Dancer Health & Wellbeing

Height and weight can be relevant information when working with young athletes whose bodies are still growing.

In medicine, these measurements are not interpreted simply as isolated numbers. A child’s growth and development are considered in relation to age, development over time and the individual athlete’s overall health.

The American Academy of Pediatrics emphasizes that children involved in sports should prioritize healthy growth and development rather than achieving a particular weight for athletic purposes. Dance is specifically identified as an activity in which young athletes may feel pressure to maintain a very lean physique.

Collecting information about physical development must never mean establishing an “ideal” weight for a dancer.

No.

There is no single weight that is appropriate for every young dancer.

Children and adolescents grow at different rates and go through puberty at different times. Weight must therefore never be interpreted without considering age, growth and overall health.

The American Academy of Pediatrics specifically notes that weight is not an accurate stand-alone indicator of body fat, lean muscle mass or athletic performance.

YAGP does not believe that a dancer should attempt to reach a particular number on a scale in order to become a better dancer.

No.

YAGP does not require dancers to lose weight in order to participate, compete or succeed.

Young dancers should not be encouraged to restrict food, dehydrate themselves or undertake excessive exercise in order to change their weight.

The American Academy of Pediatrics warns that unhealthy weight-control practices can impair performance and can have serious physical and psychological consequences. It recommends that young athletes prioritize healthy nutrition, growth and development over competitive advantage.

Dance is physically demanding. Young dancers may train for many hours while their bodies are simultaneously developing.

Insufficient energy intake relative to training demands can affect multiple systems of the body, including bone, reproductive, endocrine, immune and cardiovascular health.

Research involving adolescent ballet dancers has identified concerns including low energy intake, delayed puberty and reduced bone mineral content, all of which demonstrate why the health of a developing dancer cannot be reduced to appearance or weight alone.

For this reason, YAGP’s responsibility is not to promote a particular body type, but to support the development of healthy, strong and sustainable young dancers.

Absolutely.

There is no single body type that defines a healthy dancer.

A dancer’s physical development is influenced by genetics, age, puberty, nutrition, training, recovery and many other factors.

Modern sports medicine also recognizes that health problems related to inadequate energy availability cannot always be identified simply by looking at a dancer’s weight.

The IOC’s consensus on Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) emphasizes that athlete health should be assessed comprehensively rather than through body weight alone.

Weight should not be a measure of artistic or technical merit.

Judging should evaluate the dancer’s performance according to the competition’s established criteria.

Height and weight are not substitutes for evaluating technique, musicality, artistry, coordination, physical preparation or performance quality.

A number on a scale is not a score.

This is an important question, and transparency matters.

YAGP should clearly identify:

what physical-development information is collected;

why it is collected;

who has access to it;

whether judges can see it;

whether it is ever used in judging;

how it is protected;

how long it is retained; and

what rights participants and parents have concerning their information.

Health-related information should only be accessible to people who genuinely need it for a defined purpose.

The IOC’s RED-S consensus specifically treats body-composition information as health data and emphasizes confidentiality, appropriate data protection and informed consent for body-composition assessments.

Physical safety can be relevant to many aspects of dance, including jumps, partnering, lifts and other demanding movements.

However, a dancer’s weight alone is not a sufficient measure of whether a particular movement or partnership is safe.

Safe partnering depends on many factors, including:

technique;

physical strength;

conditioning;

experience;

coordination;

the specific choreography;

the skill of both partners; and

appropriate supervision.

Safety should therefore be assessed through professional judgment and appropriate preparation — not by applying a universal weight limit to young dancers.

The appropriate response should be health support, not pressure to change appearance.

If there is a genuine concern about nutrition, growth, energy availability, injury risk or another health issue, the appropriate professionals are qualified medical and nutrition specialists.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that concerns about weight in young athletes be addressed with the child’s physician and that discussions focus on growing healthy bodies rather than achieving a specific weight.

A competition organization should not attempt to replace medical professionals.

RED-S refers to health and performance problems that can occur when an athlete’s energy intake is insufficient in relation to the energy required by training and normal physiological functions.

It can affect multiple aspects of health and performance.

Importantly, RED-S is not simply a “low-weight” condition.

The IOC recommends a comprehensive approach to assessment and emphasizes decisions based on the principle:

Health first — performance second.

This principle is particularly relevant when working with young dancers.

Feedback about a dancer should be constructive, professional and relevant to dance.

There is an important difference between discussing:

technique;

alignment;

strength;

coordination;

movement quality;

musicality;

artistry; and

physical preparation

and making comments that make a child feel that their body itself is the problem.

Young dancers should never be made to believe that their worth, talent or future depends on achieving a particular body shape.

A request or recommendation concerning weight should never be treated casually when the dancer is a minor.

Parents and dancers should be encouraged to seek advice from an appropriately qualified medical professional rather than acting on informal recommendations from teachers, judges or other non-medical personnel.

The AAP cautions that coaches may not have adequate nutritional expertise to counsel young athletes about weight loss and that conversations about weight can increase the risk of harmful weight-control practices.

Quite the opposite.

A healthy dancer needs appropriate strength, conditioning, nutrition, recovery, coordination and injury prevention.

The goal is not to remove physical standards from dance.

The goal is to ensure that physical preparation develops a dancer’s capacity, strength and longevity, rather than encouraging unhealthy attempts to make the body smaller.

Young dancers come from different countries, cultures, genetic backgrounds and stages of physical development.

There is no scientifically justified single body type that can define every healthy young dancer.

The role of a youth competition should therefore be to recognize excellence in dance while respecting normal human variation.

Diversity of bodies is compatible with excellence in dance.

Because collecting information and using information are two different things.

A responsible organization may have legitimate administrative or health-related reasons for collecting certain information.

But the responsibility that comes with collecting sensitive information is significant.

YAGP’s standard should therefore be:

Collect only what is necessary.
Explain why it is collected.
Limit access.
Protect the information.
Never use it as an indirect measure of talent.

We believe that a sustainable dance career requires a healthy body and a healthy relationship with food, training and one’s own body.

A young dancer should not have to choose between health and artistic ambition.

The objective should be to help dancers develop the physical and artistic capacity to dance at a high level without compromising their long-term wellbeing.

We encourage families to speak with qualified healthcare professionals who understand the needs of young athletes and dancers.

Parents should not feel that they need to solve these questions alone.

When appropriate, a multidisciplinary team may include a pediatrician or sports-medicine physician, registered dietitian/nutrition professional and other qualified specialists.

Our principle is straightforward:

A competition result lasts for a moment.
A young dancer’s health can affect an entire lifetime.

For this reason, the health and wellbeing of the dancer must always take priority over a medal, placement, invitation or any other competitive outcome.

Health first. Performance second. Always.

Our Commitment

YAGP is committed to continually improving how young dancers are supported, informed and protected.

That includes creating greater transparency around:

the information we collect;

why we collect it;

who can access it;

how judging is conducted;

how conflicts of interest are addressed;

how concerns can be reported; and

how the wellbeing of young dancers is protected.

Transparency is not about pretending that every system is perfect.

It is about being willing to explain the system, examine it critically and improve it when better practices become available.

For YAGP, the ultimate measure of success is not simply how well a dancer performs on stage.

It is whether young dancers can pursue excellence while remaining healthy, strong, respected and able to build a sustainable future in dance.