- [Pete] Rolling.
(breathes heavily)
- Okay (laughs)
(footsteps tapping)
Hi guys, welcome back to another episode of Dancers' Corner.
Dancers' Corner is an advise series for dancers,
so we touch upon all kinds of things
from the mental health side of dance,
any of the struggles that dancers might go through,
audition prep, like just basically all
of the sides of dance that aren't technical skills
or tutorials for choreography.
Dance is complex, so a dancer's mind kind of goes
along this really intense journey
and I wanted to give all of the advice
that I have kind of gathered over my many years of dancing.
So today we're gonna be talking about body image,
which is always relevant
because the dance world doesn't have the best reputation
when it comes to promoting a healthy self accepting,
self-loving body image.
At first, I wanna start by saying that
it's so common for dancers to have struggles
with body image, I know, I have been there,
all of my friends have been there,
other professionals out in the industry as well
because of this kind of perfect, right,
perfect or ideal dancers body,
has literally been fabricated or created
by the dance world.
This ideal of, you know, tall, and so thin,
and no curves, and your legs can close perfectly
into a fifth position because they're slim
and they're slender and all of these things,
they're not real.
I think that that's the biggest thing
that I wanna touch upon from the beginning,
is that dancers bodies are supposed to be different,
they're supposed to be strong,
they're supposed to be curvy, and muscular, and powerful.
When you think about a professional athlete,
no one's really coming after them saying like,
oh, that football player is way too curvy,
when do you ever hear that, you don't,
because you need power, and strength,
and you need this endurance that only a body
that is muscular and built and able to sustain something
as intense and physically demanding as dance is.
So again, this ideal, especially in the ballet world,
has been created by humans, it is not real,
it doesn't exist.
The perfect dancers body, does not exist,
if you have a body, you have a dancing body.
If you are able to move, and to feel joy,
and to love what you're doing,
you have the perfect dancer body.
Now I wanted to do this video today because recently,
there have been a ton of professional dancers,
specifically ballet dancers,
my friend Ms. Kathryn Morgan came out
with a video of why she left in Miami City Ballet.
Now I just had Kathryn onto one of my life workshops
and she was kind of sharing with us
what happened to her at the company,
that video kinda sparked this really beautiful movement
of other dancers coming out
and sharing their struggles with body image
and really being tormented throughout their journey
of how they look, of how much weight they have to lose,
being fired or let go, or roles taken away from them
because they just didn't fit this kind of aesthetic ideal.
And I just want to applaud
all of these beautiful dancers
that are coming out with these vulnerable stories,
because it's first of all scary
to share hurt from your past,
it's scary to share hurt from your present.
It's scary to share anything that is vulnerable
because it leaves you susceptible
to other people's opinions,
it leaves you susceptible
to others questioning the validity of your story,
it leaves room for judgment,
but it also creates this really incredible community.
A community of dancers that have struggled,
that are struggling with accepting how they look,
how they feel, maybe they're struggling with
what they're eating, or they have a skewed perception
of the way that they look when they look in the mirror.
So I encourage you guys, if you're in this,
in that head space to seek help.
It is so important that you understand
that your mental health, your physical health,
are so much more important than the prestige,
or getting into a company, landing this role,
landing this agency, taking these beautiful photos,
looking like different influencers out there,
none of that matters.
The way that you feel on the inside,
how much you love yourself,
how much you accept yourself,
how well you're treating your body,
your body is your engine dancers.
You cannot run on no fuel, you cannot run
if different parts of you are not functioning at a 100%.
So I really recommend watching those videos,
finding solace in the fact that you're not alone
and that there are other dancers out there,
plenty them, myself included,
who have gone through body image struggles
and have come out the other end.
Another really wonderful resource
I have for you guys is Jess Spinner,
so she's also a friend of mine,
she was also on one of my live events,
she's a health coach specifically for dancers.
She was a professional ballerina as well,
she's beautiful, but she shares a lot of her stories
about how, you know, she always felt her legs
were too big and she received a lot of comments
about them during her training,
and it really scarred her,
and so she kind of use that as fuel
to help other dancer and she created The Whole Dancer.
So definitely check her out on Instagram,
it's literally just @thewholedancer,
reach out to her, if you're really struggling
I think she would be an incredible resource
for all of you guys.
So I just wanna say, if you find yourself, I wrote,
if you find yourself sinking into the scary space
of hatred for your body,
if you feel like you're not happy,
you are kinda just struggling through dancing
because of things that are going on mentally and physically,
you need to pause, dance will always,
always be there for you when you're ready to return
and dance will be so grateful for you
when you return with strength,
when you return with a healthier mindset.
Dance is not going anywhere, but your body,
and your mind, and your soul's wellbeing
are way more important than truly anything else.
So our quote for today dancers is ''accepting yourself,
only as long as you look a certain way, isn't self-love,
it's self destruction.''
So really think about that,
maybe write it down on a little notebook,
I'll say it one more time, accepting yourself,
only as long as you look a certain way, isn't self-love,
it's self destruction.
Really just think about that,
evaluate where you're at in your life,
evaluate the things that you're holding with value
and make sure that your physical and mental wellbeing
is up at the very top of that list.
I'll write down a little videos,
I'll put the links in the video description
to Kathryn Morgan's video
and I'll link Jess @thewholedancer for her Instagram,
if anyone wants to reach out to her
make sure you told her that
or that our tell her that Ms. Auti sent you.
There are so many beautiful humans out in this world,
and so many beautiful humans in the dance industry
and we are all in this together,
you just have to make sure that you are digesting
the right information.
So I love you guys so much,
thank you so much for tuning in,
and I will see you at the next Dancers' Corner, good?
- [Pete] Yeah.
- Yay, thank you so much Pete.
- [Pete] Yeah.
- [Auti] That's like a huge weight off.
(footsteps tapping)
Yay.
(chair scrapping)