Remember Centre Stage!? Deciding to become a professional ballet dancer is no joke. It’s a huge commitment to health, fitness and technique and most professionals dedicate their entire lives to the art.
The Australian Ballet recently released a beautiful video demonstrating what goes into being a ballet dancer, featuring Senior Artist Christopher Rodgers-Wilson and Soloist Jill Ogai – and some of their lifestyle choices may surprise you.
For Chris, breakfast consists of toast, two eggs, avocado, a strong coffee and fruit, while Jil eats muesli, berries and drinks two glasses of water in the morning.
Lunch is a mixture of salad, chicken, tuna, rice and veggies. Interestingly, dinner for Chris is usually pasta with homemade sauce, while Jill goes for avocado, eggs, tuna and (shock, horror) chocolate.
In terms of hydration, Jill consumes around 1-2 litres a day while Chris fuels up on 2-3 litres of water during the day.
These diets are a far cry from the stereotype that ballet dancers eat nothing but a celery stick and fifty litres of water to get in shape – and honestly quite refreshing to know that the pros still indulge in carbs from time to time.
Things start getting a little more serious when it comes to training. Both dancers put in between 4 and 6 hours of strength and conditioning per week to keep themselves in peak physical and mental health. Same goes for injury prevention, with each dancer spending 1-2 hours a week with an Artistic Health Team, made up of physiotherapists, myotherapists and a strength and conditioning coach.
Mindfulness is also a big part of being a ballet dancer. Both Chris and Jill spend 7-14 hours a week relaxing solo, three hours a week with friends and family and 56 hours a week catching up on sleep.
Considering these pros are performing between 12 and 18 hours a week, it’s no wonder they need to put some serious hours into downtime.
There’s so much preparation and an incredible amount of talent that goes into being a dancer for the Australian Ballet, but their athleticism, artistic vibrancy and awe-inspiring performances prove it’s all worth it.
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