Sharing my thoughts and my area of topic for inquiry!

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I have a notebook filled with lots and lots of questions. I feel I'm at a stage where my mind is a bit scrambled so thought it would be helpful to type my thoughts out and also to hear some feedback or questions from any of you as well.

Although I've only worked as a professional ballet dancer for 2 and a half years, I've met many people along the way, especially my 3 years at vocational ballet school. I'm also a health and fitness coach for Gymbunny Fitness Company, where we provide programmes depending on a person's goals. I focus a lot myself on keeping in shape, not just for my job but to feel good in general, and I also want my body to be as strong as it can to be able to perform my best. What has shocked me over the years, is how many dancers don't look after their bodies, as they feel that looking a certain way is more important than their health and wellbeing. I didn't want to focus on mental health as my topic of interest but of course it has come up in many literature items I've studied. Some questions/thoughts that keep coming up for me are:

• When people/society thinks of a ballet dancer, they picture a skinny, almost skeletal figure without womanly features. However, when society think of an athlete, they picture a strong, powerful figure. Dancers are athletes, so why are dancers allowed to be strong and athletic?
• Dancers use "Aesthetic art" as an excuse to damage their health and be skinny
• Surely it's better to watch a strong, fit dancer on stage that can perform to their best as they have the energy to do so, rather than a thin, weak dancer that looks like they're struggling?
• Body image seems to be more a problem for women than men, not just in the dance world but in the whole society 
• Dancer's body's are our instruments, why not take care of them?
• Is being too thin and weak causing more injuries in schools and companies?
• Is this a problem more in ballet than other forms of dance?
• What actually constitutes an "ideal" dancers body?
• There seems to be too much focus on what we should look like and what the ideal aesthetic body is, but not enough knowledge on nutrition or how dancers should take care of their body's
• Are ballerinas viewed as human beings on stage or just a body?

So as you can see, I have many questions around my area for inquiry! If any of you have your own opinions or answers to my questions please comment or get in touch!
My goal is to prove that dancers need to be fit and strong, and not rely on "aesthetic art" as an excuse to be skinny. I also think the problem stems from vocational schools and teachers telling students to lose weight but not creating a proper programme and helping them do it in a healthy way. Instead many dancers are left on their own, without any guidance at all. My aim in the future is to hopefully change this!