When Did I Get Fat? And other nonsensical questions dancers ask after growing up in the dance world

Abstract

WHEN DID I GET FAT? And other nonsensical questions dancers ask after growing up in the dance world by Keira Whitaker I refuse to believe that we walk into the studio at four years old hating our bodies. I have worked with many different kinds of kids, and never once have I meant a toddler who thinks that they’re too fat for their leotard or that they need to diet for the sake of “looking the part.” In other words, we do not begin our dance journey with disdain for our own bodies. We start out like everyone else, chubby-legged, moving with abandon. We wave our scarves in the studio and freestyle to the latest Disney soundtrack without a care in the world. But at some point, we lose it. We lose that oblivious sense of joy that comforts us as young dancers, the kind of joy that makes us fall in love with the art form in the first place. It’s the joy of not caring what you look like but enjoying who you are and how your body can move in incredible ways. I can personally confirm this sense of loss, and I