The Plague of Perfectionism in Dancers
Dancing can be one of the greatest feelings in the world — you get to pour out all of your emotions without speaking at all. Even so, a dancer’s relationship with dance can be one of the harshest and most unforgiving relationships they have ever experienced.
The worst part: this toxic relationship can be mostly self-inflicted due to a little thing called perfectionism.
Dance attracts perfectionists. This art form has a right and a wrong way to use every single muscle in the body. It truly is what someone obsessed with perfection craves.
Having a whole dance company of perfectionists is, in theory, a dream. If every dancer is completely dedicated to making every move flawless, surely that is ideal.
However, perfectionism is dangerous. It crawls around inside of your head and whispers things as you look at yourself in the mirror.
It convinces you that every tiny thing you do wrong is another reason you will never be successful, and here begins the obsession.
The Obsession
While I, as a dance major, have been trained to see dance as an art, there is no denying that it is also a sport — or at least sport-adjacent. Therefore, a lot of dancers tend to fall in line with symptoms of exercise addiction.
Characterized by a lack of interest in anything else, withdrawals without it and a need for exercise despite the circumstances, exercise addiction can wear a person down very quickly.
I myself have fallen in and out of line with these symptoms over the years and it is a vicious cycle. Wanting to be in the studio at all hours to perfect your technique seems like it would be good for you. The reality is not so pleasant.
Coupled with perfectionism and the mirror, dance addiction can cause a dancer to watch the same video of them over and over until they are only able to see what they wish they had done better. More dangerously, it causes dancers to compare themselves to others.
The Eating Disorder Stereotype
Unfortunately, this stereotype holds a fair amount of truth. On average, 2.8 percent of adults will have an eating disorder at some point in their life. In a dance company, the average is between 12 and 16 percent.
When your body is your medium, it is easy to fall into a dark spiral. If you did not perform well in class on any given day, what else is there to blame but the body you are dancing in?
Perfectionism claws its way in at this point, says that the girl on the other side of the room is dancing beautifully today, and she is definitely skinnier, taller, leaner than you are. Maybe if your body looked like hers, your technique would be as good as hers.
It is a slippery slope between wanting to achieve technical perfection and wanting the perfect body to achieve technical perfection.
This means dancers are high-risk individuals for eating disorders, and that combined with teachers’ perfectionism can make dance companies harsh environments.
The Teachers
In my life, I have been criticized for my body by teachers more times than I can count on both of my hands.
To put you at ease, this has never happened in the two years I have been dancing in Fort Collins.
However, at my old dance company, beginning at the ripe age of eight, I was told that my thighs would need custom-sized tights, that I was not allowed to eat at all before ballet class (ballet started at six in the evening), that I would score better at competitions if I was smaller and that my technique would be better if I could get rid of my “stomach pooch”, just to name a few.
This is not unique to my old studio either. I made a TikTok about the unhealthy language used in dance classes, just to see if I could get maybe five comments relating to my experiences. I got over 1,200 comments, all from dancers explaining how their teachers would degrade their bodies from a young age.
When you are already comparing yourself to others on your own, trying to drown out your teachers’ comments is nearly impossible.
Not all teachers push their insecurities and perfectionism onto their students though.
Sierra La Rue, a dance instructor at Liberty Common High School, speaks about her experience watching students struggle with perfectionism.
“When students hold themselves to a standard of perfection, they tend to spend more time comparing themselves to others instead of learning and understanding their own unique body and how it moves.”
The Solution
Is it too pessimistic to say there is not one?
Perfectionism will always be engrained in dancers and teachers. It is inevitable.
In some ways, it is good. Dancers improve a lot due to the countless hours they spend fine-tuning their technique. When working on a show, directors want performers who will work on their parts outside of class and make sure that they are presentable.
Perfectionism helps guide a lot of dancers to success and creates stunning pieces of art.
It is when that perfectionism morphs and the dancer starts comparing themselves to others and looking at their body as the enemy when it becomes dangerous.
That might be inevitable too, though.
What I can say, is that having the right dance environment is crucial in fixing these unhealthy thoughts.
Having teachers that recognize body differences and who encourage their students rather than tear them down is a good start. Having a staff that opens up a dialogue about body image, nutrition and sizing with their dancers is also a good start.
Dance will always attract those who find joy in looking flawless. It is then up to teachers, directors and dancers to utilize that perfectionism in a healthy and empowering way. Only then will perfectionism be a gift instead of a plague.
