Ex-Ballet Dancer Talks Dark Side

[@roastedpepper]

Just to clarify, cause otherwise it really is beastiality, the swan is actually an enchanted princess who turns back into a human at night. And that’s who the prince fell in love with, not the actual swan. Not trying to be an ass, but as a ballet nerd, I must!

[@denisemoore6134]

❤❤❤I put both my daughters into ballet, tap and jazz from age 5. They loved it. They "lived" at the studio, and dance was the main staple of their childhood. If they weren't at home they were at the dance school. The eldest is now 45 and still goes to anything related to dance she can find, adult ballet, tap, latin, egyptian and belly. The youngest took ballet all the way to Advanced II, and then she had two years in a musical theatre course. My son did tap and still does it at age 42. It was a commitment involving the whole family. I did all the sewing except the tutus. I made her last tutu and was so proud of myself. Dance is the absolute best thing out for children! It last a lifetime. They learn much more than being able to dance.😊 Their dance school NEVER talked about weight!

[@susanmartin3762]

You sound like an AMAZING mom. I wish with all my heart that MY parents had taken notice of my talents and appreciated my love of performing. I was "born to be in Broadway" all the members of my family used to say to me. I was always making up little plays and sing songs. Holidays were my time to shine. I made my costumes and would rehearse my "number" so year getting ready for November for my Thanksgiving performance. Mom drank the first half of my life, she barely noticed herself let alone her talented child. This may sound arrogant but I'm not. I just wish things were different. All through highschool I was in dance and theater and choir then Acappella and Madrigals. I was in every musicals all 4 years. I danced from the age of 3 until 18. My parents figured "play time we over" meaning my love of all things theater had to stop. They would not financially support any of my dreams. Dance, acting, singing..Everything I loved and excelled at as a child ended when I turned 18 and became "an adult". I didn't go to college, where I could have continued being around theater. No college money had been saved by my parents so i had to find a job and support myself. I really didn't have any skills to "go to work" with so...Jack in the Box here I come. I wish I had a mother like you❤

[@denisemoore6134]

@susanmartin3762 Oh thanks. I myself was not sent to ballet school but had wanted to go, so I knew I would send my own children. Funny, you know I might have had something to do with ballet in a past life because there was this affection for it yet nothing in my family could have caused this. Even though it's all over now as the girls are 45 and 36, my husband and I still attend the ballet school annual concerts. A few years ago it was the schools big celebration of 50 years, their teacher had been teaching 50 years. Past students came from afar including my daughters. They danced in a special item of past students of all ages, a Polonaise, lead out by their now 80 year old teacher! Marvellous. I have a wall of photos of them in some of their costumes, all in the same frames.

[@denisemoore6134]

​@@susanmartin3762P.S. Maybe you could find some avenues to perform in as an adult. Amateur, local theatre groups, choral societies, dance classes etc, there are bound to be some.

[@joana7497]

It is not "quarter", it is "corps de ballet", meaning "body" in french.

[@mermaidopulence8539]

When I was younger dancing ballet I had an instructor that would literally tell us "I can see your lunch" or make us do a weigh-in to see if we gained any weight. She would also sometimes walk around with a stick and if your relevé isn't high enough she would hit your heels with the stick. We were kids at the time so that already was hard on not only our mental health but also our bodies. I ended up developing health issues because of it and had to stop my high school year. I remember my freshman year of high school I barely weighed 90lbs due to strict diet and rigorous training for ballet. I recently decided to step back into the ballet scene at a studio in my hometown. At first I was nervous to even go near a ballet studio but once I got there I saw how they were accepting of all body shapes and sizes and dance experience. I've been there about 4yrs going on 5 and have been in lots of productions there including Nutcracker every year.

[@redalertsocahd6795]

Wow happy you made it out of that conundrum. Good for you 🧜‍♀️ 😊

[@mermaidopulence8539]

@redalertsocahd6795 it's so different now than what it was when I was younger. Being the only black dancer in my class I would get looked over all the time and the other dancers would say ballet isn't meant for black people. It's sad that it took pointe shoe brands this long to make pointe shoes in different skin tones and not every brand has that option. Some brands that do offer it consider it a custom so it takes even longer to get your shoes.

[@ellame9041]

Don't think one should blame boys for not wanting to lift "bigger" girls....It's boys' health concern too. Is there legal limit they should lift at all ?

[@erikadiazacosta6649]

50kg is not a lot, wtf with your comment about a “legal limit” it is not ok, this is the kind of comment that trigger eating disorders

[@puclopuclik4108]

I guess soldiers and fire fighters have to be able to carry much more. Even female lifters lift more than 50 kg.

[@esmeatedahoodd]

50kg for a grown ballet dancer is not a lot but definitely not skinny

[@mathildewesendonck7225]

@@esmeatedahooddIt depends on the height. Isabella from BWI has talked about this, she is 1,76 m and at Vaganova she was told that she should weigh not more than 50 kg. But when she actually got her weight down to 50 kg, her teacher was shocked how awful and skinny and sick she looked

[@carolmarie5105]

I'm commenting about Dance Moms and the Abbey Lee Academy. I am from that area, Plum and Penn Hills area. Her mother Marion wasn't anything great as a dance teacher and Abbey eventually took over the company. Abbey's only dance education is from what her mother taught her. There were some really great dance schools in the area, namely the Osteen school of dance who was the real deal, a professional pair of dancers with a huge dance school. I think a lot of Abbey's attitude is that she knows her dance school was a joke and she was determined to make herself into something she's not. And that's why she crashed and burned.

[@azulolympia]

this was so interesting! I've always wondered about the shoe thing!

[@Lanamink]

I briefly trained as a ballet dancer from the age of 11 (full-time). I remember being weighed and the competition (which didn't bring out the best in people.) I left in the end because I got too homesick.

[@wearethelarosas6395]

Sounds like Kirov…with the scale?

[@Lanamink]

@wearethelarosas6395 not the Kirov, but I did train with Legat, which, to my knowledge, was the only boarding school that taught Russian ballet in the UK. It's still going in some form or another. I learnt ages ago when it was run by Madame Bartell. We were based in a huge building near Tunbridge Wells.

[@wearethelarosas6395]

@@Lanamink - I give you credit for enduring as long as you did at such a young age. Can’t argue with the Russian result but the methods and competition can be brutal! I put my daughter in Kirov Academy (DC🇺🇸) for a summer and it was rough but a great learning experience and perfect way to gain total perspective. Your experience will always serve you! Merdé and take care.

[@mathildewesendonck7225]

I learned a lot about the history of ballet, that was so interesting!! Thank you so much from Germany 🇩🇪 😘🙋🏻‍♀️👏

[@shanehawes3188]

Fascinating Luce, i can see you're loving doing this as much as we are watching them

[@lucey]

so fascinating! i am enjoying learning my tings hehe

[@wearethelarosas6395]

Brings me back …thanks for the reminder that the discipline is invaluable applied to everything else you do in life…makes the backstage crazy all worthwhile. ❤

[@Trenchant468]

Maybe you get to it-haven’t finished watching- but let’s acknowledge Sarah Lane who did all the higher level dance moves for Natalie Portman.

[@snabeyratne]

Enjoyed this talk very much given my passion for ballet. Full marks!

[@user-vf3zi6we3g]

Entrechat is the step she was thinking of. I loved doing this when I danced. I didn't know the history behind it though.

[@levicopp3224]

I believe the step invented by Louis 14th was the battu royale , the simplest of beaten steps, His title " The Sun King " refers to his enacting the role of the rising sun at the very end of " The ballet of the Night " an extremely lengthy work. There exists portraits of him in brilliant costume with a golden disc of the sun with radiating lighf. His ballet master Pierre Beauchamp fixed the basic 5 positions of the feet and arms we see today

[@marieceriksson4107]

Very enjoyable video. Good to hear a ballerina talk about her experience; sobering to hear the downsides. Quarter ballet should read, “corps de ballet”.

[@michaelgarcia2973]

What drew me more to the Beauty of Ballet was the story of The Story of Hoffman on the Nutcracker and Tchaikovsky',s take on Hoffman's Nutcracker story and at first Tchaikovsky' was not too inspired on the production of The Nutcracker but when his favorite sister died he transformed the Nutcracker suite we know today.

[@tarantellalarouge7632]

Nutcracker is popular (in Russia and USA) mainly during the end of the year and Christmas, but in Opéra de Paris for exemple, it is not so popular. I think that Giselle, Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty are more popular here in Western Europe.

[@knittingwithlisa]

Kelly’s kids were Brooke and Paige. Chloe’s mom was Christi

[@michaelgarcia2973]

I will search out for the film Black Swan starring Natalie Portman.

[@marlizeclarke5162]

What an interesting discussion. In all fairness, Abby is a brilliant choreographer and teacher. However, due to reality TV, there had to be “drama” before the production team would “cut”. Unfortunately the dancers were part of THE collateral damage of reality TV. THAT IS WHAT IS IS SAD. 😢 Well done to both of you ❤

[@joana7497]

I don't not think that the black swan movie is an example at all to talk about the struggles of ballet - or ballet at all. That's just a movie to sell tickets, it is not the real world of ballet. it is inspired by. And how does a super fast training TO LOOK LIKE a ballerina has anything to do with real ballet training? And do not forget that, obviously, Natalie Portman did not do everything, it was SARAH LANE who played the black swan dancing sequences. Has Natalie ever admitted it? Stop using this stupid movie to get to know and take conclusions about ballet, couldn't be more wrong.

[@tiffcat1100]

I watched this recently and disliked it intensely. I thought it was a very poor film

[@tarantellalarouge7632]

at 11:18 Jean-Georges Noverre has a vest with lapels in panther ! what a dandy ! I didn't thought that it was "à la mode" at the time .... Thanks for this interesting video, ladies ! about the crafting of the tutus, I think that this is not ordinary commercial plain white tutus, but special ones made for the leading roles in prestigious companies with embroideries, it is almost haute couture ....

[@grasshopper1-s7f]

A stage mother is the worse thing for a student dancer .

[@michaelgarcia2973]

I have been enjoying Ballet for years and only recently I have learned the differences of styles of Ballet such as Vaganova And The difference between French And English and American Ballet.

[@karenlindley.9756]

Look at the doggie fast asleep on Bella’s lap!

[@viorica531]

Does Bella have a last name. Not to be confused with Isabella Boylston. Also , too bad you’re using bad language and I cannot share this interview with some of my ballet students .

[@h.b16]

Isabella Cipolla

[@deniseharkins7792]

@@h.b16ballet busker

[@maryannhoskins2857]

A lot of F-bombs dropped whilst ironically discussing a beautiful art form

[@julijepp]

Dancers literally say merde instead of good luck, it means shit. You also clearly don't know the history of thus beautiful art form if you think the f bomb is such a heinous act.

[@susanmartin3762]

There is another career where gaining weight is a HUGE NEGATIVE. Jockeys go through the exact same horror as ballet dancers go through. What's REALLY MESSED UP is women binge and purge secretly and they feel ashamed about it, they think we don't know about it. For Jockeys, there is a room created specifically to vomit in. Their weight is as scrutinized just as much if not more than ballet dancers. The "emesis bowl" is part and parcel to their racing culture where jockeys are able to vomit in command in the "weighing room". I was horrified watching that documentary. If jockey is even 1 pound over weight, that could cost him the chance to ride "his horse" in the race. That's when they go into that "weight room" and lose that weight! This is soooo wrong and yet it happens every day. Dancers as well as jockeys are forced to almost kill themselves, ruin their teeth, destroy their body's ability to absorb calcium to keep their bones and teeth from breaking... ALL OF THIS IS DONE so they can perform for us. Whether we sit in expensive seats at the Ballet Theater or if we are standing down near the track cheering on the horse we bet on...these people perform for us. This has been going on for as long as these professions have been around. Are we hard wired to think a person's weight is more important than what's in their minds and hearts? I really wonder. Yet in the 1800s women accentuated their curves with bustles for an ample behind. Layers of fabric up top to make the girls look fuller. Corsetts to snatch in their waists. In the Roaring 20s being flat chested was the look girls went for. Their long string of beads had to lay flat on their chest. If each side their beads were perfectly paralleled, they needed to tighten their binding. If a girl was too...curvy, the beads followed the curves of their breasts and they were NOT considered attractive. They would bind themselves to flatten the "girls upstairs". In the Roman and Grecian times, women wore sheer, billowing yards of silk barely covering anything, so they could give the illusion of being a Goddess. Many years ago in China, Wealthy women were cononsidered, "Too rich to walk on their own 2 feet and must be carried". They were forced to bind their feet so tightly that they smashed down and broke all of their toes so they could wear a shoe made for a baby doll. That's true, "Google it"😅...(we used tho have to look things like this in our encyclopedias...remember ?😊) Here's the most ironic piece that connects all of these fashion trends. NONE of these ideas and designs were created by women... not a single one. The people responsible for women almost killing themselves to look good for their men.....WERE THEIR MEN!

[@flyingcloudsmoore1313]

What is the name of this movie?

[@Babyluthi]

Corps de ballet not quarter ballet

[@andromeda8rose]

It's corps de ballet

[@avasgranb1]

Omg! It’s corps de ballet

[@cheetavontiebolt9971]

Love ballet hate body shaming

[@7thlady]

Well, it certainly sounds like there are a lot of adults abusing little girls through ballet.

[@mikesirl]

I love the chat, sometimes cringe.. I'd love to know, what was your parents' thoughts about the Brussels thing???🧐

[@cheetavontiebolt9971]

Everything has a bright and dark side

[@GingerRapunzel]

Royal is the step. He meant to do an entrechat quatre but it didn’t happen so that became the step. This in response to the step Louis the XIV was name after.

[@Sandi319TheTroops]

The screen is just black. The audio is fine

[@champigranja1179]

"Winona Ryder is in there?" Girl.... 😂

[@femkemargot1611]

Lol quarter ballet! Amazing

[@yvonnesmith6152]

Came to the comments for just this faux pas 🤪

[@Elaine-no9ti]

I'm 65 kgs!

[@shelleystrong8673]

Is she petting herself or an animal?

[@judyisapunk7928]

Is this a serious question?

[@michaellittler2617]

Vacuous, and often crude

[@miguelseoane]

como mé gustaria ser el perro a si cariciado dalé y bnelvé

[@joannerupinskas5613]

Interviewer talks too much. Let Bella tell the story. Poor journalism

[@denisemoore6134]

And you would think the ballet dancer would have explained to her the term "corp de ballet".

[@DorothyKiley]

Interesting but you both say the word “like” so many times…can you stop?

[@MarjorieMorningstar191]

What does the appalling language add to this?