I was flipping through my beloved O Magazine this month, and a familiar face appeared — Margaret Cho! There was a very touching series of short stories about shocking comments parents tell their daughters, and Margaret’s story began the series. Margaret tells the story about loving ballet class when as a child, but her father told her “You’re the fattest ballerina” after a recital, turning Margaret away from ballet forever.
Her story made me so sad. I grew up in ballet class, and saw so many girls become so affected after one off-hand comment from a teacher; “Your thighs look big” resulted in a fellow student to starve herself once. I’ve written previously about the absence of Asian ballerinas, and it just makes it more difficult with critical comments from parents in addition to the social pressure for women/ballerinas/Asian-Americans. But sadly, it happens way too often.
Although we may have missed Margaret becoming a prima ballerina, I’m glad she’s still dancing, finding her own individual style, rhythm and confidence, which is what dance is supposed to be about.
Cindy Cheung’s story is also an interesting read from an Asian-American perspective.
