How can a bad diet affect the performance of a dancer?

by Beth
(United Kingdom)

I'm doing a project at school about how diet can affect a dancer’s performance. I was wondering if you have any information about how having a bad diet can make your performance change.

Thank you.

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How can a bad diet affect the performance of a dancer?

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Jun 19, 2012
 Answer from Maria
by: Maria

Dear Beth,

I guess my personal testimony as a dancer may be of use for your project. (You could interview other experienced dancers and present your own data to support your argumentation...)

According to my own experience, an unbalanced or disordered diet has definitely a negative effect on my performing skills. I can clearly notice a diminishment of several abilities like:

- Concentration
- Vitality (force, both physical and expressive)
- Accuracy in movement execution

I have no knowledge at hand about scientific proof of this fact, but anyone with a minimum of sensibility of her/his self can confirm this by maintaining a balanced diet for a few days. You may not feel the difference the first day, but after three or four days the effects are obvious.

Nutritionists insist over this fact all around the world, not only to dancers but to all human beings. This is because the consequences of a bad diet engage one's functioning skills and behavior but also because in the long term, a bad diet is a main cause of serious and even lethal diseases.

We have several related readings at contemporary-dance.org that might be of interest for you. Here are the links to them:

The dancer diet

Healthy feeding: Connect deeper to your body through Ayurvedic cooking

Is it important to become thin to do contemporary dance?

Warm regards,

Maria

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