Although I feel that body image and self-confidence concerns are present in all forms of dance, it seems that they are most commonly associated with classical ballet. This makes sense simply because of the nature of ballet. Ballet dancers are taught to stare at themselves in the mirror wearing only a leotard and tights and are asked to fix imperfections on their bodies in order to improve. These are qualities of ballet that are impossible to avoid and can easily slip into your mind and start taking control of how you see yourself and how you appreciate your body.

 

For my Senior Project at Columbus Academy, I wanted to delve deeper into the ideas of body image in ballet. I interviewed ballet dancers from New Albany Ballet Company, where I danced for 16 years, about their own experiences with their body image and how, if at all, ballet had influenced it. I ultimately created a documentary with the goal of spreading awareness of the body image epidemic that seems to touch each dancer in some way, shape, or form and to ensure that dancers know that they are not alone in their experiences.