Young girls and women symbolize femininity by being ballerinas. Kelso comments that in the shadows of the spotlight lies an abusive world of eating disorders, verbal harassment, cutthroat competition, injuries, tired and malnourished dancers (Kelso, 2003). In today's ballet world, dancers constantly suffer, fearing that their body image is not the right appearance they need to get leading roles, leading to the development of eating disorders, and male ballet dancers are stereotyped as homosexual while most male dancers are actually heterosexual. “Pain speaks a language that almost everyone can understand” (Aalten, 2005). However, many ballet dancers worry about their careers, especially if they are injured; which is the standard of thinking in ballet culture. But there are rare cases where dancers use their injuries and gain a positive experience from them. This increases their sense of awareness of their bodies and gives them the opportunity to learn the possibilities and limitations of what they can or cannot do physically. Dancers deal with pain or injury differently than most people because they challenge the principles of being human. design and have the need to prove themselves to the company that hires them. You would think that in a profession like ballet, dancers would take care of their bodies (instrument of their profession) but with the demands of the director and choreographers, dancers must ignore what their body tells them and continue the show . my brother danced for 16 years and mostly did ballet. One day while practicing for a show, he lifted his partner and she twisted badly and he had a hernia in his groin. He danced on it for a long time...... middle of paper ...... actually consists of long limbs, a skeletal structure that accentuates the collarbones and neck length, as well as the absence of breasts and hips. » (Kelso, 2003).Works citedAalten, A. (2005). In the presence of the body: Theorizing training, injuries and pain in ballet. Journal of Dance Research, 37(2), 55-72. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20444641 Daly, A. (1989). Dancing is a “feminine” dance, of sex and gender: signs of identity, domination, challenge and desire. TDR, 33(4), 23-27. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1145961 Kelso, P. T. (2003). Behind the curtain: the body, control and ballet. Edwardsville Journal of Sociology, 3(2). Retrieved from http://www.siue.edu/sociology/EJS/v32kelso.htmRamsay, B. (2000). Dance theory, sociology and aesthetics. Journal of Dance Research, 32(1), 125-131. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1478286