Does this dancer need to lose weight?
Body image: The Ideal female ballet body, according to George to Balanchine, is a girl with long legs and neck, a short trunk and small breasts and head and large feet. He loved watching what he called ‘juicy’ pointework by girls with large feet! Go figure! For women who don’t have ideal dancer’s bodies, and that’s almost all of us and even for the lucky ones with Balanchine bodies, the mirror is one of our harshest critics. In our reflections we often see only our flaws. If a girl is large enough to be a showgirl 5’8” or taller then she can let her weight go a bit and add an inch or two to breasts and hips as long as her bod is firm. But those of us dancing the classical idiom can’t get away with that. Even with a relatively high metabolism a classical dancer has to be careful of her diet because weight can be so difficult to manage. I think that’s because we spend so much time standing around while the choreographer sets a piece or waiting for our role to come up in rehearsal. Where we usually get the best workout is in class so most of us try to take as many classes as we can afford or that we have time for. The thing we absolutely must avoid is poor nutrition from fad or crash diets that can develop into eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia that can shorten careers and even lives. For dancers who are struggling with weight problems the best course is to get with a dietitian to develop a diet with meals and snacks of the right amounts of nutritious foods to build muscle and store energy.
Very good treatice on diet. I think you give the right advice for anyone who's either looking to maintain what they currently weigh or shed some excess fat weight. Anya's blog had a link to an article about a Waterloo, Iowa, doctor who prescribes a 400-calorie-per-day diet and a diet pill. That's way too little.
ReplyDeleteBesides, I think that girl in the photo looks good just as she is. If she were to try to lose some weight, even if it's for a role, she'd become skin and bone.
Trying to lose some 5 kgs to look good in leotards.. Managing weight is definately the hardest thing.. i dun get it.. i danced everyday but my hips is getting bigger.. i dont have this prob untill feb this year.. i think its sumthing to do with my metabolism... i'm taking herbal life nutritions now which only contains 180cal per meal.. hope it works out good..
ReplyDeleteMarie:
ReplyDeleteThat 180-calorie-per-meal diet, is that just three per day or more? I would think you would probably need to have at least five of those to get you through the day with dancing and all.
Marie, are you on hormonal contraceptives? If you are the hormones can cause an increase in appetite and a decrease in metabolism. Are you keeping a food log to record everything you eat? That's a good way to find if you are really only getting 540 calories in three meals or if your snacks add up to much more.
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