Health Is a Ballet Company’s #1 Priority
In order to fight the stigma that links ballet with eating disorders, many ballet dance companies make sure to hire dancers with healthy bodies.
Some companies even go to the length of having health professionals (physical therapists and nutritionists) tend to their dancers and keep them fit and on a healthy diet.
Thank You, Pierre Beauchamps
The French King Louis XIV was a ballet fan and even performed it himself. His ballet master was a man named Pierre Beauchamps, who has greatly shaped ballet as we know it today.
In the 1700s, Monsieur Beauchamp established the five footwork positions every little ballet dancer learns during their first class.
The Five Positions
The five footwork positions, when performed correctly, ensure the dancer's weight is distributed evenly.
While the five positions' visible differences are the placement of the feet, they also differ in subtle changes in the hips, shoulders, and even in the head!
Retirement Age Is Very Young
Most professional ballerinas started training at a very young age, and their careers aren't usually very long because their bodies work so hard. For instance, In the 1980s, the average retirement age for ballerinas was 40, and it dropped to 29 only a decade later.
That doesn't mean they leave the dance world. Many of them become choreographers, dance teachers, go into the administrative side of running a dance company, and more.
How the Leotard Got Its Name
A ballerina can never have too many leotards, but the truth is that the piece of garment was invented for a totally different kind of performance art — the flying trapeze.
French acrobat Jules Léotard was a flying trapeze pioneer. Before his untimely death, he got to popularize the art and invent the leotard — it was a tight garment designed for optimal movement and to display his physique.