Ironing Boards

One of the lovely qualities of the Fall for Dance festival is the opportunity for someone relatively unfamiliar with dance to gain some expertise through exposure to many companies and types of dance within a short time frame.

As I watch all of these amazing athletes move in ways that would be impossible for my body, I study the composition of their bodies. What does a body have to look like to hold such potential movement?

The dancers are also quite young, and many of them are very attractive.

These attractive young men and women have model bodies. They don't have an ounce of fat on them, and every muscle group is in perfect working order.

Most of the ballerinas are flat chested.

I have been a dupe of the fashion and beauty industry most of my life. I finally grasped the extend to which models and actresses were digitally altered upon reviewing a friend's photography portfolio recently.

As I sat in the audience at City Center observing all of these model thin bodies with proportionate chests, I was stunned to realize the large proportion of female models and actresses who must have had breast augmentation surgery.

I recalled a line by Steve Martin comparing the silhouette of women in Los Angeles to ironing boards with bowling balls.

Of course I've known all along that the female ideal impressed upon US women is anything but normal. But it was a revelation to watch the tiny percent of young women who have actually obtained the nearly impossible body American women are led to strive for, and observe that surgery would be required to give even this elite group the so-called ideal form.