The Two Biggest Elephants in the Room

Anorexia and Bulimia have now become extremely commonplace among dancers. The demand for perfection often turns into an obsession and drastic measures are taken to obtain and then maintain a "dancer's" body shape. These two mental health issues affect both the mind and body.

Every dancer has a "stage personality" and unique movement vocabulary that is solely their own. When they drift into a state of depression or insecurity, that charisma disappears. This is especially evident in teenagers. That is why I believe the best way to fight against this is to make sure that teachers and parents are all creating a place of encouragement and growth for today's emerging dancers. This can be achieved by dealing with the two biggest elephants in the room.

Knowledge of the repercussions of these two issues, will prevent dancers from taking this route. Instead things like nutrition information, counseling, and training plans should be reinforced. If things are discussed at an early age and dancers understand where to turn when problems occur, eating disorders can be prevented.

It is vital that the environment a dancer develops in promotes the evolvement of her/his craft. If that environment is compromised by abuse and insults eating disorders are more than likely to develop. First there needs to be an understanding of what the disease looks like and the reasons it develops, and then treatments can be placed into effect to battle these two issues.