Expert: Jennifer - 11/20/2003

Question
My daughter is 11 and has been taking ballet since she was three. Recently one of her teachers has demanded that the girls wear tight belts around their rib cages to "close in" their ribs. The other Moms and I have never heard of this, and wonder if it is something new in the ballet world, or if it is a long established practice. Is this good for them? What could the possible advantages be? Where can we go to find out more information about this? We are concerned about them not being able to breathe properly, etc., and have no way of verifying if this is proper ballet training.
I hope you can help.

Answer
Hello, Denise.

Though I have never heard of this practice before, your description of it bothers me.

Though it may be helpful for the girls to wear it *very* temporarily just to see how it feels to have ones ribs in this position, i would strongly stand against forcing the girls to wear this while dancing. No matter the good intentions, it is my belief that *nothing* should be forced in dancing. Just as you should never force someone into the splits, force turnout, or force an arched foot, i think you should not force rib positioning in this way. It can lead to injury, and it trains the body improperly.

In my opinion, it would be more proper to train the muscles to hold the ribs closed rather than forcing the ribs closed and hopeing that the muscles adapt. Beyond simply working on this in ballet class, pilates is excellent for training the muscles in this way, and it is a very safe form of excercise. However, since i dont know your daughter I would talk to a doctor before starting a child on an exercise program at that age.

It is good that you are concerned about breathing in this sort of "contraption." Dancers should breath from their ribs rather than their stomaches, and since the ribs are constricted it may train improper breathing techniques.

Overall, I think that this constrictive belt is not a good idea. Non-restrictive hip-alignment belts are one thing... binding belts that restrict movement are quite another.