Eating: A Dancer’s Guide to Radical Self Acceptance

This presentation introduces eating and nourishment as a fundamental component of promoting radical self acceptance in dancers. 

The state of energy restriction and low energy availability can be chronic for many dancers for various reasons: unrealistic body ideals; pursuit of thinness; lack of daily fueling; discrepancy in intake vs expenditure; lack of education; lack of diverse representations; and overtraining to name a few. As a result, their bodies are physically suppressed. The health consequences of such restriction are widely known, including, but not limited to, eating disorders, body dysfunctions, and anxiety/depression.

Although mental health care and safe dance practices training are becoming increasingly available, these do not address the fundamental vulnerability of dancers: chronic energy deficiency that creates a ripple of negative mental-, physical- and social-health impacts. 

In this presentation, participants will learn how eating can be a vital component of promoting self-acceptance through its role as self-care and self-advocacy, and promoting positive emotional-, mental-, psychological-, physical-, and social health.