This article originally appeared in the Food print issue, in stands February 2025. It has not been updated and some information may be out of date.
The University of Utah School of Dance, one of the oldest and largest dance programs in the country, hosts approximately 200 undergraduate and 15 graduate students.
The high demands of the sport often take a toll on dancers’ mental health. According to a 2014 study by the National Institute of Health, 12% of dancers — 16.4% in ballet — experience a diagnosed eating disorder.
Eating disorders are characterized by the American Psychiatric Association as behavioral conditions characterized by severe and persistent disturbance in eating behaviors and associated distressing thoughts and emotions. In the study, dancers were three times more likely to have an eating disorder than non-dancers.
The Daily Utah Chronicle interviewed former and current dancers at the U’s School of Dance to examine the potential presence of diet culture in the program.
Dance Culture and Mental Health
A junior at the U, Annalise Wood, who splits her time between Ballet West Academy and the U, calls dance a “physical and mental outlet.”
“[Dance] really gives you a sense of empowerment,” Wood said. “You’re thrown into this new environment where you have to see … how you can push yourself to grow.”
However, she noted having difficulty with time management.
“You really have to learn how to manage everything outside of dance,” Wood said. “Sometimes that comes with prioritizing either your well-being and sleeping over school or vice versa, which could be tough.”
Multiple interviewees — who have danced for more than 10 years — recounted the pressure of being the best dancer in the room. Brielle Boyd, a junior minoring in dance, says that there’s an expectation to “start really young” and compete consistently.
“There’s very much a company attitude, especially with studio dance,” Boyd said. “If you’re not competing, you’re not super important, you know, you’re just kind of a money bag.”
Utah Dance alumnus Benjamin Hannum talked about the often “cutthroat” behavior that stems from the competitive atmosphere. He noted that gender plays a role in the environment’s intensity.
“For the most part, men in ballet get along a lot better than women do, and that’s just because there’s more competition for [women],” Hannum said. “Even if you’re way better than me, we can still be friends. There’s not the same elitism.”
Sara Larsen, a fourth-year biomedical engineering student, spent many years dancing for professional companies. She cited more intense experiences common in those environments.
“You learn quick, because if you don’t, you’re going to be humiliated in front of the entire room,” she said.
Larsen said that it was “rare” to meet someone that never has had an eating disorder and shared her own experiences with mental health, but she said she felt dance was worth the pain.
“You get to a certain level where your technique and your artistry is strong enough where you can do things really well … you sort of get a bit of a high, like this feeling of euphoria and freedom,” Larsen said. “Despite how mentally difficult it was, it was my entire life.”
Outside the U
Dance culture varies between studios, so each dancer had varying experiences with mental health.
Most of the dancers mentioned struggling with “tearing themselves down.” Hannum said he still avoids looking at videos of himself dancing.
“You’re always spending time staring in a mirror and the aesthetic is like this, like a muscly, thin person and … you can just get it so twisted in your head what you actually look like,” Hannum said. “Especially when you have a teacher who’s either on your a** about how weird you look or just ignoring you completely.”
Boyd talked about alignment belts, a tool that centers hips in dance. Boyd’s studio’s were one-size-fits-all.
“Everyone had a muffin top,” she said. “Especially the girls that weighed a little bit more, you could see it in their eyes. It was terrible.”
Boyd struggled with the “constant feeling of failure” that stems from those humiliations.
“You’re in these tight clothes and you’re not allowed to cover up and you’ve got all these mirrors surrounding you and you’re just staring at your body for hours,” Boyd said. “I can learn how to do all this technique and I can be doing it right, but if it doesn’t look good, at the end of the day, you’re still doing it wrong.”
At the U
Most interviewees cited a positive experience at the U.
“There’s no diet culture that I experienced, and in my opinion, I think it was definitely one of the most positive dance environments,” Larsen, who danced for two semesters at the U, said.
The dancers mentioned dieticians, physical therapists and flexible administration as resources that “facilitate the mindset of a healthy dancer,” although Wood noted that much of the stress in dance is “inherent.”
“I would say Ballet West as an institution doesn’t go out of their way to talk about diet culture as a negative thing that we should avoid, but at the same time, I don’t think that that’s the expectation at all,” Wood said. “It’s an in-between space, where I would say at the U there’s a lot more that’s done to try to promote a healthy dancer.”
Hannum discussed his growth in confidence as a result of the U’s support.
“Working with these teachers at the U gave me confidence that … you don’t have the perfect ballet body if you have a lot of other great things that companies will like,” Hannum said.
He equated much of this to the broader college dance environment, which he dubbed “more inclusive,” as opposed to Sarasota Ballet — the company he currently works for — which, he said, recently promoted a girl with an “obvious” eating disorder.
“It’s setting this tone to every other girl, saying if you want to get promoted, this is what you need to look like,” Hannum said. “That is something you wouldn’t find in Utah, putting someone up on a pedestal because of what they look like.”
Larsen said the flexibility of the program has potential downsides.
“The grades are mostly all attendance, not technique,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s possible to create [professional] caliber dancers without those high pressures.”
Navigating Insecurities and Changing the Culture
Both Boyd and Wood mentioned counseling as an effective option to cope.
“I think a lot of my progress was having someone to talk to and having them be like, ‘No one should have said that to you,’” Boyd said. “A lot of it is having someone that’s not in dance that doesn’t have that kind of conditioning in their brain of how things should be.”
Hannum talked about humility and perseverance.
“I try to approach it as a choice I’m making to do ballet everyday, even though sometimes I really hate what I look like and I’m not the best guy in the room,” Hannum said. “It’s accepting that and still going forward with a determination to succeed.”
Wood cited breaks and patience as how she copes with fatigue and her “self-worth” being tied up in physical execution. She expressed the need to set “clear boundaries” for herself.
Larsen mentioned the importance of maintaining a healthy perspective around diet culture.
“But even tomorrow, your body’s gonna look different,” Larsen said. “If you feel like you’re craving something, just have it. You’re just making it so much worse by fighting against your own intuition.”
When asked if the environment could ever be changed, Boyd talked about the importance of open discussion.
“I think in the long run, just speaking out about experiences and how they shaped you will be important for actively shifting the whole dance attitude in the United States,” Boyd said.
Wood encouraged advocacy and “protecting your peace” in whatever way possible.
“A lot of dancers are fighting to change that negative culture, and it’s a movement we’ve dealt with for so long,” Wood said. “But just because it’s been [like this] for so long doesn’t mean that it should stay the same way.”
Student mental health resources are available through the U’s Student Affairs website.
a.cowley@dailyutahchronicle.com
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