Girls and women symbolize femininity in being dancers. Kelso comments that in the shadow of the spotlight lies a violent world of eating disorders, verbal harassment, fierce competition, injuries, fatigued and malnourished dancers (Kelso, 2003). In today's ballet world, dancers suffer all the time, worry that their body image isn't the right look they need to get leading roles resulting in the development of eating disorders, and male dancers are stereotyped as homosexual when the Most male dancers are in fact heterosexual. “Pain speaks a language that almost anyone can understand” (Aalten, 2005). However, many dancers are worried about their career, especially if they have an injury; which is the norm of thought in ballet culture. But there are some rare cases where dancers exploit their injuries and take away a positive experience. This increases their sense of body awareness and gives them the opportunity to learn the possibilities and limitations of what they can and cannot do physically. Dancers deal with pain or injury differently than most people because they challenge the principles of being human. design and have the desire to test themselves with the company that hires them. You might think that in a profession like ballet, dancers take care of their body (tool for their profession) but with the demands of the director and choreographers, dancers have to ignore what their bodies tell them and go on with the show. The brother has been dancing for 16 years and has mainly practiced ballet. Once, while he was practicing for a show, he picked up his partner and she turned wrong and he developed a hernia in the groin area. He danced on it for a long time...... middle of paper......consisting simply of long limbs, a skeletal structure, accentuating the collarbones and length of the neck, as well as the absence of breasts and hips” (Kelso, 2003).Works CitedAalten, A. (2005). In the presence of the body: Theorizing training, injuries, and pain in ballet. Dance Research Journal, 37(2), 55-72. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20444641Daly, A. (1989). Dancing is "feminine" dance, sex and gender: signs of identity, dominance, challenge and desire. TDR, 33(4), 23-27. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1145961 Kelso, P. T. (2003). Behind the scenes: the body, control and ballet. Edwardsville Journal of Sociology, 3(2). Retrieved from http://www.siue.edu/sociology/EJS/v32kelso.htmRamsay, B. (2000). Theory, sociology and aesthetics of dance. Dance Research Journal, 32(1), 125-131. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/1478286