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110 Pound Ballerina "too big"

post #1 of 15
9/16/03 at 6:59pm
Thread Starter 
Russian Ballerina Too Big a Star for the Bolshoi

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow's Bolshoi Theater sacked an ice-cream-loving prima ballerina Tuesday, saying she was too heavy and too tall for most of her dance partners to lift.

Anastasia Volochkova, one of Russia's best-known ballerinas, has been publicly feuding with the theater over a new contract and the Bolshoi's claims she was too heavy to dance with.

"I think that now when people try to add 10 or 20 cm (4-8 inches) to my height, and talk about my measurements and dimensions, they should remember that height is not what makes a ballerina great," Volochkova told Russia's First Channel television.

A spokesman for Volochkova said she was 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed 110 pounds.

Unlike most ballerinas, who are notorious for watching their weight, she has said she could not imagine life without ice cream. The Bolshoi, though, has decided it can imagine life without Volochkova.

You have got to be joking me! And they wonder why there are so many young girls worrying about their weight!
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post #2 of 15
9/16/03 at 7:16pm
I would kill, or at least maim, to be 110 lbs.

And they wonder why there is such a problem with young women and eating disorders...?
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post #3 of 15
9/16/03 at 7:20pm
Thread Starter 
I would love to be 110 pounds myself Sue!
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post #4 of 15
9/16/03 at 7:24pm
That's just sad. For a woman to be 5 foot 7 inches and 110 is getting into the range of the supermodel. This whole debate is probably really about her fighting over her contract, and the ballet company is making it about her weight. There are so many young girls (many under the age of 10) trying extreme diets to keep their weight low...Stories like this only make it worse.
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post #5 of 15
9/16/03 at 7:34pm
Now I'm not totally agreeing with what happened, I can see where a ballerina needs to be thin. This is different then the super skinny or model or actress that is there just for us to look at, and personally I don't like looking at them because I do find them to thin. But being in the arts I realize that a ballerina actually needs to be as small as possible not just in weight but in height as well. A dancer is being lifted often above a mans head, if she is too tall the woman doesn't have good ballence up in the air like that because her head is lifted up much higher then the man which makes her kind of wobbly if that makes any sense. If she is too heavy the man has trouble lifting her, now while 110 is not a lot of weight you have to keep in mind then male dancers are small as well. You can't have someone big and strong as a dancer because he will lack flexability. Like I said I'm not saying what they did is right, but from a ballett point of view it does make sense.
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post #6 of 15
9/17/03 at 5:01am
Crazy! at 5'7" 110 pounds is skinny!
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post #7 of 15
9/17/03 at 5:53am
Considering the job, its not out of line to expect ballerinas to be small. After all, the male dancers are rather "dainty" themselves. I'm 5'6 1/2" and weigh in at about 150. A lot of men would be hard-pressed to pick me up and I'd be afraid of them dropping me.

If I weighed 110, I'd look like a cadaver. Think I'll stick with my well-rounded, full-figure look. I love ice cream, too!
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post #8 of 15
9/17/03 at 6:05am
Quote:
Originally posted by uabassoon
Now I'm not totally agreeing with what happened, I can see where a ballerina needs to be thin. This is different then the super skinny or model or actress that is there just for us to look at, and personally I don't like looking at them because I do find them to thin. But being in the arts I realize that a ballerina actually needs to be as small as possible not just in weight but in height as well. A dancer is being lifted often above a mans head, if she is too tall the woman doesn't have good ballence up in the air like that because her head is lifted up much higher then the man which makes her kind of wobbly if that makes any sense. If she is too heavy the man has trouble lifting her, now while 110 is not a lot of weight you have to keep in mind then male dancers are small as well. You can't have someone big and strong as a dancer because he will lack flexability. Like I said I'm not saying what they did is right, but from a ballett point of view it does make sense.

i agree. audrey hepburn didn't make it as a ballerina as she was tootall... 5'7". It's not the weight, it's the height. most ballerina's are under 5'7"... you can't compare ballerinas to supermodels... ballerina's are 100% muscle, most supermodels don't have a muscle in sight...
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post #9 of 15
9/17/03 at 9:38am
their fake boobs make up 80% of their weight LOL!! teeheee okay I'm leaving
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post #10 of 15
9/18/03 at 8:48am
It is understandable to set a standard for ballerinas to be small - the male lead dancers have to lift and toss the female lead dancers around many times in a ballet. If I were a guy, I'd certainly pick the 80# girl over the 110# one!

What bothers me about this, though, is the way the headlines are making it sound like she's too fat, when she's actually quite thin for her height. They keep referring to her 'love of ice cream', as though she eats too much. The problem is that she's just too tall, and it's unrealistic to expect her to weigh the same as a woman who's 5'2".

I was a ballerina when I was young, and the teacher kept telling me I would never get anywhere because I was to big...I took that to mean 'fat' & dieted down to 102 pounds (I'm 5'8") trying to fit in, and almost put myself in the hospital. Wish the teacher had been more specific! This young woman may have damaged her body and bones by staying so thin...I don't have periods when I get below 125. Not a problem for me now, though, at 150!
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post #11 of 15
9/18/03 at 8:50am
She said on the news last night, that this is a contract dispute, and when they pressed her for details she just shook her head and walked away. Have to admire this woman's integrity. Most people would have grabbed for their 15 minutes of fame.
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post #12 of 15
9/18/03 at 9:08am
Supposedly she is known for her temper and her affair with Jim Carey.
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post #13 of 15
9/19/03 at 1:56pm
God I get angry with these types of things- Most of us would kill to be that weight now they are saying she's too big to do this, well that's gotta ruin her self esteem, it's like when my friend tryed out for Netball and they said they she was too large! It's not far- I urge Anastasia to go on being a ballerina!
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post #14 of 15
9/27/03 at 12:52am
holy smokes i haven't weighed 110 since before me and my
husband got married 11 years ago
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post #15 of 15
9/27/03 at 5:30am
If it's an issue of her being too tall I wish they would say so. "Too big" does imply wieght, or does in this oh-so weight aware country. It's hard enough for little girls now! They have all these ultra thin role models floating around, and now the news is telling them 110 is too much for a woman that's 5'7. Granted I am speaking from the viewpoint of a mother with 4 girls, but it is disturbing. I'm trying my hardest to raise healthy confident girls. I want them to be happy with themselves no matter what body type they are and genetics just don't lean toward them having the "bean pole" body.

I actually felt a flash of fear when my 7 year old pointed out a singer on television with a teeny tiny body, great big breasts and said "Mommy, I want to look just like her so I need to go on a diet." My 7 year old weighs 50 or so pounds folks, you'd have a hard time finding an inch to pinch. We had a long chat and she decided she didn't need a diet after all, but I shouldn't have had to have that conversation in the first place!

I'm ranting and rambling yet again so let me get to the point. I realize that dancers have to be teeny so they can do their job. I think this is more a case of the media sensationalizing the topic to get a good headline, and a d*** poor headline it is!
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