01/05/2017
"Stand up straight. Pull your belly button in and up. Your stomach is sticking out. Pull it in. Don't be lazy. Suck it in. Tuck your b***y under.” These phrases, and many more, echo in Amanda Trusty’s head from years of ballet practice -- and, she says, “Eventually, it starts to overflow into daily life... I realize now where all my insecurities started. They started in first position at age seven at the barre.” But as a body love advocate, as well as a dance instructor, Trusty realized she had to make a change for her own students -- and her examples of how an instructor can change her language provide a wonderful lesson for anyone who coaches girls.
In her blog post, Trusty compares examples of what she might have said before with her new phrases. Instead of “tuck the b***y under,” she now says, “send your tailfeather down instead of out.” Why? Because “[a]s girls hit puberty, all of them are going to develop some sort of b***y. This is fact, and something they can't avoid. So why tell them to tuck it under and hide it?... The tailfeather concept keeps their plié's perfectly aligned without them ever thinking about how big their b***y is at all.”
Another example? Instead of “suck it in, tummy in,” Trusty now says, “engage your belly.” In this case, Trusty says, the instruction isn’t just body positive, it’s also clearer: “‘Suck it in’ often implies sucking in the belly and pulling up the ribs, causing little girls to raise their shoulders and make their bellies as tiny as possible. This is never what we want... In my classes, we talk about engaging our muscles, and what it means to go from limp muscles to engaged muscles.” As a result, Trusty’s students learn that “[w]e engage the muscles to help us balance, not to look more like ballerinas.”
Soon, Trusty says, dancers don’t need this kind of imagery any more because the movements become muscle memory. Then it’s time to compliment young athletes for their strength -- the strength they’ve worked hard to develop. “I teach [my students] that plié's are the ultimate test of strength, and the fact that they can lower and lift their own body weight is quite a feat for their legs to accomplish. I always tell my girls how NFL players have to take ballet as part of their training, and they love that.” In the end, “[m]y goal is to teach the girls all the amazing things their bodies can do.”
Trusty challenges other teachers to embrace body positive language: “It is possible to raise the next generation of dancers without hating their bodies. It is possible to turn out great artists who are aware of how amazing their bodies are, regardless of what it looks like in a leotard." And, she concludes, "We can be the new generation of teachers who changes the way things are done. Bringing body love into the classroom is groundbreaking, inspirational, and necessary... I encourage all instructors to embrace new ways of teaching and imagery that will help our students understand their strengths, not their flaws. It will literally change everything."
To read more Amanda Trusty’s epiphany about the language she uses while teaching on HuffPost, visit http://huff.to/1unhCEB
For an inspiring story about a young girl who worries that she has the "wrong" body to become a dancer, we highly recommend "Dancing in the Wings" for ages 4 to 8 at http://www.amightygirl.com/dancing-in-the-wings
For many books starring girls who love to dance, visit our blog post, "15 Picture Books About Mighty Girls Who Love to Dance" at http://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=12378
For body positive books to help instill a healthy body image and self-confidence in your Mighty Girl, check out our blog post, "25 Body Image Positive Books for Mighty Girls," at http://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=10912
For resources for parents, teachers, and other adults that offer practical advice on how to encourage a positive body image in girls, visit our "Self-Esteem & Body Image" section at http://www.amightygirl.com/parenting/body-image-self-esteem
