"Black Swan" Revisited
Posted on March 18, 2011
A professional ballet school is not unlike a sanitarium with a disciplined exercise program.
Watching the film “Black Swan,” I was reminded of so many girls I grew up with – girls with overly protective mothers, girls with eating disorders, the occasional cutter, etc. There was a representative of every social or psychological disorder around ever corner of that ballet school which, incidentally, is the same place “Black Swan” was filmed in. Coincidence? I think not. Especially when I saw one of my teachers in the film playing a ballet mistress of the company. Cue uncomfortable flashback.
The last time I danced professionally was in “Wonderful Town” on Broadway, 2003-2005. I wasn’t hired as a dancer per se, but as a cover for the role of Violet, and a swing. My primary function atop of Violet was covering the ensemble singers and their roles. My secondary function was covering the four dancers, any one of which could dance rings around me. I imagine, due to my extensive training, I faked it well enough.
After moving to Los Angeles and discovering a whole new level of complacency that exists here, I find I’ve gotten a bit lazy and ridiculously out of shape. I could go back to my dancer days and choose one of the many “ballerina” diets available. Here are some of my favorites:
Ballerina diet #1 consists of the 3 C’s: Cigarettes, Cocaine and Champagne. (Any of which can be substituted with coffee.) #2 is simply a steady diet of gummy bears and Diet Coke (always a personal favorite). Ballerina diet #3 corresponds with 18 glasses of water daily and one carefully weighed pea. Diet #4 is a combination of crying uncontrollably, and using leaches and bloodletting as a way of ridding your body of any “excess” fluids.
Aside from being effective ways to lose unwanted pounds these diets also serve as a great way to stop a very undesirable menstrual cycle… ‘cause who wants that, right?
Natalie Portman received a lot of flack in the press about losing so much weight to portray the emotionally disturbed ballerina in “Black Swan.” But, even at 5’6” and 110 pounds – my Broadway weight – I would still have been too heavy for the ballet world. There have been exceptions, of course, depending on the dance company and the talent level of an individual performer. A former student that I was at School of American Ballet with was actually described as fat by a reporter with The New York Times. I remember her to be beautiful and lean and above all, a wonderful dancer. She handled her negative press with the grace and poise she performs with on stage and stated simply that he was welcome to his opinion.
In no way am I saying that girls who want to be ballerinas should follow one of the above diets (obviously written for my own amusement), and become unhealthy young women. I’m just pointing out the difficulties of living in two worlds simultaneously – the ballet world, and Earth. It’s a tough gig and people who’ve never danced a mile in someone’s point shoes shouldn’t be so quick to judge. The only way I can suggest getting through the mind-twisting world that is training to be a prima ballerina is with an immense amount of therapy and, preferably, the help of loving, supportive friends and family. Although, Prozac doesn’t hurt.