The Fate of the Ballerina.

 

 

Whilst somebody who does not have knowledge of the dancing world might well believe that the prime importance to a ballerina is her ability to dance, insiders will know a little different.

The prime concern of any dancer, more than anything else, is to remain lean.

Growing up, young girls are effected by the media they consume. When looking through magazines they see flawless models, with stick thin figures representing beauty. No longer are curvaceous women seen in the same Marilyn Monroe sex appeal style as before.

When a young dancer gets older she will see pictures of the best dancers in the world. As adolescence changes the way her body looks, she will notice that the best dancers all have flat stomachs, no definition between their hips and their waist line, and no breasts.

It is here that dieting becomes the dancers life line. As each dancer in a class thrives for perfection, each dancer battles to be better than the girl she stands next to. As each girl ponders to loose weight, so the class of dancers becomes a class of women battling to keep their weight down.

Shocking studies show that whilst eating disorders can affect everyone, the incidence in dancers is almost one hundred percent as estimated by the CAAWS. “Most dancers have been through some kind of eating disorder, it’s just that we don’t see it. We don’t discuss it.” (Kehree LaCrosse, dance teacher, personal communication, January 1996)

The look of the dancer is the “genre of the veritably, length of spine, the open stance and the lean look” (Street, 1994).

The distressing part is, these dancers see no other way. It is the public who assume that the ballerina figure is as a result of strenuous training. No dancer will eat before her class if her teacher tells her she looks fat.

But no human being can survive forever with an eating disorder. Ballerinas die of malnutrition before they die of age. Is it the thin, ill girl dancing across the stage that attracts us to the ballet? Is it her frail demeanour? Or is it her beauty of line, her impeccable timing, and grace to which we are drawn? Our society is killing a group of individuals. And why?  Because of the traditional way we view the ballerina.

A Facebook Degree?!

Unbelievably, “The Psychology of Facebook” course, brainchild of Professor B J Fogg sets to define the principles of this online social networking site. The reasons for its popularity are the foundations by which he builds his course.

Each week, the class dissects a certain aspect of Facebook. Whether it be profile pictures, music on display or links, students investigate how the mechanics work, the psychologies behind displays and the impression users are trying to create.

Whilst speaking to Maggie Shiels, Technology reporter, BBC News, in San Francisco, Professor Fogg said, “When Facebook came along I was one of the developers at the launch and what struck me was how there was this new form of persuasion. This mass interpersonal persuasion.”

He describes an “Oh my gosh!” moment when he saw application on the site go from, “literally zero to more than a million users in a week”.

The idea behind Professor Fogg’s work was to investigate the reason for such persuasion occurring on a site. Incredibly, instead of undergoing studies alone, he felt the best way to acieve his objectives was to teach a class simultaneously.

Indeed, the success of Facebook cannot be ignored. However, the morals behind gaining a degree around a chat site will undoubtedly attract a lot of criticism from both media scholars and academics alike.

All considered, if the course caters for nothing more than entrepreneurs looking for straightforward ways to create a successful business, Facebook could well be the answer.