Below is my first response to a couple of questions that i have asked to help with my inquiry.
These questions have been answered by a 22 year old performer who is currently in between contracts looking for work.
What do you consider to be the biggest pressure as a performer?
I think the biggest pressure in the industry is to have the 'right look'. You are considered 'big' if you are in some cases as small as a size 10, and audition panels will automatically overlook you, regardless of your talent, dependant on whether or not they deem your figure to be 'acceptable' and by this, they usually mean the smaller the better. In such an overcrowded industry, they have the luxury of being able to be this ruthless and selective but it can be extremely disheartening to dancers who are not naturally tiny and in some cases is resulting in the most talented dancers not booking the jobs, simply because there are other girls available, who weighs less. It is also a huge contributing factor in the large number of girls suffering from an eating disorder within the industry as they often feel this is the only way they can keep their weight down and consequently find work as a dancer.
How do you feel depression affects dancers?
I don't feel that depression would be linked directly with the dance industry, but certainly that for somebody suffering with the illness, that the often constant rejection could contribute and perhaps make the symptoms more severe. It is without doubt one of the hardest industries- overcrowded, critical, painful, pressurised and in most cases you are faced with constant rejection. You push your bodies to the limit, work sometimes several jobs to be able to continue in such a low paid profession and hang around for hours to constantly be told no and for somebody suffering with depression when everything already feels like it's going wrong it can be difficult to take and you are perhaps more likely to be disheartened and unable to persevere and look towards the future and hope that one day you will get that elusive yes!
Hi Heather!
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see that you have already starting testing your questions and ideas on people. This all looks very helpful and will hopefully lead you onto finding out more about your ideas on Pressures of the industry. I feel that the campus session and discussion with Alan has helped me to realise that out line of inquiry needs to be quite broad in order for us to be able to research and delve further into our ideas/inquiry.
Speak soon
Chiara x