
Ballerinas defy the corporeal in a quest for the ethereal (2019) - tintinnabula
https://aeon.co/ideas/how-ballerinas-defy-the-corporeal-in-a-quest-for-the-ethereal
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hn_throwaway_99
Just responding to some of the comments here about how ballet is "tragic" in
that it requires such sacrifice of it's dancers.

I disagree. Yes, it does require sacrifice, but no more really than any high
level athletes. I think a lot of unhealthy ideals in the dance world are/have
changed. Unfortunately, Balanchine was responsible for many of the worst
tendencies in the ballet world, e.g. an obsession with skinniness and complete
disregard for dancer's mental health.

Now, though, dancers are also rightfully seen as athletes, strength is seen as
beauty, and much more attention is paid to their mental and physical health.
Yes, ballet movement is unnatural, but it can be done in a way that doesn't
destroy someone's body (and mind).

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lazyant
One difference with other athletes is that, as with gymnasts, dancers have to
start really early in their childhood (because they peak earlier than other
sports, due to the kind of preferred body type), so you are asking a sacrifice
to a 9-12 year old that in most sports is not required until 13-18 or
whatever, at an age where many things are decided for them by their parents
instead of by them.

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thinkr
Not to take away from your comment, but I wanted to highlight another sport
that requires similar sacrifice at an early age, which is the male dominated
sport of F1 racing. Many top drivers are the result of training and competing
at 7-8 years of age in kart racing. I would say they "peak" later than a
ballerina/gymnast but require the same early sacrifice to be a top athlete.

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Ididntdothis
You don’t make many physical sacrifices in racing though. You have to be in
good shape but You don’t have to go to extremes like gymnasts do. There
actually would be a big advantage if you brought up racers with stunted growth
that are short and weigh little but thank god this doesn’t seem to be
happening.

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harimau777
In college I took a course called Anatomy for Dance seeking to help my martial
arts practice. The course covered muscular and skeletal anatomy as well as the
basics of stretching and strength training. Other than myself everyone in the
class was a dance major (and I think that all of them were specifically ballet
majors but I'm not certain).

Two things that I recall:

Some of the girls already had arthritis.

Some of the girls expressed concern that if they developed the muscles that
support dance (if I remember correctly it was specifically the hamstrings that
were being discussed) it might result in a figure that was considered negative
for a ballerina.

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every
There are a number of physical impositions placed on ballerinas. They are
expected to have a small head, a long neck, small breasts, narrow hips and
thin, graceful limbs. Mutilation of the feet to complete the illusion is
simply part of the package...

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gadders
Fortunately Misty Copeland has changed that somewhat.

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every
Misty has the prototypical physique of a modern dancer but prefers the
classical repertoire. Hopefully one day the two will merge and leave en pointe
behind as a curious relic...

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bitwize
My girlfriend trained in ballet throughout her childhood and teenage years --
like so many other girls she wanted to be a ballerina. Today she has a hammer
toe, her ankles are shot, and she needs a hip replacement.

Still the most fun girl to dance with, though, when she can manage the pain.

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sbaha88
It is tragic that ballet requires such physical sacrifice, because it is such
a beautiful art form.

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brabel
It would still be beautiful without the pointe. For some reason, in many
activities, people tend to go to the greatest lengths for even the smallest
gains... ballet without pointe would still be ballet, I think non-experts like
me would barely notice if they stopped using those - yet all ballet dancers
sacrifice their feet for that perhaps last 2%. Why isn't there any ballets
that just don't use pointe? Perhaps there is, would be nice to get to know
about them.

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api
> in many activities, people tend to go to the greatest lengths for even the
> smallest gains

It's a show-off / machismo thing. In our own field I'd relate it to the
culture of extreme workaholism. If you are working 100 hour work weeks you are
almost certainly not being productive for anywhere near that many hours unless
you are on drugs, and that's sustainable for at most a week or two before you
crash hard. In my experience people who claim that kind of loony work week are
usually lying. The only exception seems to be natural manic personalities, but
that mutation comes with its own set of serious drawbacks.

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pnw_hazor
I think it more related to a mastery of a skill that is difficult to master.
Such that knowing that skill sets one apart from the average programmer.

I am not sure of a good example tech, but maybe something like being the one
person in the shop that has completely mastered a subject matter area that
others haven't bothered to learn because it is too hard/confusing? Maybe, the
device driver coder versus the application coder, etc. The amount of hours put
in grinding at the office may be the same, but some people have mastered
skills that are perceived as elite over other skills.

Pointe is a first level elite skill in Ballet. Some dancers may learn pointe
faster or slower than others, but most dancers never will. By the time dancers
are decent/comfortable on pointe and yet still far from professional level,
they will be in an elite group.

edit-to-add: A big weakness with my analogous examples is that I feel that any
decent programmer can learn device drive programming, difficult APIs, new data
structures/algos, and so on, if they put the time in.

In contrast, many dancers that would like to dance pointe will be unable to,
no matter how hard they try. Same with figure skaters who want to land a
single Axel in competition. Chess mastery might be a good example too.

