One of my discourse communities is a dance performer, and instructor. For this project, I will be speaking about how body image affects the life of a dancer. I intend to speak out to other dance instructors and explain how significant their role can be in their dancer’s battle with body image. I feel like this is something that needs to be addressed because from what I’ve noticed, people in this generation are very soft, very sensitive. I was 13 when I started dancing professionally. It was an adult team, and I was the only “child” on it. They treated me like an adult, spoke to me like an adult, I was an equal to everyone else on the team. At 13 years old, I was told to make sure I don’t gain too much weight, it is dangerous for the guys to lift too heavy. Sometimes, I would think too hard about this, and not eat as much, thinking that was the right way to control my weight. Every time my instructor would see me eating McDonald’s fries, he’d give me the evil eye, or the “you’re gonna get fat” face. When researching the effects body image has on a dancer, most sites spoke about how to “fix” your dance body image, what the body of a dancer should look like. I came across one website that spoke about body image and mental health as a ballet dancer. She speaks on her personal experience with her body image in the dance world. Some of the points I’m trying to make are that instructors should inspire their dancers to be the best dancers they can be, not the skinniest they can be. Skinny people aren’t the only ones who look nice dancing. While dancing can improve body image, it can also lead to negative body image.Â