Big-boned Ballet

I recently attended a dance school recital whose students ranged in age from 3 to 30. There were about thirty different performances on the program and the show covered various aspects of dance, from ballet to hip-hop, tap and modern.

Now, while it was entertaining and all, some disturbing thought kept nagging me. The thought was: Why are there so many fat ballerinas on stage? When I first became aware of what I was actually thinking in my subconscious, I started counting the obese dancers. In each group that performed. Shockingly, there was always a minimum of two overweight dancers in each group. I realise that the skimpy outfits that dancers wear for ease of movement also add to the ease of identifying  the portly kids in the group, but really!?! What in the world is going on?

When I was at school, if there was ONE fat kid in your school, let alone in your own class, it was a lot, and generally the poor child had some glandular problem. But after watching that ballet show, I was totally horrified at the number of fat dancers I saw. Surely glandular disorders are not so plentiful nowadays?

I presume they dance (or are encouraged to dance) to try and deal with the extra weight, and most of these podgy girls are actually quite agile and graceful when performing, but surely this is a sign of the times? And I can't help but wonder if MickeyD and the likes are in some (large) way responsible. Is the convenience of er, convenience foods the direct cause of these growing numbers of portly dancers?