“I’ll be successful if I’m thin.” How professional ballerinas live

The art of ballet mesmerizes us with its grace and beauty. But behind the seeming ease of movement is the exorbitant work of dancers who throughout their careers prove that they are worthy of dancing on the theatrical stage. Future ballerinas are immersed in the craft as children, and at a young age they enter choreographic boarding schools, where they gain the necessary knowledge and hone their skills in practice. As the girls grow up, they face changes in their own bodies, and that’s when the real struggle for a chiseled figure begins.

Blogger and creator of the YouTube channel “Tanya+Dance” Tatiana Chernenko met with professional ballerinas Joy Womack و Anastasia Limenko and found out how the artists keep their weight. It turned out that the pursuit of thinness sometimes led to terrible consequences.

Joy Womack: “I weighed 36 kilograms at the exam”.

Joy can be called a unique ballerina. She studied both in the United States and in Russia – at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography. Womack was the first American to graduate from our school and was accepted into the Bolshoi Theater company. But the way in which the girl went to success in the theatrical field gives me goosebumps.

In her second year at the Moscow State Academic Art Theater, the teacher who promoted Joy was forced to leave their course. To replace came a teacher who saw in the girl too much sports and believed that she does not have ballet data. Therefore, Womack had to prove with all her might that she was a promising student. And the ways in which she tried to become better were extremely exhausting.

Joy says there was a general tendency at the academy to strive for thinness. Especially those who didn’t have outstanding abilities. It was thought that the thinner the better. Therefore, in the last year of study among the girls-graduates unfolded a real struggle for the right to dance in the ballet “Pahito”. The artists began to lose weight even more diligently. Joy was so afraid of competition that she took extra classes with another teacher. She attended classes at 6 am, worked there for two hours and then went to the school, where she continued to work hard until evening. It was a tremendous workload.

Next door to where Womack took her private lessons was a shop with dried fruits and nuts. Joy remembers now that as early as 8 a.m. she was hungry. Every day she waited for the opportunity to buy 100 grams of peanuts in sugar and stretch this handful for the whole day. And if the girl allowed herself chocolate, it was only a small square piece. After class, Womack would go home and buy some soursop. She drank it until 6 p.m., and after that – no food.

Because of such a meager diet, Joy at one point weighed 36 pounds, the lowest she had ever weighed in her conscious life. The girl became so thin that Marina Konstantinovna Leonova, rector of the Moscow State Academic Art Theater, called her to herself and said that it was urgent to get better. The ballerina admitted that after critical weight loss it is very difficult to gain back pounds. And besides, she got excellent marks in her exams, she was selected to dance at the Bolshoi Theater, and all the teachers praised Womack, talking about her beauty and diligence. This willy-nilly motivated her to stay skinny.

And only after graduation from the academy and after some time of real work in the theater Joy began to gradually gain weight.

Conformity to the standard: why ballerinas torture themselves with diets?

According to Limenko, the desire for thinness is primarily due to the Russian school of ballet. It has developed a certain standard of what a ballerina should look like. Of course, girls need to remain aesthetically pleasing and slim, so that there is no overweight. But it is important to realize that all ballerinas are individual and it is impossible to mold them according to one cliché. Otherwise, many may say goodbye to good health. That’s why Anastasia believes that you can polish your body to a certain edge and achieve a good picture, but you can’t chase the ideal forever. Because, as a rule, it is imposed on us. And in schools there should be professional nutritionists and doctors who will help to build a balanced diet under huge loads. After all, with a healthy diet it is quite realistic to eat quite a lot without harming your figure.

After all the stories Anastasia has experienced, health, psyche and normal sleep have become more important than ever. She still needs to adjust her metabolism. Now the girl’s diet is dominated by live food. In addition, the artist completely gave up chemistry, meat and tries not to drink coffee, and with this habit disappeared and craving for sugar.

In eating disorders Limenko recommends to necessarily remove all the prohibitions, and then start listening to the body and try to understand what it really wants. Also ballerina believes that eating while watching TV or doing other things is harmful. Eating should be a separate conscious process.

Based on her personal experience, Anastasia believes that every body is different, as well as its needs. Therefore, the main thing in nutrition is to get into your mode and listen to your body. Of course, there are foods that should be minimized for everyone. For example, we are talking about flavor enhancers and sugar. These foods can be addictive. And this is what you should get rid of to learn how to distinguish between annoying food habits and what your body really wants.