collaboratory at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.
The Times also carried an op-ed that criticized the idea of plus-size dancers
Image credits: Dixie22712498
Image credits: ElizAthertonSop
Jeff further explained that same-gender pairings already take place nowadays but “not exactly in the ‘romantic’ mode.”
“Many men and women dance in close ensemble proximity together which, as any dancer knows, is a very close form of partnership, kinesthetically and spatially. See the Wilis in Giselle, and the corps in many ballets, among other examples,” he said.
“Where I believe the next step might be is to provide opportunities for queer dancers and audiences to see the potential for romantic same-s*x partnerships, such as Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, as one example. So, my main point, is that the queer characters and same-s*x dance events in classical ballet already exist and that there is a continuum upon which new opportunities can and should evolve.”
Actor George Keywood joined the heated debate and expressed his support for plus-size dancers
Image credits: gbnews
British actor George Keywood expressed his support for the Royal Ballet School’s new direction.
“I would enjoy watching a plus sized lady do a performance more than a normal sized human being,” he told GB News.
He praised teenager Lizzy Howell, a 15-year-old from Delaware, who went viral for her ballet moves.
The actor praised Lizzy Howell, who went viral for her ballet moves on social media
Image credits: lizzy.dances / Instagram
“I think it’s quite impressive looking at some of these moves, and what she’s capable of doing for her size is actually quite baffling,” the People Just Do Nothing actor said.
Her moves were “mind blowing” and should “definitely” be encouraged, he said.
“We’re not encouraging obesity,” he said. “Of course not. But we’re encouraging her to be happy and be positive and perform with a good skill that she has.”
The Royal Ballet School’s move for inclusivity comes after a recent body-shaming scandal involving a former student
Image credits: royalballetschool
Iain’s comments came months after the Royal Ballet School was engulfed in a body-shaming scandal involving a former student.
Ellen Elphick, 31, accused one of the school’s teachers of humiliating her in front of the class by tracing out parts of her body. “If I had a knife, this is what I would cut off,” the former student recalled the teacher saying.
Ellen told BBC that she was only 16 years old at the time, and her time at the school from 2009 and 2012 led to her body dysmorphia and disordered eating.
The Royal Ballet School reached a financial settlement with Ellen but did not accept liability for the incident.
Image credits: ImeldaAgain
Image credits: 12Walkies
When asked about specific steps institutions should take to prevent body-shaming and disordered eating among dancers, Jeff said he believes there should be “constant, continuous and age- and developmentally-appropriate education, and supportive athletic trainers who are on staff on a daily basis to manage any issues that appear at the very beginning of any body dysmorphias and EDs, for both male and female dancers.”
“A policy of daily expectations of care, support, and appropriate treatment, without stigma is crucial. But prior to care and treatment, it is crucial that ballet training from the very beginning is not stigmatizing bodily difference,” he continued.
Jeff Friedman emphasized that efforts to prevent body-shaming must begin well before any dancer is in crisis
Image credits: The Royal Ballet School / YouTube
Drawing from his own research in dance and disability, the expert took a step back to touch upon the larger picture.
“Body size difference is just part of a much larger continuum of asking ‘who gets to dance?’, and including people with a variety of physical and neurological differences, impairments, or disabilities, however they are defined and, especially, self-defined by those individuals themselves, is the crucial next step,” he said.
“Disability is not just a peripheral community outreach engagement event every so often; it is the core of inclusion when it comes to any body-based art form,” he added.
Netizens had mixed reactions to the idea of seeing more plus-size dancers on stage
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XenoMurph 7 months ago
Let people enjoy things FFS. If you want to dance, then just dance. If you're good, you'll get into the performance. If you're not, you'll still enjoy it.
Ace 7 months ago
It's not about the dancers' enjoyment. It's a performance art, whether or not the dancers like what they do is neither here nor there as far as the audience is concerned. We're not talking kids' dance classes here, but professional ballet dancers.
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sturmwesen 7 months ago
Hey, if they can dance properly I have nothing against dancers that are not skinny. We are just used to super skinny ballerinas.
Kim Gatlin 7 months ago
Yeah. I was one of the not skinny ones. 135 lbs 5' 10". And yes, extra weight will ruin your ankles. I gave up on pointe at around 170. Couldn't even imagine now.
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ScootyPuffJr 7 months ago (edited)
I don't care who dances, but I find it weird that part of their argument is that people want to watch someone they "relate to." I like to watch professional dancing to see people do amazing things that I cannot. It's not like a clothing ad.
Jennifer Clayton 7 months ago
The comments in the article are brutal. Lifts aren't as common in ballet as people seem to think. As a former dancer, I cannot wait for the day when eating disorders stop being encouraged.
Kim Gatlin 7 months ago
Then you should know it's as much about her ability to jump as it is his ability to lift. I was a jumper (but too tall to partner) and the bigger I got, the lower those jumps got. Now at 60 it's pretty much gone. And yes, I'm much heavier.
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Janelle Collard 7 months ago (edited)
And we all know how ballerinas keep their figures + don't have periods - they don't eat. So good on RBS for promoting *everyone* can dance.
My O My 7 months ago
Yes! Having a "plus size" ballerina, someone "relatable" to the audience means a ballerina weighing more then 50kg and maybe even having a normal hormone cycle.
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Bonnie Blue Bird 7 months ago
Nobody should be excluded. There is a place for everyone, everywhere. If your passion is dance, then go ahead and dance.
Royal Stray 7 months ago
The issue isn't that she's training ballet. The issue is that she's doing it at a highly coveted school where people who wish to preform on stage go, and she will not be able to preform to their standards. That's why the "I won't pay to see this" comment was there. It's sort of being in the best opera school in the world but not be able to sing, it's not the right place to be for a hobby or if you need to work on your base requirements.
Load More Replies... Kim Gatlin 7 months ago
Yeah, if they're easing up it's the apocalypse. But I think their definition of plus size and everyone else's may not line up.
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Mel in Georgia 7 months ago
When I was in college as a psych major, I volunteered for a s u i c i d e hotline. I remember a teen called in, upset that her ballet instructor told her she had no hope to succeed as a professional because she wasn't the right body type. It was heartbreaking. I'm glad there is an effort to be more inclusive - nobody should be able to tell you not to pursue your dreams just because of how you look!
XenoMurph 7 months ago
I hope it wasn't just the look for that poor girl, but sometimes it's not quite that though. I was amazing at high jump. I could jump higher than my own height. However at 175 cm, that wasn't as good as the guys who could nearly jump their own height but were 190cm. Sometimes our bodies just aren't capable of doing things other bodies are.
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Space Invader 7 months ago (edited)
At the recent circus festival I was surprised to see some performers who were surprisingly... robust in their appearance, yet still were able of amazing performances one would normally associate with far skinnier athletes. So let them prove themselves. If they can't keep up, they won't finish, so no problem there. And I am quite certain the vast majority of offended netizens (who apparently know more about ballet than the head of an effing ballet school) have never ever visited or planned to visit a ballet performance in their life.
God of Sarcasm 7 months ago
I have seen numerous bigger people that could dance amazingly. It shouldn't be a big deal for a bunch of people that probably don't even watch ballet anyway.
Jill 7 months ago
What a snobby buncha elitist bishes! "I'm not paying to see that" Let the girl dance for Christmas' sake! Has anyone considered that maybe, just maybe, ballet is her way of losing weight? Maybe this is her form of exercise. Whatever it is, she'll figure out one way or the other if ballet is right for her. Maybe she'll get stronger and better and be on stage somewhere. Maybe she'll find out she can't take the rigorous stress of being on her toes and find some other way to dance. These fat shaming jacka$$es need to just shut their pie hole.
Sarah Kathrin Matsoukis 7 months ago
Including is not the same as promoting or glamourizing. And if they worry about the lifting so much, there's heavy beasts of men who also like dancing.
thesbianism 7 months ago
All the comments against this are so dumb; they didn't say they were hiring *unskilled* dancers; they said they were hiring *plus-size* dancers.
Wysteria_Rose 7 months ago
People are so awful. So if you're not a "perfect body size," which, let's face it, just doesn't exist, you just can't do anything? You shouldn't be seen? You doing literally ANYTHING "promotes obesity"? And on the matter of ballet, do these d****e canoes understand what most ballet dancers have to do to keep their weight down? I knew a dancing school that was WROUGHT w/ eating disorders due to their weigh-in policy that affected each student's grade (one student went from a B to a C because her weight went up three pounds).
Auntriarch 7 months ago
I remember Wayne Sleep being asked about eating disorders in ballet and he was quite blasé about it, as if that was just something you'd have to do, like tying your hair up.
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Anony Mouse 7 months ago
Plus-sized for a dancer is not the same as plus-sized, like for clothing. It would be like a size 6-10. Or a plus-sized model - 5’10” and 140 lbs. They are in no way advocating obese people taking the stage, and anyone commenting about that is being deliberately obtuse. The one child dancer shown is an anomaly and an internet sensation - not a professional dancer.
Royal Stray 7 months ago (edited)
Ballet is a sport and an artform. The Royal school is highly coveted for people who have trained from young children. Letting someone is who won't be able to preform half of the dances properly, or some at all due to them being obese is ridiculous. She's simply not as good as the other people, and can't be unless she looses a considerable amount of weight. Not to mention she will look incredibly out of place and take attention away from whatever is going on if she's stuck as a background role. It's great that she's passionate and has something she loves, but if she actually wants to be at the lever where she deserves to be there she needs to get in better physical condition first, and continue to train in the mean-time. This is the same as having obese people in the Olympics or doing cheer for the sake of it. Or having a person with an awful voice doing opera because they also deserve their shot. In that case they need to work on their voice first. EDIT: I want to clarify that I don't condone eating disorders for the sake of staying thin for ballet. I just think they should maybe hire someone within an actual healthy body type. Because doing toe-point at that weight is actually harmful for you. This woman has a way higher risk of damaging her body than her fellow students
Space Invader 7 months ago
Actually, she is already performing those moves. Hasn't it occurred to you she is aware of the strain on her body due to her first-hand experience, yet still choses to do so? Your feigned concern for her well-being isn't really convincing.
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Rinso The Red 7 months ago
As someone who went to school with dance majors, ballet is BRUTAL. But other than the Nutcracker around the holidays, who's really still going to these events?
I Need More Espresso 7 months ago
What if people are judged on whether they can do the moves versus being able to do the moves and fitting a specific aesthetic? Misty Copeland is a phenomenal ballerina but she was considered groundbreaking because she *gasp* has curves.
Grenelda Thurber 7 months ago (edited)
"Plus-Sized" in the world of ballet is not the same thing as "Plus-Sized" out here in the real world. A plus-sized ballerina would probably be a size 6-8 in the real world. Most professional ballerinas are shaped like pre-adolescent boys. Dancing on point isn't good for anyone's body, whether you weigh 100lbs or 120lbs. The picture selected for this article isn't of an adult, professional dancer and shouldn't be taken as representative of the dancers the Royal Ballet is casting in their ballets.
Alex Schneider 7 months ago
You are obese- people:" you should loose weight,move your body more" Same people also: You are obese don't do dance you can adapt choreos and you can be good in something even if you don't look like
LauraDragonWench 7 months ago
Original ballerinas, from the earliest iteration of the art, would be today called "plus sized." It's only been recently, due to the influence of Balanchine, that dancers were required to be stick thin. As someone who has ballet training, though only at a basic level, I don't think people realize just how physically fit you have to be to perform even as a beginner. Those dancers seen today as obese could probably physically outperform most, if not all, of those jeering at their inclusion. I love that ballet is becoming more inclusive.
person (i think) 7 months ago
All those naysayers need to calm their tïts. “Plus size” in ballet is like a size 6 (American), aka healthy. Ballet is _highly_ competitive; only people who can dance extremely well will get in, so who cares what size they are. I would rather ballerinas be able to eat more than 1 grape a day without fear being kicked out of their troupe
KatSaidWhat 7 months ago
Ballet is notorious for eating disorders. And they are not thinking laterally in that the more the plus sizes train, they too will lose weight.
Emilu 7 months ago (edited)
If they can dance and I’m paying to see them dance (which assumedly I am) I don’t give a flying fück how big or small they are.
Kim Gatlin 7 months ago
I mean, yes if you can dance to the Royal Ballet's standards go for it. Lot of phenomenal dancers don't get that chance because of body size. But we're talking size 10.
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Smeghead Tribble Down Under 7 months ago
Because god fkn forbid fat people are allowed to do anything. Sincerely, a fat (HEALTHY) woman who dreads appearing in public because she knows everyone secretly hates her just because of how she looks.
Roxy222uk 7 months ago
FFS, have these people ever seen ballet dancers rehearsing? If someone follows a typical ballet dancer routine and is still living with overweight we can safely say it's not about lifestyle. I love the "i'm not paying to see that" - I'd love to know when they last went to the ballet and how much they know about it.
🇺🇦 PrincessPatton 🇺🇦 7 months ago
I was a professional ballerina for a while and I agree with the critics. There's even much less room for plus size dancers in ballet than there is in modeling. It's very much not just about the aesthetic side, but the physical side as well, and from a certain weight and level of exertion you just can't handle everything you need to. It's the same nonsense as getting upset that there are no plus size marathon runners. And with ballet (dance) it's perhaps the worst of all, because it's not just about talent, it's about looks and physical fitness. Plus it's extremely tough and there's a lot of competition.
Kim Gatlin 7 months ago
Plus size 5 ker here (sometimes more up to 10 miles). But I didn't say I'm good at it. Every time I lose weight I do better. Just a fact. But this anorexia c**p has always been a bit much.
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Apatheist Account2 7 months ago
I bet there are a lot of nervous male dancers wondering how the heck they're going to lift all that weight...and a lot of medical first responders waiting for the inevitable heart attacks.
kkrq2vk4tm 7 months ago
I cannot relate to some one who has zero self control, lacks shame and is proud of being unhealthy
Mr Karate 7 months ago
I'm in favor of overweight people engaging in physical activities that help them live healthier lives... dance could perfectly be one of those activities, but ballet? Real ballet requires certain skills, such as standing on tiptoes, impressive jumps, extremely delicate and graceful movements, etc. I think freer dances like freestyle, salsa, or dance choreography would be better.
Aileen Wuornos 7 months ago
I'm by no means a professional but I've been doing ballet for over 20 years. At a certain size you just can not do ballet well, no matter how hard you try. Just look at Lizzy Howell, I'm sorry but she is NOT good, her body is physically too big to reach certain positions and she can not safely go on point. I am quite thin, to the point that you can easily see my ribs, but my legs and butt are quite thick and I can feel and see how it's hurting my performance. I doesn't matter too much to me (at least that's what I try to tell myself lol) but no body is paying money to watch me perform, however when I'm paying good money to see a ballet I expect to see the best of the best and it's just a fact that at the same level of technique the thin girl with long legs will look better doing it.
XenoMurph 7 months ago
Let people enjoy things FFS. If you want to dance, then just dance. If you're good, you'll get into the performance. If you're not, you'll still enjoy it.
Ace 7 months ago
It's not about the dancers' enjoyment. It's a performance art, whether or not the dancers like what they do is neither here nor there as far as the audience is concerned. We're not talking kids' dance classes here, but professional ballet dancers.
Load More Replies... sturmwesen 7 months ago
Hey, if they can dance properly I have nothing against dancers that are not skinny. We are just used to super skinny ballerinas.
Kim Gatlin 7 months ago
Yeah. I was one of the not skinny ones. 135 lbs 5' 10". And yes, extra weight will ruin your ankles. I gave up on pointe at around 170. Couldn't even imagine now.
Load More Replies... ScootyPuffJr 7 months ago (edited)
I don't care who dances, but I find it weird that part of their argument is that people want to watch someone they "relate to." I like to watch professional dancing to see people do amazing things that I cannot. It's not like a clothing ad.
Jennifer Clayton 7 months ago
The comments in the article are brutal. Lifts aren't as common in ballet as people seem to think. As a former dancer, I cannot wait for the day when eating disorders stop being encouraged.
Kim Gatlin 7 months ago
Then you should know it's as much about her ability to jump as it is his ability to lift. I was a jumper (but too tall to partner) and the bigger I got, the lower those jumps got. Now at 60 it's pretty much gone. And yes, I'm much heavier.
Load More Replies... Janelle Collard 7 months ago (edited)
And we all know how ballerinas keep their figures + don't have periods - they don't eat. So good on RBS for promoting *everyone* can dance.
My O My 7 months ago
Yes! Having a "plus size" ballerina, someone "relatable" to the audience means a ballerina weighing more then 50kg and maybe even having a normal hormone cycle.
Load More Replies... Bonnie Blue Bird 7 months ago
Nobody should be excluded. There is a place for everyone, everywhere. If your passion is dance, then go ahead and dance.
Royal Stray 7 months ago
The issue isn't that she's training ballet. The issue is that she's doing it at a highly coveted school where people who wish to preform on stage go, and she will not be able to preform to their standards. That's why the "I won't pay to see this" comment was there. It's sort of being in the best opera school in the world but not be able to sing, it's not the right place to be for a hobby or if you need to work on your base requirements.
Load More Replies... Kim Gatlin 7 months ago
Yeah, if they're easing up it's the apocalypse. But I think their definition of plus size and everyone else's may not line up.
Load More Replies... Mel in Georgia 7 months ago
When I was in college as a psych major, I volunteered for a s u i c i d e hotline. I remember a teen called in, upset that her ballet instructor told her she had no hope to succeed as a professional because she wasn't the right body type. It was heartbreaking. I'm glad there is an effort to be more inclusive - nobody should be able to tell you not to pursue your dreams just because of how you look!
XenoMurph 7 months ago
I hope it wasn't just the look for that poor girl, but sometimes it's not quite that though. I was amazing at high jump. I could jump higher than my own height. However at 175 cm, that wasn't as good as the guys who could nearly jump their own height but were 190cm. Sometimes our bodies just aren't capable of doing things other bodies are.
Load More Replies... Space Invader 7 months ago (edited)
At the recent circus festival I was surprised to see some performers who were surprisingly... robust in their appearance, yet still were able of amazing performances one would normally associate with far skinnier athletes. So let them prove themselves. If they can't keep up, they won't finish, so no problem there. And I am quite certain the vast majority of offended netizens (who apparently know more about ballet than the head of an effing ballet school) have never ever visited or planned to visit a ballet performance in their life.
God of Sarcasm 7 months ago
I have seen numerous bigger people that could dance amazingly. It shouldn't be a big deal for a bunch of people that probably don't even watch ballet anyway.
Jill 7 months ago
What a snobby buncha elitist bishes! "I'm not paying to see that" Let the girl dance for Christmas' sake! Has anyone considered that maybe, just maybe, ballet is her way of losing weight? Maybe this is her form of exercise. Whatever it is, she'll figure out one way or the other if ballet is right for her. Maybe she'll get stronger and better and be on stage somewhere. Maybe she'll find out she can't take the rigorous stress of being on her toes and find some other way to dance. These fat shaming jacka$$es need to just shut their pie hole.
Sarah Kathrin Matsoukis 7 months ago
Including is not the same as promoting or glamourizing. And if they worry about the lifting so much, there's heavy beasts of men who also like dancing.
thesbianism 7 months ago
All the comments against this are so dumb; they didn't say they were hiring *unskilled* dancers; they said they were hiring *plus-size* dancers.
Wysteria_Rose 7 months ago
People are so awful. So if you're not a "perfect body size," which, let's face it, just doesn't exist, you just can't do anything? You shouldn't be seen? You doing literally ANYTHING "promotes obesity"? And on the matter of ballet, do these d****e canoes understand what most ballet dancers have to do to keep their weight down? I knew a dancing school that was WROUGHT w/ eating disorders due to their weigh-in policy that affected each student's grade (one student went from a B to a C because her weight went up three pounds).
Auntriarch 7 months ago
I remember Wayne Sleep being asked about eating disorders in ballet and he was quite blasé about it, as if that was just something you'd have to do, like tying your hair up.
Load More Replies... Anony Mouse 7 months ago
Plus-sized for a dancer is not the same as plus-sized, like for clothing. It would be like a size 6-10. Or a plus-sized model - 5’10” and 140 lbs. They are in no way advocating obese people taking the stage, and anyone commenting about that is being deliberately obtuse. The one child dancer shown is an anomaly and an internet sensation - not a professional dancer.
Royal Stray 7 months ago (edited)
Ballet is a sport and an artform. The Royal school is highly coveted for people who have trained from young children. Letting someone is who won't be able to preform half of the dances properly, or some at all due to them being obese is ridiculous. She's simply not as good as the other people, and can't be unless she looses a considerable amount of weight. Not to mention she will look incredibly out of place and take attention away from whatever is going on if she's stuck as a background role. It's great that she's passionate and has something she loves, but if she actually wants to be at the lever where she deserves to be there she needs to get in better physical condition first, and continue to train in the mean-time. This is the same as having obese people in the Olympics or doing cheer for the sake of it. Or having a person with an awful voice doing opera because they also deserve their shot. In that case they need to work on their voice first. EDIT: I want to clarify that I don't condone eating disorders for the sake of staying thin for ballet. I just think they should maybe hire someone within an actual healthy body type. Because doing toe-point at that weight is actually harmful for you. This woman has a way higher risk of damaging her body than her fellow students
Space Invader 7 months ago
Actually, she is already performing those moves. Hasn't it occurred to you she is aware of the strain on her body due to her first-hand experience, yet still choses to do so? Your feigned concern for her well-being isn't really convincing.
Load More Replies... Rinso The Red 7 months ago
As someone who went to school with dance majors, ballet is BRUTAL. But other than the Nutcracker around the holidays, who's really still going to these events?
I Need More Espresso 7 months ago
What if people are judged on whether they can do the moves versus being able to do the moves and fitting a specific aesthetic? Misty Copeland is a phenomenal ballerina but she was considered groundbreaking because she *gasp* has curves.
Grenelda Thurber 7 months ago (edited)
"Plus-Sized" in the world of ballet is not the same thing as "Plus-Sized" out here in the real world. A plus-sized ballerina would probably be a size 6-8 in the real world. Most professional ballerinas are shaped like pre-adolescent boys. Dancing on point isn't good for anyone's body, whether you weigh 100lbs or 120lbs. The picture selected for this article isn't of an adult, professional dancer and shouldn't be taken as representative of the dancers the Royal Ballet is casting in their ballets.
Alex Schneider 7 months ago
You are obese- people:" you should loose weight,move your body more" Same people also: You are obese don't do dance you can adapt choreos and you can be good in something even if you don't look like
LauraDragonWench 7 months ago
Original ballerinas, from the earliest iteration of the art, would be today called "plus sized." It's only been recently, due to the influence of Balanchine, that dancers were required to be stick thin. As someone who has ballet training, though only at a basic level, I don't think people realize just how physically fit you have to be to perform even as a beginner. Those dancers seen today as obese could probably physically outperform most, if not all, of those jeering at their inclusion. I love that ballet is becoming more inclusive.
person (i think) 7 months ago
All those naysayers need to calm their tïts. “Plus size” in ballet is like a size 6 (American), aka healthy. Ballet is _highly_ competitive; only people who can dance extremely well will get in, so who cares what size they are. I would rather ballerinas be able to eat more than 1 grape a day without fear being kicked out of their troupe
KatSaidWhat 7 months ago
Ballet is notorious for eating disorders. And they are not thinking laterally in that the more the plus sizes train, they too will lose weight.
Emilu 7 months ago (edited)
If they can dance and I’m paying to see them dance (which assumedly I am) I don’t give a flying fück how big or small they are.
Kim Gatlin 7 months ago
I mean, yes if you can dance to the Royal Ballet's standards go for it. Lot of phenomenal dancers don't get that chance because of body size. But we're talking size 10.
Load More Replies... Smeghead Tribble Down Under 7 months ago
Because god fkn forbid fat people are allowed to do anything. Sincerely, a fat (HEALTHY) woman who dreads appearing in public because she knows everyone secretly hates her just because of how she looks.
Roxy222uk 7 months ago
FFS, have these people ever seen ballet dancers rehearsing? If someone follows a typical ballet dancer routine and is still living with overweight we can safely say it's not about lifestyle. I love the "i'm not paying to see that" - I'd love to know when they last went to the ballet and how much they know about it.
🇺🇦 PrincessPatton 🇺🇦 7 months ago
I was a professional ballerina for a while and I agree with the critics. There's even much less room for plus size dancers in ballet than there is in modeling. It's very much not just about the aesthetic side, but the physical side as well, and from a certain weight and level of exertion you just can't handle everything you need to. It's the same nonsense as getting upset that there are no plus size marathon runners. And with ballet (dance) it's perhaps the worst of all, because it's not just about talent, it's about looks and physical fitness. Plus it's extremely tough and there's a lot of competition.
Kim Gatlin 7 months ago
Plus size 5 ker here (sometimes more up to 10 miles). But I didn't say I'm good at it. Every time I lose weight I do better. Just a fact. But this anorexia c**p has always been a bit much.
Load More Replies... Apatheist Account2 7 months ago
I bet there are a lot of nervous male dancers wondering how the heck they're going to lift all that weight...and a lot of medical first responders waiting for the inevitable heart attacks.
kkrq2vk4tm 7 months ago
I cannot relate to some one who has zero self control, lacks shame and is proud of being unhealthy
Mr Karate 7 months ago
I'm in favor of overweight people engaging in physical activities that help them live healthier lives... dance could perfectly be one of those activities, but ballet? Real ballet requires certain skills, such as standing on tiptoes, impressive jumps, extremely delicate and graceful movements, etc. I think freer dances like freestyle, salsa, or dance choreography would be better.
Aileen Wuornos 7 months ago
I'm by no means a professional but I've been doing ballet for over 20 years. At a certain size you just can not do ballet well, no matter how hard you try. Just look at Lizzy Howell, I'm sorry but she is NOT good, her body is physically too big to reach certain positions and she can not safely go on point. I am quite thin, to the point that you can easily see my ribs, but my legs and butt are quite thick and I can feel and see how it's hurting my performance. I doesn't matter too much to me (at least that's what I try to tell myself lol) but no body is paying money to watch me perform, however when I'm paying good money to see a ballet I expect to see the best of the best and it's just a fact that at the same level of technique the thin girl with long legs will look better doing it.
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