Nobody Puts Baby In The Corner: Advice for Dancers with the Non-Dancer Physique

I'm short.  I'm curvy.  I'm too tall.  Even race comes into play when being the right "type" for ballet.  What do we do when we fall into one of these categories?   Of course, it's hard to tell how our adult bodies will turn out until we're out of the awkward middle school years and into high school.  Is it hopeless for us that don't fit the right "ballet physique?"  I'll say no, it's not hopeless.  Not at all. 

I like to draw inspiration on this topic from dance movies. Being a fan of movies and being a fan of dance, I love watching Dance Movies.  Sure, the actor "dancing" will be replaced by a double most of the time, acrobatics are confused with “dance moves”, and the acting is bad.  However, in spite of all this, there is no shortage of dance movies.

   

 These movies usually feature a non-dancer transforming themselves into a dancer through hours of rehearsal that you can see in the inevitable montage sequence where they’re going from a “terrible dancer” to a “pretty good dancer”—and they must overcome that one “dance move” that symbolizes “believing in themselves” and/ or “believing in so-and-so love interest” before being able to execute it perfectly at the final performance or audition.  The end of the movie, you can see the full dance, the result of the hard work outlined in the movie and the support from whichever person they needed to believe in/needed believing in them.  It’s a fairly simple outline, but it works- time and time again.  As audience members, we're cheering the main character on, wanting them to succeed- almost as badly as they do.  

 

The dance, although being a big component of these movies, is used as a means to get the characters through the struggle their facing in their everyday life- and without it (dance), they would be unable to overcome said obstacle, and thus, the movie would not exist.  Structurally, the conflict and outcome is perfect for a movie.    

Let me focus on the “non-dancer” aspect of this.  Sure, we’re talking about movies- but the odds were against these dancers from the beginning.  The actors playing these characters were probably non-dancers as well and trained and worked with a choreographer in order to get ready for filming (ala the final show.)

My advice to dancers that face the odds against them is to think of yourself as a movie character.  The obstacle:  Love your body for the way it is.  The move:  Fight for your dreams and yes, that usually means a great deal of work.  

I'll end with talking about Misty Copeland, a soloist for the American Ballet Theatre had everything going against her.  She only started dancing at age 13, is short (only 5’2”), African American, and is by the dance world’s definition “curvy.”  A movie could be made about her and we would all eat it up, cheering her on and inevitably have tears in our eyes when she does the impossible.  

The world is also changing, for the better, I might add:  there are companies opening up all across the country for the “modern ballerina.”  For the short ballerina, there is Orlando Ballet and Colorado Ballet.  For the curvy dancer there is Paul Taylor Ballet Company with member, Aileen Roehl. 

~ Miss Jenna

 "The middle, number 15"

"Not enough turn out. bad feet."

"Yeah, but look at her."   Opening Scene from Center Stage