The Dilemma

The problem with models posing as ballet dancers is that not only can they be injured without proper pointe training, but it also takes away recognition of all the hard work dancers put into their craft.

When dancers see people who are obviously not trained dancers modeling in pointe shoes, they often get annoyed. Some people don’t understand because they think it looks fine but the real reason is that they do not understand the amount of dangers there are when doing pointe work without any proper training. Photographers, or anyone who plans a photo shoot, that don’t involve actual trained dancers for ballet shoots are mainly the ones to blame for this. It’s not that difficult to hire actual dancers for photo shoots so when people don’t put in the effort to hire them, it causes multiple problems. First, models are put at risk to injuries and second, dancers feel like their work is not being appreciated enough. Ballet takes a lot of time and effort, especially when trying to get ready for pointe work and models getting picked over trained dancers doesn’t make sense It’s like all of the stuff dancers work towards is taken for granted by the non-dance world. Also, when you look at a model on pointe and a dancer on pointe, I think we can all agree which one obviously looks better.