figure 1: Ballerinas feet

Ballet: Is the Beauty Worth the Pain?

"Ballet is pure and demands that you serve something larger than yourself, whether it be

beauty or art, or a combination of both. It requires discipline, taking care of yourself, taking care

of you own body first. Then allows you to give of that beauty, the beauty that you acquire by

sculpting your own body all your life(Martians). What do you think of when you hear the word

ballet? When most people hear the word ballet you think of a tall, skinny girl in a leotard, tutu,

and some weird looking shoes, called pointe shoes dancing effortlessly around a stage. This is a

common perception of a ballerina, but what people don't realize about this ballerina is the work

and pain she has to put into the dance to make it look so effortless. Each dance a ballet dancer

takes hours to choreograph, learn how to perform each move, practice them repeatedly to give it

that effortless appearance, and finally hopefully preform the dance on stage. During this repeated

cycle of learning and performing ballet the constant work takes a large toll on the ballet dancers
body especially on her feet and ankles because of the pointe shoes and on the hips the extended

range of motion needed to hold her feet in the proper placing to not cause serious injuries.
 figure 2: Ballerinas twirling on stage

This picture is of two sets of feet of two New York City ballerinas. Both are wearing a

pointe shoe on there right foot, which covers their feet and how they look. The ballerina on the

left is wearing her tights over her feet so you can only see her toes. On her toes you can see

where they are taped up and callused. The dancers the right is not wearing her tights over her feet

and you can see the tape and pads on her toes you can see where her feet have became deformed

with calluses and bunions. Behind the feet you see a white wall that is beat up looking with

scratches and chipping. This is not what you would expect to see when you look at a ballet

dancers feet. There is nothing that will take your attention away from the feet. There is nothing

around the feet in the background and you only see the feet. I feel like he did this so that people
wouldn't start focusing on the traditional things you look at when you look at a female ballerina.

You don't see if hey are wearing a skirt, not or what their hair looks like, if it is in a bun or not, or

what their leotard looks like. The lighting in this picture is of a well lit room, but not too bright.

This was different from his other pieces of work that was taken in this book that was taken to

complement the dancers and shows off their dance moves and elegance. You can see this in the

picture above that shows off the traditional beautiful ballerina elegance.

The pointe shoes that the ballet dancers are wearing symbolizes that they are ballet

dancers. I think they also symbolizing them covering up the ugly hard work that dancers go

through to look pretty. The pointe shoes are pretty and perfect looking and they cover up the feet

that are beat up and ugly looking under them. The feet being beat up symbolizes the hard work

that the ballet dancers good through the same way when you look at a contraction workers

hands you see callused hands from constant work. I think that the feet also represents the pain

that the dancers go through every day to be able to look beautiful.

This picture was taken and published by Henry Leutwyler. He published this picture in

his book Ballet. He took this picture at the New York Ballet Company. He followed and took

pictures of the dancers for a season, then he compiled the pictures and wrote about the pictures.

Henry Leutwyler is a photographer with multiple galleries and collage books published most of

his work is of people. He has multiple galleries but two of his more well known galleries are, a

gallery of the New York City Ballet and a separate one of their principle dancer, Misty Copeland.

The book that the book was published in, Ballet he actually made an second edition in 2015,

after his first edition in 2012. (Leutwyler)

The New York City Ballet Company was founded in 1933 by Russian Ballet

choreographer George Balanchine, also known as the father of contemporary ballet, and Lincoln
Kirstein. Lincoln Kirstein was the one with the idea of the native company and George

Balanchine was the one with the experience to teach to company. The beginning of the company

they had many struggles from the first performance benign postponed to rain to the first tour

have to end early due to deaths. They have to cease due to World War II, in which the school still

continued allowing the company to be able to start back up after the war. In 1948 the company

really kicked off and became a prestigious company. They opened their own theater April 24,

1964. and is where the company has danced ever since. The company now has approximately 90

dancers and is now the biggest dance organization in America. They have over 150 works that

they perform now, choreographed all by Balanchine, Robbins, and Peter Martins. They have their

own School for upcoming dancers to potentially join the company. Martins is the currently the

sole Ballet Master, but still keeps George Balanchines ideas alive (New York City Ballet).

When the photographer took the picture, he used the photo to show what ballerinas have

to go through everyday to show off their passion. He took it to get a shocked response from

people that might look at his pictures in his book and the people that might look at his book.

Doing this he did get a shocked response from people who may not have known about what

ballet does to the dancers body. The photo ended up going viral on Facebook and other social

media outlets from both dancers who wanted to show non-dancing friends what ballet does and

non-dancers who were shocked that a dancers feet would look like that or that someone would

publish such a grueling picture of something so beautiful as ballet.

This picture was effective because of the fact that it was shared so much on Facebook and

other social media outlets. It was also effective because it evoked strong emotions, from many

people, both positive and negative. He got strong emotions that were positive from people when
some people looked at it and felt pride in the people that have worked so hard that they have

distorted their feet that much and still continue to do what they love. That they are working hard

and doing what they love to do. He also got negative reactions from people when they got angry

that he would publish something so grueling of an art that is so elegant and beautiful. These

people have never seen this side of ballet and thought that sowing such a a ugly photo of a ballet

dancer was insulting to the art of ballet. But the most common and strongest reaction to this

picture was shock that a female ballerina would continue to dance and do this to their feet even

though it is hurting them. These dancers have gotten so use to the pain that they continue to

dance and destroy their bodies because they love ballet and that is their passion. They dont care

that they are harming their bodies, because they are doing what they love to do.

The picture could have been more effective in showing what their feet looked like if he

took a picture of a dancer that has had done more damage to their feet, because compared to

other pictures of ballerinas that have dance in pointe for years that, that I have seen from other

dancers and from googling them, they are normal looking. Another way it could have been more

effective is if he put a quote from the ballerinas saying what they thought of their feet. When he

published this picture he didn't say anything about it which in a way was his own way of saying

that the picture says it all. This means we do not know exactly what he was thinking when he

took this photo. But because it was left for interpretation the picture could be misinterpreted for

meaning something different then what he want to portray.

Dancers work long hours a day for a short lived career that can easily be cut short by

injury. In Michael Coopers article he says that Twelve-hour days at the David H. Koch Theater,

the companys Lincoln Center home, were hardly unusual (Cooper 1). In Coopers article he

says that the Corps de ballet dancer that he was shadowing was performing in seven different
ballets in the three-day weekend that week. Also in Coopers article you can see how she goes

from dance class to dance class and how she carefully squeezes in costume fitting and physical

therapy in between classes. You get to see how busy show days are and how she preforms dances

back to back and sometimes has multiple costume changes durning the performances. Then how

she has to go to school at a local college because she knows that her job as a dancer will not last

forever for her (Cooper). These long hours of rigorous dancing can cause overuse injuries, and

the exhaustion from the constant work makes them more susceptible to making a mistake and

getting a bigger injury.

In a study done on injury in young dancers and the study showed that 94 percent of the

young ballet dancers had experienced at least one injury. This study also showed that most ballet

dancers, that was injured, had to modify their training for anywhere from 3 days to 4 weeks to let

their injuries heal (Krasnow, Mainwaring, & Kerr). This shows that injuries caused by ballet is

common and range from small injuries to more major injuries. The same study showed that most

common injuries were hips, ankle/foot, and knee. The younger ballet dancers had more injuries

in their hips because of the extreme range of motion demanded to dance. The older dancers

though had more injuries in their lower leg, foot, and ankle caused by overuse (Krasnow,

Mainwaring, & Kerr). This shows that ballet dancers experience injuries often especially in hips

and lower. After Cooper went with Kretzschmar to physical therapy he said:

Ballet is a physically pushing , sometimes dangerous business: Injuries are all too

common and can lead to missed performances and careers cut short. Ms Kretzscher signs

up for 15- minute physical therapy sessions in a small place resembling a doctors office

on the fifth floor of the theater. She lies on a table and Taryn Khong, the therapist,

manipulates her left foot, which Ms. Kretzschmar has injured in the past. (Cooper 2-3)
Kretzschmar saying this shows how often injuries can effect the dancer even long after the injury

has technically healed.

Injuries happen often because of slight mess ups in their pointe technique. To be able to

dance in pointe you have to have a lot of pre- pointe training. After extensive pre- pointe training

for at least a year you have to go through a test to see if your feet are physically developed

enough to not break the growth plates in the feet. Another thing that the teacher will test you to

see if you have proper pointe technique, so you would not mess up your ankles and/ or you r feet.

And finally the thing that they test them on is if their ankles and feet are strong enough to be able

to hold pointe long enough and not get hurt. Common causes of injuries caused by pointe shoes

are improper technique, poorly fitting pointe shoes, and lack of effective cushioning in the pointe

shoes. Even when pointe shoes are worn correctly deformities in the feet like bunions, ingrown

nails, hammer toes, and many other minor injuries are common in ballet dancers a and the longer

they dance in pointe the worse they get (Reding). These common injuries are most often because

pointe shoes cause relative pressures on the first and second MTP joints when dancing en pointe

(Teitz, Harring, & Wiley). When talking to my Ballet classmates and I you commonly hear that

our hands, feet, and knees are really rough and callused. Even though the calluses are not the best

looking or soft feeling they dont try to get rid of them because they will have to build them back

up, which rebuilding the calluses are really painful on its own.

When dancing en pointe does a lot of damage to the feet, but these dancers go through

special training and tests, so that when dancing these long hours on pointe so that the chances of

them injuring themselves are largely reduced. The training that ballet dancers do is called pre-

pointe training the dancers will do this for on minimum of a year, to teach them proper pointe

technique and to build up the strength to be able to hold themselves and pointe and to stain
proper technique. After at least a year of pre- pointe training if the teacher thinks that they are

ready, they will first have the dancer go through a test. To pass the test the student must be able

to maintain turnout while performing center combinations, hold a proper ballet position with

straight back and good turnout, pull up properly in the legs, and balance securely a relev that is

perpendicular to the floor (Reding). After this test they must go through a second test. The

second test is that the dancers feet must have ossified enough for the feet to not cause growth-

plate fractures or trauma caused by the feet not to be fully formed, a lot of ballet dance teachers

require the ballet dancers to get x-rays on their feet and have physicians verify that they can start

pointe work. This greatly reduces the risk of injury to the dancer because it shows that they are

ready to start this training without injuring themselves and/or others.

A major reason why this picture was so shocking is because of when you think of ballet

dance it is a beautiful graceful style of dance. That the audience sees when they watch the shows

and what they think of when they look at pictures of ballet dancers. This picture shows that ballet

is not alway about looking pretty and grace, that dance has a second side that is not always seen

by the audience of the ballets. Ballet is a style of dance made to be seen as beautiful and grace.

Ballet dancers have to do many things to make dance look so graceful. One of the things that a

dancers has to do is have "good line" this means that the dancer's limbs have to be in line with

each other and has to move through the center of their body. Another thing that dancer has to

have is proper carriage of the arms the term that dancers use is called "Port de Bras" this

emphasizes the gracefulness of the movements. This is some of the many things that dancers do

to show off their grace.

Another reason why people don't realize why ballet dancer's feet look the way that they

do is because doing so also brings other problems that ballerina's experience when they grow up
in the environment that they grew up in. Most ballerina's have a large pressure that they put on

themselves to look and move a certain way.Dancers do this because when they go to auditions to

get in a company the people that are hiring them are looking for a certain type of body they want

to hire to dance for them. If they do not look this way then he/she most likely will not get hired

by a company and will not succeed in the dance world as a ballet dancer. This dancer body that

they are pressured to be is tall, skinny, long limbs, and most importantly high arches. This body

type did not become an requirement till famous choreographer George Balanchine and how he

would only hire dancers with this body. This body type is known for being next to impossible to

achieve even in the dance world. Grace Edwards says she "finds it frighting that one can walk

into a ballet studio, and just by looking at etch dancer, know who is going to succeed in the ballet

world and who is not" (Edwards). One of the things that ballet companies look for in their

dancers is high arches and high insteps. This is important because just because the foot has

enough flexibility doesn't mean that the foot has enough strength, matter of fact it means that

they have to work harder to get that strength needed to dance en pointe, and because they are not

able to do pointe as easily then they are more likely to get an injury. This leads to a lot of mental

health issues like eating disorders because dancers a lot of times believe that that is what is

required to be able to be successful in the dance world.

When I looked at this photo I felt pride in being someone that has that much dedication to

do such a sport that will distort my body like that. But along with pride I was shocked because I

have never seen someone actually published a picture of her feet. This was because growing up I

knew what happened to their feet I have seen pictures of them from other dancers and seen other

dancers feet, but it was something that no one talked about it outside of the dance room. When I

first saw it on facebook I saw it with the quote beauty is pain, which is a common saying that
girls tend to accept as a fact of life and never really think about what it really means. In ballet

beauty is pain is more than pulling your hair up in a really tight hairstyle that hurts their head a

little bit then you forget about it, pain means that they are going to bleed for what they love. This

actually made me think about what I was putting my body though to dance, where before I just

figure 3: dancer dancing en

danced because it was what I loved to do and I grew up doing it, now it meant that I was actually

hurting myself to make my movements look pretty.

When you hear the word ballet the first thing that you think of is something along the

lines of figure 3. In this photo you see a ballerina in a white tutu and leotard, her hair is in the

traditional bun and her arms are in perfect carriage with her fingers in a long flowing look. She

looks like she is weightless and careless. This is the audience that Henry Leutwyler aimed to

show his photo to. Most of this audience have never seen what the ballet dancers feet look like

under the pointe shoes. This is why the photo was so shocking. This ballerina in the photo looks

perfect and beautiful but if you were to take off her pointe shoes and took a close up picture of
her feet then you will see that her feet will too look a lot like the ballet dancers that Henry

Leutwyler took photos of.

Most of Henry Leutwylers photos are of people and them doing different things that

look beautiful and the photo says something about the person that he took the photo of. This is

different in the way that his photo of the feet was not pretty but it definitely leaves the statement

that these dancers work hard at what they do to get the beauty that we usually see in the

ballerina. Thats why the quote beauty is pain is so true because they go through so much pain

to get the beauty that the outside world sees.

Overall this photo made a very big statement to every one who saw it, both negative and

positive. And this photo shows the bad side of ballet, that overall would not have been seen to the

people that do not do dance. This photo change the outlook of many people that may have

though that dance was easy of just a hobby that didnt require dedication to keep doing. This

photo brought to light the fact that ballet dancers are constantly faces injury dance en pointe and

to just dance in general.

 Works cited

Fig 1. Ballerina's feet; "Ballet"; Henry Leutwyler; henryleutwyler.com, 23 June, 2015

Fig 2. Ballerina's twirling on stage; "Ballet"; Henry Leutwyler; henryleutwyler.com, 23 June,

2015

Fig 3. dancer dancing en pointe; Youtube; Candela Gmes da Costa Leite; youtube.com, 3

April 2016

Cooper, Michael. Rehease, Ice Feet, Repeat: The Life of a New York City Ballet Corps
Dancer. The New York Times, 26 Jan. 2017. Web 26 Feb. 2017.

Emila. Grace. The Ballet Bag. The Ballet Bag, 02 June 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.

Krasnow, Donna, Lynda Mainwaring, and Gretchen Kerr. "Injury, Stress, and Perfectionism in
Young Dancers and Gymnasts Journal of Dance Medicine and Science 3.2 (1999):1-13.
Print.

Radell, Sally A. "Body Image and Mirror Use in the Ballet Class" International
Association for Dance Medicine and Science 4.1 (2012): 10-13. Print.

Reding, Tom. Pointe Technique. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 04 Dec. 2016. Web. 26
Feb. 2017.

Teitz, Carol C., Richard M. Harrington, and Hannah Wiley. "Pressures on the Foot in Point
Shoes" Foot and Ankle 5.5 (1985): 216-221. Print.

Martins, Peter. "Ballet Qoutes." Notable Qoutes. NYC Ballet Workout, n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2017.

"Our History." NYCB - Our History. New York City Ballet, n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.