To all the young women and men I saw at the OnStage Dance Festival this weekend, it does not matter your size.
It does not matter your weight.
It does not matter if you think you are too fat or too skinny.
Dance anyway. Play anyway. Do what you love anyway.
I love seeing women on their local teams because it means that they are doing what they love and they have not quit, despite many factors that could cause them to.
I love watching young men dance because I cannot imagine the pressure they are under to keep on dancing.
According to Statistics Canada in 2010, “approximately one-third of Canadian men and one-sixth of Canadian women regularly participated in sport.”
In a Statistics Canada survey done in 2005, by the age of 14, women are less likely to take part in organized sports.
These statistics do not include the reason why young women are more likely to quit, however body image is a well known reason that we are becoming more comfortable in talking about.
As instructors, the three adjudicators from the OnStage Dance Festival, Irene Booth, Sarah Baker-Kroll, and Abbey Dutton see the pressure young women and men are under.
“The biggest thing that they’re learning is that you need to look confident and you don’t always feel confident.”
Dutton has had that experience herself with the pressure to look a certain way to be a dancer but with social media and the internet, it is more intense now for young women and men.
“They all have phones, Facebook, Instagram, and they look at these ideal images of what someone should look like, how someone should dance...it can be incredibly discouraging for them.”
Having older role models who can encourage them to keep going can be a huge part in making sure these young women and men do not quit what they enjoy.
“They can look like they’re adults when they hit that (13-14) age but remembering they are really not yet, they still need that encouragement.”
Young women should know that they are not alone when they have a day where they do not think themselves pretty or skinny enough.
Baker-Kroll says the emphasis has to be put on things the dancer has control over, such as effort, focus, and concentration.
“We have to encourage dancers that every person is unique. There is no ideal dancer.”
The truth is it does not matter who says you cannot. It does not matter how many people say it.
Take all that criticism, and make yourself better.
If you want to dance, dance.
