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Some other things i want to explore with this are the different rates put out there?and how has the industry changed? and what may be a better option?

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All of theses different things all go with the question why does the dance industry up lift body dysmenorrhea and all of theses components are just things that all theses aindurty people and everyone says and words they put out. Some might argue like for instance people in the industry that it’s okay that’s what people out in the world love but when it comes to a certain point it’s like this is a new generation people are starting to talk more and put out a different image out in this world. I think the the argument out of in the would of the dance industry is bad the the question of why something is like a way needs to change but some may argue in the industry it’s okay to be a certain way but it’s really not. It’s a different perspective and pov.

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Photo by Isabelle Duffy
[ID: Six fat-identified dancers wearing bright, colorful clothes, dancing in a dark studio with colorful disco party lights reflecting on the walls and floor. The dancers have their hands up as if putting imaginary crowns on their heads.]

Editor's Note: Kat Koenemann is Dancers' Group's General Manager and Alex Tiscareno is a Dancers' Group Administrative Assistant. Their paths crossed through their fat-positive advocacy.

Content notice: Includes references to anti-fat bias and eating disorders. If you or someone you love may be suffering from an eating disorder, go to nationaleatingdisorders.org/help-support for support.

KAT: I'm so excited we're working together at Dancers' Group. It's wonderful to meet another dancer/teacher in a bigger body who is also making space for bigger bodies in dance. I identify as a fat dancer. I use "fat" in a neutral, even positive way, and it's been liberating. The word can carry a lot of weight (pun intended), but our discomfort with the word "fat" can be illuminating!

ALEX: It's really nice to see dancers who have a similar body type to me. I've always identified as plus-size or bigger-bodied. More recently, I opened up to describing myself as a fat dancer once I started my thesis work, which, as you know, was about how anti-fatness affects the dancing body.

KAT: That is such important work! I have also shifted from body positivity and trying to "love my body" to confronting anti-fatness and seeing the bigger picture: ALL bodies deserve respect regardless of size, skin color, ethnic background, gender, sexuality, age, health or ability status. It's not just about self-love, it's about human rights. We've been treating fat people terribly, and weight-stigma intersects with other marginalizations to keep people disempowered.

ALEX: Absolutely! For a long time I hated my body because of the hatred I experienced in dance spaces; it took its toll. During my research, I read the book Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness by Da'Shaun L. Harrison. In it, they reject this idea that loving yourself will solve anti-fatness. They describe the body-positivity movement as a mask to the violent idea of thinness, robbing us of fat liberation. This stuck with me.

KAT: We're told to love ourselves, but with conditions!

ALEX: Exactly! Dancers are subjected to high rates of disordered eating, so as I worked though my own relationship with food and my body, I began to examine my own internalized fatphobia. It made me want to share the stories of myself and others, which is why I opted to use interviews of dancers in bigger bodies within my thesis work. Fat dancers often are discredited when we draw from the fatphobic treatment we've received. I wanted to show that this treatment is still prevalent within the dance community. It's great to connect with you, because you are actively fighting for fat liberation and joy in dance. Can you say more about what you do?

KAT: I teach weekly classes at Hipline studio in Oakland. They are low impact, high energy, follow-along dance classes that center expression and joy. I'm also the studio's Body Empowerment Consultant, helping our studio follow through on our commitment to combat anti-fatness and empower bodies of all shapes and sizes.

ALEX: That is wonderful!

KAT: I also teach a monthly dance class for fat-identified folks called Big Thick Energy, which started in July of 2022. I was afraid no one would show up, but every class has been packed, with a waitlist! The class has been such a joyful and healing space. It's been transformative for the dance studio. We now have more body diversity in all the classes. It's beautiful!

ALEX: I completely agree. We need more dance spaces that actively commit to making this radical transformation. Da'Shaun L. Harrison writes, "In order to destroy anti-fatness and anti-Blackness, we must destroy Desire, Beauty, Thinness and Whiteness." They are referring to the meaning that society assigns to each of these words and who benefits from them-white, cis-gendered, thin and able-bodied individuals. In order to advance body inclusivity within the dance field we have to destroy this oppressive system and reimagine a world where everyone is valued equally.

Sabrina Strings wrote a book called Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia where she talks about how fatphobia is rooted in racism against Black bodies, particularly Black women. The Black Dancing Body, written by Brenda Dixon Gottschild, dives deeper into how this manifests and affects Black dancing bodies. These authors and texts have been crucial in my fat liberation advocacy work. I am a queer, white Latina who has been treated horribly because of the size and shape of my body. Still, it will never come close to the severity that Black and Brown bodies go through on a daily basis. My work is only scratching the surface and is only my perspective, which is still very privileged comparatively.

KAT: These are essential resources. I also have privilege as a white, cis-gendered, mostly able-bodied person. Even my relative size as a 2x/3x woman gives me privilege over larger fat folks. We should all be listening to and learning from people in the most marginalized bodies. Larger fat, Black, Brown, Indigenous, Disabled and Queer activists have been doing this work for a long time.

ALEX: Absolutely.

KAT: It's not a coincidence that the most anti-fatness I've experienced in dance has been in very White spaces, where the emphasis was on perfectionism, uniformity, and strict technique-all values rooted in White supremacy. A big part of this work is re-evaluating what we merit in dance. I don't want to see dancers that look exactly alike with the same body type and technique. I want to see authenticity, creativity, embodiment, joy and expression.

ALEX: I'm glad you mentioned embodiment. There is this big push in the dance community for more embodied practices like somatics, a field of movement practices that emphasizes internal physical perception and experience. However, when you look at who is getting credit for this idea, it's white individuals. These practices are not new. Black, Indigenous and other People of Color have been practicing "embodiment" for centuries. Dance has given us a "codified" method of healing but it is still a luxury that is afforded to white, cis-gendered, able-bodied individuals. I've written about how I think this could be radically overhauled in my thesis. What have you noticed in your work about how we, as individuals who benefit from this system, can begin to dismantle it?

KAT: Wow. That is real. "Embodiment" should be our natural state! In a capitalist system so much is taken and sold back to people. Our bodies become projects that are never complete, and the powerful tool that disempowers us from opting out of these systems is shame. It's overwhelming to fight an entire system, but we can begin with ourselves. We start by unlearning the idea that some bodies are more valuable or morally better than others.

In a dance studio, owners, directors, teachers, choreographers, and staff need to be doing intentional work to challenge their own biases, including anti-fat bias, as well as offering resources and training for staff and dancers. In addition, a crucial safety measure for all movement spaces is to educate about eating disorders. They are more common and dangerous than folks realize, and they affect people of all sizes.

I strongly suggest keeping diet-talk and negative body talk out of the dance space. Conversations about personal eating choices (weight-centric or not) can be reserved for elsewhere. Any body talk that uplifts certain bodies or characteristics over others shouldn't be allowed, including comments about oneself. It's understandable to have critical thoughts about our bodies, but these should be processed privately, with consent-let's keep it out of dance space.

ALEX: This type of talk is prevalent!

KAT: It is everywhere! I take a trauma-aware approach. I assume anyone entering my class may have trauma related to their body image-especially fat folks. So I go out of my way to emphasize non-judgement, to center the dancers' experience. I provide options for dancers to customize movement to their body and remind them that they are the owners and executors of their own body.

As we look at our dance spaces through this lens, we can ask: Who is not here, and why? Are the movements accessible or adaptable? Is there fat-friendly seating in the studio? Is the building accessible? Are the costumes or merchandise available in inclusive sizing? Is there body-diversity in marketing materials? Are there other types of diversity in the space (ethnicity, race, gender expression, sexuality, age, ability)? Will people of all shapes and sizes feel comfortable and included?

Our society is anti-fat, so our spaces will be, too, unless we work on it. We won't be perfect, but we should start somewhere.

ALEX: I was "raised" in modern and contemporary performance spaces, so these values hold a lot of weight to me. I was always told that because I was fat, I would never be a professional dancer or that I would make companies look "trashy." I was encouraged to get weight loss surgery and graphically told how disordered eating would benefit me and make me "hireable". Even in the Bay Area, people have told me that not all inclusion is good inclusion and that "fat dancers just can't do what other dancers can do."

KAT: First of all, I am so sorry those things were said to you. It's unacceptable. I'm glad it didn't stop you from dancing because we both know that fat dancers absolutely CAN dance.

ALEX: Yes! That is why I've pulled my focus more towards the performance side of dance. You don't often see larger dancers on stage, working with professional companies, or getting recognized by notable choreographers. Someone once told me that they saw a "bigger dancer" dancing for Bill T. Jones and they felt that was enough representation. One time with one dancer isn't enough. Why is dance hesitant to be body inclusive? Why is dance adamant on continuing archaic body standards-especially when it doesn't match the collective society it exists in, you know?

KAT: YES. So many dancers I work with tell me they never even made it to the point of an audition because of negative experiences and internalized anti-fatness. I even quit dancing several times.

How many amazing dancers is the world missing out on?

ALEX: Absolutely. I would love to see bigger bodied dancers in a professional setting. I look back at the younger me who felt so alone. I think about what seeing people who looked like me would have done for my experience and mental health. There is an active disconnect between mission statements and the representation we see in these settings. Companies can't, in good faith, say they are advocating for diversity, equity and inclusion while not including different body types in that advocacy. It shows that there is a lot of work that still needs to be done. It's not just harming dancers with bigger bodies; it's hurting everyone who participates in dance.

KAT: That is the magic of this work: It helps liberate everyone. Every person with a body deserves to live fully and joyfully without shame. And I know that for both of us, a full and joyous life includes dancing.

Kat (she/her) is Dancers' Groups' General Manager, a dance instructor and consultant at Hipline, and a fat liberation activist. Kat has danced for 35+ years and performed with companies in Alabama, South Carolina, and the Bay Area. She lives in Oakland, CA. Find her on Instagram @big_thick_energy_ .

Alex (she/they) is a plus-sized dance artist from Fresno, CA. Since starting her dance education in 2012, Alex has made it her mission to advocate for body inclusivity in professional dance spaces. Recently she obtained her MFA and is currently setting work with her company Aleño Dance Project.
This article appears in the Fall 2023 issue of In Dance.

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Taking Up Space: A conversation between two dancers combating anti-fatness

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ALL bodies deserve respect regardless of size, skin color, ethnic background, gender, sexuality, age, health or ability status.

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TW🚩Unrealistic #unrealistic #toxic #comedy #funny #relatable #dance #dancer #ballet #ballerina #bodydysmorphia #body #dancetiktok #fathersday #viral

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@marmar_world
TW🚩Unrealistic #unrealistic #toxic #comedy #funny #relatable #dance #dancer #ballet #ballerina #bodydysmorphia #body #dancetiktok #fathersday #viral
♬ Punk Monk - Playboi Carti

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Josh Spell, a former dancer and a mental health consultant for Pacific Northwest Ballet, isn’t surprised by those research findings. “This standard of the thin body as a dance ideal has been passed down from generation to generation,” he says. “It’s definitely the Balanchine model, those long legs.”

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Though candid conversations about eating disorders are (thankfully) becoming more common in the dance world, one struggle continues to plague dancers at an alarming rate: Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD). In an industry centered on physical appearance, BDD-more commonly known as body dysmorphia-can sometimes feel hard to avoid. But there's hope, and help, for those in need.

What Is Body Dysmorphic Disorder?

According to the
National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
, BDD is defined as "an obsession with an imaginary defect in physical appearance or an extreme concern with a slight physical blemish, which other individuals may not even recognize." As opposed to more general body image issues, BDD is characterized by a fixation on a specific part (or parts) of the body.

Body dysmorphia may manifest in different ways depending on the individual, but many, many dancers suffer from some version of it. In fact, a study conducted in 2012 found that BDD is more prevalent in dancers than the general population.

Why Are Dancers Specifically at Risk?

Josh Spell, a former dancer and a mental health consultant for Pacific Northwest Ballet, isn't surprised by those research findings. "This standard of the thin body as a dance ideal has been passed down from generation to generation," he says. "It's definitely the Balanchine model, those long legs."

Dancers spend hours every day scrutinizing their bodies in the mirror. Tights, leotards, and revealing costumes only increase the likelihood of fixation on "imperfect" body parts. The competitive spirit of the industry can exacerbate the situation, leaving dancers of all shapes and sizes-as BDD can affect everyone, regardless of weight-feeling like they'll never measure up.

How Can BDD Be Treated?

"With body dysmorphia, it's not something that you can take a magic pill for and it goes away," says choreographer, actor, and singer KayCee Stroh, known for playing Martha Cox in the High School Musical trilogy. "From a very early age, I remember looking in the mirror and then at the girls next to me and realizing, 'Oh, wow, they're all like knees and elbows and really gangling. Is that normal? Is that what I'm supposed to be?' "

As she continued to pursue dance, Stroh's battle with body dysmorphia worsened, as did her struggles with anorexia and bulimia. She became obsessive, constantly worrying about specific body features or trying to change them, whether through extreme dieting or exercise. It took Stroh many years to be able to identify what exactly she was battling.

Ultimately, for Stroh, the key to healing was therapy. And that's true for many dancers dealing with BDD. "Mental health professionals are trained in recognizing these maladaptive thoughts or negative thoughts," Spell says. "This is just part of your overall wellness. Just like we go to physical therapy, we can go to mental therapy. I want that to be normalized."

KayCee Stroh dancing today (Xan Craven, courtesy Stroh)

What Should You Do If You're Struggling?

The path to recovering from BDD might not be linear. But if you're suffering, here are some first steps to take.

First, find a trusted confidant, whether that's a dance teacher, a parent, or a mental health professional. Having someone to talk to is crucial to a healthy and lasting recovery. With their help, begin to recognize and examine your negative thoughts, identifying potential triggers and perspectives that need to be adjusted.

Stroh suggests clearing your social media feeds of anything that makes you feel negative about your body-unfollowing the dancers, models, and/or clothing brands you find triggering. Make sure your dance teachers know what you're going through, too, so they can potentially adjust the way they give feedback in class.

"As a teacher, I am striving to use language that is focusing on function rather than aesthetic," says Courtney Liu, a former dancer and current MFA student at Duke University studying ballet education, body image, and eating disorders. "So instead of talking about a certain body part-like the stomach or thighs-I talk about the function behind the lifting up off the legs, or the function behind engaging the stomach."

It might also be helpful to choose a spot in the studio farther away from the mirror, or even to train without the mirror when possible. Doing so will make it harder to fixate on specific body parts. "The mirror lies," Liu says. "The mirror is a two-dimensional object, but we are three-dimensional beings."

For further information and resources, visit the

International OCD Foundation and Body Dysmorphic Disorder Foundation websites.

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Real Talk About How Body Dysmorphia Affects Dancers

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Though candid conversations about eating disorders are (thankfully) becoming more common in the dance world, one struggle continues to plague dancers at an alarming rate: Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD). In an industry centered on physical appearance, BDD-more commonly known as body dysmorphia-can sometimes feel hard to avoid.

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Ballet is a splendid celebration of visual arts... A perfect illustration of dance, music, storytelling, and athleticism. Those perfect pirouettes, chaînés, and attitude is the outcome of tremendous dedication to rigorous training and practice. What the audience sees is beautiful artistry, but behind the curtains, the reality is pretty grim. Elite ballet dancers are vulnerable to body dysmorphia and disordered eating. In fact, the pervasiveness of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and Eating Disorders (ED) among ballet dancers is much higher than the general population. Ballet is known to have high and stringent standards of beauty. Acceptance beyond these boundaries is hard to find. It's no secret that ballet celebrates thinness. Historically, ballerinas have always been impelled to look a certain way- slim, tall, lean, and not too muscular. Young dancers who enrol in ballet classes face acute body criticism from the beginning; they experience pressure to be lean and regal from a very early age. The strain of dealing with fierce judgements about their bodies and appearance as children make these dancers more susceptible to develop body image issues as adults. The development of BDD and ED in dancers is a consequence of profound perfectionist attitude towards their art. In ballet, everyone is terribly competitive, everyone is striving to perfect the technique alongside dealing with gruelling training schedules, tackling the pressures of public performances, and always under colossal pressure to maintain a certain body aesthetics.

While distorted body image issues are prevalent in both male and female ballet dancers, research has known that female dancers have a higher preoccupation with their body weight, eating habits, and physical appearance. Thus, female ballet dancers have a greater propensity to develop BDD and ED than their male colleagues, other athletes, and non-athletes. The common diagnosis among ballerinas is anorexia, bulimia, and purging disorder. The obsession to be thin creates a negative relationship with food and results in maladaptive eating habits. People with body dysmorphia and eating disorders always have a predisposition, which could be genetics, personality traits, mental conditioning, or other factors. For ballet dancers, besides genetic and other predispositions, the culpability principally falls on the taxing culture of ballet which demands perfection in every aspect.

Ballerinas train in front of mirrors for long hours; scrutinising every movement, every twirl, and their bodies. They see themselves in the mirror and become utterly fixated on minor imperfections. The leotards, tutus, and tights cling to the body and reveal the body shape. This only exacerbates the inherent self-consciousness. To add to this, the ceaseless criticism and comparison that dancers face routinely further prepend to their low self-esteem. The imagery obsession in ballet engenders dancers to become neurotic about even the slightest blemish. This distortion in self-reflection can begin in dancers as young as 12 years old. Even outside the ballet world, the impossible beauty and body standards that the society emboldens as ideal just adds more pressure on young dancers and reinforce their insecurities. Most of them feel like they will never measure up to these standards and increasingly grow intolerant to any changes to their physical aesthetics. Dancers start becoming obsessive about their calorie intake and exercise routines. They commence purging habits where they either limit their nutritional intake to specific groups of foods or use techniques like forced vomiting to avoid gaining weight.

The warning signs

Warning signs of eating disorders can range from the restrictive intake of food and water, lack of menstrual cycle for 3 months or more to constantly talking about food, dieting, and weight loss. Constant exhaustion or fatigue can also be a common symptom among people battling ED.

Low self-esteem, negative body image, and obsession with body weight and physical appearance are signs of BDD. The negative perceptions, thoughts, and emotions that people associate with their bodies can influence or alter how they view their body in their mind. BDD can manifest and exaggerate eating disorders. So, dancers face an uphill battle when dealing with these issues and diagnosis can sometimes be difficult. Recovery is a long road but therapy and timely medical intervention have been known to help those who struggle from BDD and ED.

Other red flags that everyone must keep in mind are:

Constantly scrutinising oneself in the mirror

Avoiding mirrors altogether

Making disdainful comments about their body

Frequently comparing their body to others

Extreme self-consciousness

Being fixated on minor imperfections

Constantly obsessing over their weight fluctuations.

Acknowledging is empowering

Cliche as it may sound, the first step to healing is to acknowledge that there is a problem. It might be hard for most individuals to start the conversation and admit that they need help. But professing vulnerability is the stepping stone to recovery. You must try to identify potential triggers and recognise negative thoughts and behavioural patterns. Adopting a culture of healthy lifestyle where the focus is on healthy eating habits, moderate exercises, and a healthy outlook on life can shrink the physical and mental implications of disordered eating. The right role models can have the right influence. Leading dancers like Misty Copeland and Melissa Anduiza are exemplary role models who have been outspoken about the importance of self-love and dismissive of the strict ballerina aesthetics.

The responsibility of dancers' well-being also lies with the instructors, family members, and friends. They must be equipped to recognise the alarming signs and provide emotional support to the sufferers. Undoubtedly, ballet companies must create a safe environment for their dancers. The teachers must be mindful that their critique is directed towards the technique and not how the dancer looks or their weight. Teachers and instructors must converse with their students privately to discuss what their diet should look like, how often to exercise, the importance of at least eight-hour sleep, and other self-care tips. Education and open discussions about mental and physical health can empower dancers to take better care of themselves as well as encourage them to pursue help when they feel unguarded.

If you struggle with BDD or ED, it's important to confide in a trusted confidante or seek a professional therapist. If left undiagnosed or untreated, body image distortion can lead to severe depression and anxiety. It can affect the quality of life and in some events even cause death.

In conclusion,

Our minds have the power to perpetuate assumptions about our bodies that are not necessarily true. It's important to remember that it's the talent and perseverance that defines your worth, not your body weight. As a professional ballet dancer, we must strive for perfection in technique instead of trying to meet unrealistic, harmful body standards. We have the tendency to self-contemplate and often very harshly. Positive changes in collective and individual attitude as well as widespread awareness will help abolish the culture of body shaming within the ballet world and build a more inclusive art form.

Train Like A Ballerina is a ballet-inspired fitness program designed to help dancers gain strength & flexibility anywhere, anytime. Master your ballet techniques with our weekly workout updates. Train like a beast, look like a ballerina. Reach us at- hello@trainlikeaballerina.com.

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Ballet and body image | Body Dysmorphic Disorder | Train Like A Ballerina

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Ballet and body image... Why do so many dancers struggle with body dysmorphia and eating disorders? To learn more, read this blog.

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Why does the industry uplift a certain image of body dysmenorrhe and you have to lift or be a certain way?

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This word is just a term but in the dance industry everyone has the disire to succeed everyone wants to do right but with that comes other stuff since th Ed ace industry had out in an image in our head that we have to be a certain way so that’s were the disire to be skinny and not eat and practice 24/7 comes from wanting to succeed and to keep goin.

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The industry is a term or a word we use to decide a group of certain people that do the same thing. For example the dance industry is big but it’s not that big the industry is a really big part of dancing. Everyone wants to make it in the industry wi5 all the competition and the different things being brought up. The dance industry really sets the standards of what a dancer should do and be and look like everyone wanted to follow the industry.

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Anti fatness has been brought up a couple times. To further explain antifatness is a work people or more specifically the industry would you to be further harsh to people. People have theses pov because when it comes to dance and doing commercials or certain roles a lot of people would judge fat people for more further tell them no straight off the bat because they are anti fat people. That’s why before a lot of bigger people in the industry would be able to a lot of things. With body dysmenorrhea since more in the industry want you to be anti fat you have to really focus on what you eat and what you are doing and that’s where the way you look and act and eat comes from.

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When it comes to dance body image is a real big thing for many year and different company as they are training and helping there kid grow up. I certain way you look and body image has been sort of it. The dance industry likes what they like and back in the day there were times were they would only pick the skinniest or they would pick the most fit they didn’t even have to be good of there body was right. The industry and people think that the best body would fit the right role so growing up people would screw this thing of you have to look a certain way to do or get a certain role. When it come to body dysmenorrhea in dance with body image body dye or comes from the body image part the way you look. You start to only pertain on the way you look and what you eat and that creates a body image for yourself.

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Dance is like a sport but the insectary makes it it’s own image of what to do to succeed