Ballet Is Not Glamorous

With the difficult decision to continue ballet as a dance major, I feel as though I am viewed inferiorly for following what I love. My peers think dance is the easy way out and is not taken seriously compared to the typical, stable career a parent may want for their child. Yet when they realize why I can’t go to my senior prom or spend a day at the beach on a weekend, they begin to see what being in the dance world entails and the heartfelt dedication it requires. In “What It’s Really Like to be a Ballerina,” Elice Mckinley argues that ballet is glamorized, yet the difficult lifestyle and hard work behind ballet is hidden behind how effortless it appears. Through Elice’s argument I argue that it is because of the ballet world’s perfectionism and facile that dance is not seen as athletic and is not considered a sport in addition to an art form, therefore it lacks the resources and appreciation it needs.

When people think of ballet, I assume that they picture perfect, sparkly tutus on a white lit up stage, with ballerinas wearing shiny pointe shoes and pink tights. They have their hair slicked back in tight cinnamon roll buns, perfectly measured in a line diagonal from their ears. They dance their movement like fluid with a dazzling and happy composure, and the watcher feels as though the ballerina is as light as air while on the tips of their toes, not even being able to hear when the dancer hits the floor. The whole picture of ballet is meant to be as close to perfection as possible. Nothing is ever seen as ugly and everything is satisfying to one’s eye. Even the upcoming trend of Balletcore pictures ballet’s perfectly clean and “skinny” aesthetic where people have started to wear ballet clothing items like leg warmers and pink colors in everyday life. Elice states that “Many little girls dream of becoming a ballerina.” With all those tutus and smiles who wouldn’t! Similar to Elice, my first time seeing The Nutcracker inspired me to join my first ballet company when I was nine years old, and it definitely is not the world I once saw it to be.

Ballet is actually not as glamorous as it seems. Underneath those pretty, satin pointe shoes are blood blisters, ingrown toenails, bunions, calluses, and a lot of sweat. It may look effortless, but Elice mentions that “The life of a dancer is more mentally and physically difficult than the graceful dances let on.” Most ballerinas start at a very young age and train for more than 20 hours a week. This includes staring at oneself in the mirror for hours in tight clothing, being critiqued to follow perfect technique and turn out while making it all look easy. Ballet technique is constantly analyzed with every position, maintaining proper arm, finger, and head alignment. Elice talks about her day routine as a ballerina where she wakes up at 7:30 am, does physical therapy, pilates, and core exercises only for her warm up. Then she dances technique and rehearses for more than six hours per day. Even on her breaks she squeezes in ab workouts and gym time. She states in working 6 days a week, “By the day off on Monday, I feel like I’ve been hit by a train.” Being a ballerina, I sacrificed my social life to train in a studio and miss out on experiences with friends because of the strict rehearsing I had to follow. In my daily life at USC, I leave my dorm before 9 am and come back to my dorm well after the sun goes down, with most of it spent dancing nonstop. In the performance aspect of ballet, the dancing is about being able to hold yourself up on one leg while making it look effortless at the end of a whole show where you have been challenging your stamina non stop. When I was Clara in The Nutcracker, I was responsible for remembering and dancing all the choreography for a two hour show, which I performed twice a day by the way. By the end of the day, I had to suck up my tears from my throbbing, twitching feet and calf muscles that had felt like they were about to fall off and still had to slap a smile on my face to dance the steps as the last curtain closed.

Other than the physicality of dance, the mental challenges are just as tough. Dancers have to handle harsh corrections from their teachers and be tough to receive criticism of others judging their bodies. Elice mentions, “When I was younger, I started thinking that if I were skinny, I’d be a better dancer.” Weight is always a factor in the ballet world, and it is a constant struggle to maintain confidence in oneself as dancers cope with eating disorders and body dysmorphia on top of focusing in class. My ballet teacher in my training said to eat a lemon drop if I was hungry.

Dancers often receive a lack of appreciation despite the tenacious work they put into their craft, and people do not see these behind the scenes of what it takes to perform a ballet or even take a professional ballet dance class, especially on pointe shoes. As a professional ballerina and unlike most dancers in ballet companies, Elice says that she “Was grateful for a job with health insurance, pointe shoes, and the opportunity to be on stage.” Most of the time, people are unaware of the money surrounding the ballet world. The tickets are often expensive, and the ballet’s budget can be high in order to pay for everything that sometimes ballerinas can not make a living out of their salary unlike most NFL football players. There have been numerous occasions where people looked down at me for being a ballet dancer and did not want to acknowledge it to be athletic like football or basketball because they consider it only an art form that they never have appreciated to go and see.

Many refuse to think of ballet as a sport and as an athletic ability although dance has the same or even more physical and mental demands than any sport. Elice lacked resources as a dancer when she suffered from an injury and says “My injury wasn’t just from all the pounding over the years; it was also because of poor nutrition.” At USC as a dance major, I am not a part of the athletics and do not have access to the resources the athletics provide such as the dining hall. Dancers have high rankings for levels of stamina, strength, flexibility, and coordination that makes them surpass the athleticism of most sports, on top of making it look easy and using it to perform. Because dance is not considered a sport, the dancer majors find it difficult to maintain a balanced diet and nutrition to support their athletic needs in between their short breaks in the day. Dancers are discouraged for not being acknowledged as athletes even though dancers have more of a reason to acquire these resources because of the physical activity endured each day affecting our bodies and especially to not fall into disordered habits and prevent injury. Additionally, people do not consider that like a sport, ballet is very competitive as one is often fighting with their peers to earn the better role, the attention of an important observer, or the job into a company. There is a huge world of competitive dance in commercial industries that raise this level of competition to an extreme.

Recognizing and appreciating ballet as a sport will help support and uplift dance in both the concert and commercial dance worlds. This will give dancers even more of a reason to continue their passion as a career with extra resources to support their bodies in the arts and improve the much needed funding these companies and dancers need. People may even support the concert world more and find reasons to watch performances. Interestingly, the world of breakdancing is beginning to gain light as it is finally making its debut as an Olympic sport in 2024. Now, I can only push to illuminate all the other unique dance styles that come from the extraordinary and superhuman capabilities that one can train their body into accomplishing. Pursuing dance and pursuing a sport are similar in the sense that one must really love and feel a vital passion for what one is doing, as both are a bumpy lifestyle that strengths every aspect to one’s mind, body, and soul. As Elice goes through the highs and lows of a ballet career, she says “that’s the ballet life: It’s so hard, but it can be beautiful.” For dance to continue and to highlight the other influences it has from tracking history from before written records to expressing cultures and ethnicities around the globe, there need to be dancers who are supported in both the sport and artistic world in order to keep their ambition alive.