by Jean Gibson

Created on: December 25, 2006   Last Updated: May 19, 2007

One of the hardest choices to make in the world. Not only classes and shoes are costly but there is a great personal cost. Dancing is painful, especially to the feet and legs. as a dancer you are striving for perfection. My dance teacher talked about being able to choose an instrument if you wanted to make music, yes you can choose a perfect violin (even if you cannot afford to own it) but you do not choose your own body, you are born with one and if it is not perfect you will strive to make it so for the rest of your short dancing career.

If you want to go to a reputable ballet school then prepare to face the worst hurdles and rejections if your body is not perfect. The Royal Ballet school measures and certainly used to scan your bones to estimate how many inches you might grow in the coming years, every year. They certainly used to have a size limit- nobody taller than a certain height (because on pointe girls were not supposed to tower over their partners and there are few really tall male dancers)
I think ballet dancers (beyond any other profession) were forced to realise that weight, length of toes, length of limbs and general build were going to cause rejection at an early age.
Sadly the stringent tests on young students lead to cases of anorexia and bulimia- very dangerous, and deadly illnesses. You have to be made of steel to face the kind of criticism throughout your life. Nothing is worse than a rejection of your own body because it affects the rest of your life.
As I said the dancers' life is a short one, most dancers retire to teach or do some other kind of work at the age of 35. We remember with affection how major stars of the ballet world went on to dance later in their lives, but they are the exception.
If ballet is not the only thing in the world and in your life, it is a profession to avoid rather than to take up.
Dancing with smaller companies where the strict royal ballet size rules may not apply means poor wages, and touring the provinces, and no kind of life at all outside the theatre. A life full of cheap hotels, strained muscles, bleeding toes, and snatched meals, as well as the sweat and tears of ballet classes every day and rehearsals. The dancer's day is a long one- morning class, afternoon rehearsal for current and new productions, and an evening performance, then supper and bed six days a week. Most of your earnings go towards the shoes that are essential to your existence. Half empty houses are sadly to be expected, and the effort and

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