OMG - Look how obese this woman is.

At least that's what a New York Times critic thinks of her.

Yeah, Daddy's Little Fatty.

chai2 wrote:

At least that's what a New York Times critic thinks of her.

That's ridiculous. Do you have a link to this article?

She looks fine to me.

I would just love to see that editor immediately after attempting to come to full point on one foot. He or she would be on crutches for a month.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20101213/us_yblog_thelookout/sugar-plum-fairy-doesnt-want-apology-from-critic-who-called-her-fat

... I wrote that Jenifer Ringer, cast as the Sugar Plum Fairy, “looked as if she’d eaten one sugarplum too many,” and that Jared Angle, as her Cavalier, “seems to have been sampling half the Sweet realm.” ...

While it's the reviewer's job to critique the dancer's performance, commenting on their debatable weight gain just seems cruel. Particularly because in a recent Working Mother magazine profile, Ringer revealed that she once struggled with anorexia and compulsive eating. After gaining weight, she was forced to leave the New York City Ballet in 1997. Ringer says she only decided to return after James Fayette, her dancing partner and future husband, asked her to do The Nutcracker with him in upstate New York:

"At the time I was about forty pounds overweight, and I said to him, ‘I'm huge, and you're not going to want to do this with me.' And he said, ‘No, I really want to do this with you.'" So she said yes.

"It was a miracle that they could find a tutu that fit me!" Jenifer says, laughing. "That was the first time I had been onstage since I quit. I made peace with myself, and I know it's corny, but I looked in the mirror and said, ‘You know, I'm beautiful.'" It was then, when she accepted herself at the weight she was, that she recaptured her joy in dancing. "James sweetly looked at me with eyes that were not the eyes of the ballet world," she adds. "He was a real friend to me."


Read more: http://jezebel.com/5701401/dance-critic-thinks-ballerina-is-too-fat#ixzz184QhSMRZ

Jennifer says that her body is more “womanly” than an average ballet dancer. But, from the video, if you bumped into her on the street, you would never think anything of her weight; she looks thin.

But, in the world of ballet, thin might not be enough. Even Natalie Portman recently lost 20 pounds for her role in the ballet movie Black Swan.

The critic has not apologized for his comments saying that being in the ballet world means that your body can be criticized.

Stressed out from her hectic schedule, Ringer became physically and emotionally depleted. She says, "I would be so tired and I would think, `If I eat that extra--whatever--it would give me more energy the next day.'" Early in 1996, Ringer suffered a severe back injury that sidelined her for nine months. When she came back, she was heavier and began to lose parts. The company tried to put her in costumes with more coverage, but soon even that wouldn't work. "It was mortifying," says Ringer. "Dancing had become anathema for me." At the close of the 1997 summer season, she left NYCB by mutual agreement, with the caveat that the door was always open.

The world of ballet is a small one--highly structured and lousy with tradition. I'm remembering a few years back when a brilliant dancer at the New York City Ballet was highly criticized for being too tall. Highly criticized. She was 5'6" tall. On point, maybe 5'10".

Do I think that the ballerina in question ate one too many sugar plums? Hell no. She looks about perfect to me. Am I surprised the subject came up? Also, hell no.

This woman seems comfortable in her skin, which is what matters

That depends on her partner, who has to pick her up, carry her over his head and keep dancing, including high jumps, for long musical stretches; you try to do that with someone who at 5ft 6 weighs 110 lbs, but who (given the choreography) should top out at 100 lbs. Male dancers aren't weightlifters: