Today I fell down the rabbit hole of the internet….
After my 1-2-1 with my supervisor, I have decided that my inquiry will somewhat be about ‘Dancers body image’, something I am sure many of us have questioned or experienced in our dancing life. I am still unsure about what my specific focus or ‘question’, ‘title’ will be yet, as it’s such a broad subject, but after reading article after article, ‘social media’ particularly ‘instagram’ kept creeping into the more up to date information out there…
We all do it, (or I applaud you if you don’t), scroll through instagram daily and sometimes forget about the fact that people use photoshop and other editing apps, the “influencers” hire professional photographers for their staged photoshoots and the majority of the time people only post the ‘good stuff’.
However, on the other hand throughout my reading session It was refreshing to see some of those blue ticked Insta pages and renown professional dancers, were calling out the crap and being honest about how they really feel or how social media is portrayed…
I found that there is a lot of focus and research on classical ballet. I am by no means a ballerina, I took ballet classes as a child, throughout my professional training and still during my dancing career, but I would class myself as a 'jazz', musical theatre performer. So this is something that I can consider looking into more!
As body image is such a big subject I will need to continue to find the gaps in the research or find what avenue I would like to go down for my inquiry. But I thought I would leave you all with my little update!
Em x
Hi Emily, what an interesting topic! We often forget that those 'perfect' insta photos are edited with photoshop or filters, but I applaud those how share the reality of it! I can't wait to read your upcoming blogs :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Alice! Yes it's a topic that interests me and hopefully will be a good inquiry project 'here's hoping!'
ReplyDeleteHi Emily,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this. I feel like there is already so much pressure for 'normal' people to look a certain way on social media, so for performers that pressure is exacerbated tenfold. In the contemporary dance industry choreographers are increasingly asking dancers to perform wearing skin tight clothes or next to nothing, and so I have felt pressure to change my body in order to look more 'aesthetically pleasing'. I look forward to your future blogs!
Yes I couldn't agree more!! Wow yes I can imagine, I work on ships and a lot of the costumes are very tiny or have your whole stomach on show. A singer (they don't often, if at all have to wear skimpy costumes) once told me that she couldn't imagine having her period and having to wear the costumes we were wearing! So thats added pressure to already have to feel good in such exposing outfits!
DeleteHi Emily,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! I'm starting Module 1 and currently exploring Web 2.0 and ethically reflecting on this. Reading about your topic is really interesting and linked with some of my thoughts today whilst studying. The idea of comparing yourself to particular Instagram profiles. The pressure performers feel to fit a certain body type can be detrimental; forgetting the importance of strength and power and how this aids your technique and performance quality.
Ellie x
Hi Ellie, thanks for finding my blog and taking the time to comment! Web.2.0 is such a broad tool that can have so many positive aspects from, but also on the other hand so many negatives. We can use social media to inspire us, learn from practitioners in the industry, take dance classes/ workshops and its all there right at our fingertips. However it can also be very detrimental... We already have huge pressure to be in tip top shape and wear revealing costumes in front of audiences and we stand in front of a mirror all day to then go online and compare everything to a professional, potentially edited instagram account... You're right we often forget that everyones bodies are different shapes and sizes and that our bodies can do incredible things when we treat them right! What even is the perfect desirable body? Because perfect doesnt exist?
DeleteHi Emily, thanks for such a fab blog!! This is something that really fascinates and terrifies me, at the same time. We have become a generation of wanting to 'perfect' and striving for more. Body image is something that dancers have to deal with but also extended itself to a lot of people and I think it is a great inquiry topic! When reading your blog the word 'pressure' stuck in my head, I don't know if this is useful or helpful in anyway. I look forward to reading more of your blogs, Paul x
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and taking the time to comment Paul! This topic strangely came to me in my sleep haha! But pressure is a great word to try and sum up what us as performers constantly feel and extending it to a great deal of non-performers takes on body image and society! I hope you're enjoying Mod 3! You're nearly there!!
DeleteGreat idea Emily, and it spans right from weigh ins to get into drama school to nowadays (weighs ins for cruises still!) I think something that I’ve been thinking a lot about for my inquiry is the fact that no one has focused specifically on musical theatre which I think is really interesting seeming as there is 3 times the pressure because we have to ‘perfect’ in all three disciplines. And that’s where I’ve found a gap to get stuck into ! Hope that helps you! Xx
ReplyDeleteYes that's very true! It's funny one company I worked with there was nothing mentioned about weight, but the other we had to do monthly fitness photos but I believe that they worked both ways to ensure the dancer was healthy, not over or looking underweight but basically you had to fit into your costumes for the whole contract as there was no seamstress onboard! But you're so right about the gap! There is sooooo much about ballet online and hardly anything about jazz or musical theatre!!! That's good you have found the gap in the research to focus on MT too!
DeleteGreat idea for your line of enquiry! Another aspect to look into would be when people post before and after edits? Or posed and unposed? I personally like these posts and think they can really help remind the viewer about some of the extents of editing (some of it, is genuinely terrifying). I have seen some negative arguments on instagram as well, where people are creating these 'unposed' posed pictures (if that makes any sense?) so they're still not quite portraying the reality, no make up yet having a filter that gives you perfect complexion and a lash?! Feel like I could talk on this topic for ages. Excited to read more as you research. Rhi x
ReplyDeleteThat is a great point thank you! I actually follow some influences that call this out and I too enjoy watching the posed and unposed videos as they are a fab reminder that Instagram is all polished and in some cases fake!!! The editing posts where they show what you can do to your body are wild!!!! Absolutely terrifying actually! It's such a broad topic isn't it!! Thanks for your input Rhi! Can't wait to follow your journey
DeleteHi Emily, this is such an interesting topic and really good for an inquiry! There are so many aspects to it. One thing this made me think of is kind of unspoken trends - eg it's very common (expected?) that cruise ship or international resort dancers will post pictures or have a profile picture of them on a beach somewhere in a bikini showing off their amazing figure. Obviously they're completely entitled to do this but I think trends like that can sometimes become so commonplace that it almost becomes a tick box or goal to achieve. And if everyone is doing something, a competition can develop from it (slimmest, most toned, best abs etc etc) and the worry is how people go about 'achieving' it.
ReplyDeleteSuch an interesting topic I look forward to updates on where it takes you! x
This is such an interesting point! Thanks for bringing it to my attention! Especially as for the last 6+ years I have been working on ships!! I think as well from experience I always tend to be in the best shape for myself when I work onboard, but not because of Instagram, because you do 2 shows and a tech run most days as well as other duties and it's often expected for you to go to the gym for 1 hour a day as stated in the contracts (speaking from my experience from the 2 companies I've worked for). But on the other hand I have seen people have an opposite experience and have struggled with weight gain mainly because of drinking too much as the ships have a certain party lifestyle that some people can get a little lost in! One of the companies I worked for also would ask for monthly 'fitness' photos to be taken by the dance captain. But again there were to make sure the dancers are in shape and aren't getting 'overweight' or aren't getting 'underweight'. It's stated in the contract that you should maintain how you look throughout the contract so that consists of hair colour etc and weight! I have heard other extremes about companies weighing their performers which I thinks extreme as muscle weighs more than fat??
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