How professional ballet dancing affects the mental health of athletes?
Dancing: such a beautiful art, but what most people don’t know is how much of a hardcore sport it is. Professional Ballet dancers must constantly keep in touch with their mental health while dedicating themselves to such a demanding activity, and here’s why.
Most girls tend to start dancing when they are little, as a hobby, but the great majority of them eventually drop the sport in order to focus on things such as school or college. There is, however, a very small part of those children who actually end up building a career for themselves as professional dancers. Those brave people must deal with constant doubts and fears.
- Self Image While Dancing
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In a universe where beauty and aesthetics come first, a lot of female and male ballet dancers find themselves struggling with their own image, since looking a certain way is an obligation that’s always in the back of your mind. From having “dancer’s lines” to being thin “enough” but not so thin at the same time, dancers are usually followed by all kinds of unrealistic expectations and, therefore, end up feeling pressured to take measures in order to reach to those projections… and there’s where most issues begin. Besides that, we’re also talking about a perfectionism kind of art, where dancers push themselves every day and blame themselves when they can’t do something perfectly.
Due to all those difficulties, illnesses such as bulimia, anxiety, anorexia and even depression are very common between professional dancers. What is even more concerning is that the media and the industry often hide the struggles faced by those who chose this career path, so that the image of it being a graceful sport is maintained. Therefore, Ballet is always portrayed as a lovely form of art.
- Dancers Affected with the Pressure
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Isabelle Laitano, a 17 year old professional dancer, who’s been dancing since she was 3, says that during those hard 14 years of dedication, she has heard and seen things that made her consider dropping her career. Very concerned about her figure, Isabelle has felt unmotivated and not good enough to pursue her dreams. “I’ve heard several times that, I would never make it in the dance industry if I didn’t lose weight.”, says the ballerina.
“That, amongst other things, makes us (dancers) question everything we believe in and, therefore, question ourselves.”
When asked what gave her the strength to not give up, Isabelle said that it has always been her dream and, because of that, what she thinks is more important than what others say.
From my own experience as a ballerina, I can say I suffer from major insecurities when it comes to my body image and potential. I’ve had people congratulate me for losing weight, and that only made me want to look more and more thin. It’s very difficult to pull yourself out of that “zone”, once you see the benefits that being visually thinner brings you inside the dance world.
Because of that, if you start gaining minimum weight, you start questioning whether you’re pretty or good enough, and that’s definitely the worst part of being so into dance.
Ingrid Chafick, professional dancer and dance teacher, has a different ideal about the meaning to dance and tries to use the art in order to change lives. Just like Isabelle, Ingrid says that she has felt unmotivated to pursue her career, but what kept her going was the strength her dreams had.
“A lot of people wanted to see me fail, but my dreams were always bigger.” Ingrid also talked about how good dance can be for your health and when exactly it can become a bad factor for your mental health: ‘Dance is very good for you mentally! It’s a very gratifying sport, because it involves music, feeling free and enjoying the moment.’ I believe it can be bad for you, once other people around you make you feel less. For example: when they make you feel unmotivated by making you feel ugly, bad, fat, clumsy and so on.” .
- Staying Healthy Mentally
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It’s important to highlight that, even though ballet is a beautiful and compelling form of art and sport, those who practice it have to go through issues that end up being ignored by the industry.
It’s very clear that ballet is not an easy choice of lifestyle, but even more clear that professional dancers love even the flaws and challenges that come along with dancing. However, it is of extreme necessity that professional dancers get the help and attention they need.
More so, society and those who live inside the ballet world must understand that is not right to label and pressure passionate people to become something they aren’t. Therefore, is important for everyone to know more about the subject and stop looking at dancers as if they were mere dolls who are happy and graceful all the time.