December 15, 2010

The Nutcracker and the Plump Sugar Fairy*


*Plump Sugar Fairy brought to you by my good friend, John Niles Merrill


I caught a segment on the Today show the other day, which featured Jenifer Ringer, the NYC Ballet's Sugar Plum Fairy in this season's Nutcracker. You've probably heard the hububaloo about how "fat" she is, but if you haven't, click here.

On the Today show, they showed video of her dancing and I must say her frame was bigger than what we're used to when watching prima ballerinas, but you know what I also noticed was that she was an outstanding dancer in the role, so I wasn't bothered by her size. As you can see from the photo below, her "form" ain't bad.



I'm glad that she didn't want an apology from the New York Times critic who called her fat, because this is what comes with the territory.

But my gut feeling, which is a lot bigger than hers, btw, is that she'll be scrutinzing the bathroom scale once again. Even though she has battled and triumphed over eating disorders, all of this attention will set up a new battle for her.  There was national and international attention over this.

Do you think she feels free to order the "Death By Chocolate" dessert at any restaurant after the show now?

2 comments:

Ice Mom said...

You know, just because she doesn't have the normal body type for a prima ballerina doesn't mean that she can't perform.

I think she looks beautiful in the photo and I'm impressed that she went on national T.V. to talk about eating disorders and her healthy weight.

How many dancers and skaters (esp. in their teens) did this discussion help? I hope very, very many.

Thanks for the post!

Ice Charades said...

Great point - I never thought of it that way. She's told kids, essentially, not to worry about weight and keep on dancing!