A determination and a pang of hunger take over a dancer when a dancer can feel energy coursing throughout their bones. Knowing that when the music tells you to dance, you have to dance, so why do we feel this pull and this need to move to the music? Why do we dance up and down grocery aisles, why is there always a song playing in our heads, and why do we feel like we will never be good enough?
5,6,7,8… four simple numbers that bring a dancer to life, that call their bodies to action. These aren’t the only numbers that a dancer ends up worrying about, whether we do it intentionally or unintentionally. There is a moment, a comment, or a look that sets a dancer on the path of self-destruction with their relationship to their body. To tackle the issue, some studios offer in-studio counseling, but food remains a challenging aspect. A dancer named Kathryn Morgan shared her struggles with eating disorders and negative language used in the dance world on YouTube. She has a video that goes in-depth and explains eating disorders in ballet. Dancers with eating disorders have different habits. Some eat but not enough to sustain them, while others stop eating completely until it's vital. This, combined with the heavy use of their bodies in this craft, leads them to have more health issues.
A former dancer, Olivia Rumsey, was able to talk about the impact eating disorders have on her life. While she didn’t directly struggle with an eating disorder, the people around her did. She watched them push themselves and fight to get something that was unachievable. She was concerned for the safety of those dancing with her, often feeling like she had to talk to the teachers to ensure they knew what was happening. While another dancer, Emily Reece, shares about the language used in a competitive studio that makes you think you need to change. Teachers may say things without knowing it, such as "You look like you lost weight" or "Let's change the costume". Something like this gets in a dancer's head and changes their perspective of their body, which causes them to take measures to change what they see in the mirror. Eating disorders have impacted both dancers, whether it was personally or the surrounding people. Chasing an unattainable goal hurts the person and those around them because they are forced to watch you deteriorate to be perfect.
5,6,7,8… the perfect ending and beginning of a dance, some of the only numbers that will ever make sense to a dancer, instructions of where to go and how to forget what is troubling them. 5,6,7,8… the four simple numbers that ignite the passion in a dancer while also
igniting deep insecurities in the dancer.
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