Ballet, Beauty Standards, and Breaking the Silence

Ellen Elphick’s story isn’t just about ballet—it’s about what so many dancers silently go through while chasing perfection. Now 31, Ellen opened up in a BBC interview about her time at The Royal Ballet School in London. What she shared was honestly heartbreaking.

She talked about something that happened just two weeks into her training, when she was only 16. A teacher stood her in front of a mirror, traced a line around her body, and said, “If I had a knife, this is what I would cut off.” Can you imagine hearing that as a teenager? That moment sent her into a spiral of shame and worsened her struggle with disordered eating. She was later diagnosed with atypical anorexia and body dysmorphia.

But it wasn’t just one comment. Ellen said she got similar body-shaming remarks from multiple teachers at the school, which chipped away at her confidence and made her illness even worse.

Her lawyer, Dino Nocivelli, said her settlement is a step forward—it highlights the abuse dancers have endured and pushes for real change in the dance world. He’s still calling for a government inquiry into body-shaming in ballet.

As important as the settlement was, what Ellen really wanted was an apology. And what she said at the end stuck with me: “Children should be able to go into dance and not leave it feeling damaged.”

It’s powerful, and it reminds us that the culture in ballet—and honestly, in so many performance spaces—has to change. Dancers deserve to feel strong, not shamed.

Read the full article here: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly418jw5yyo