In a release distributed this morning, The Australian Ballet’s Artistic Director David Hallberg has taken aim at a recent review published by the Sydney Morning Herald of its staging of Études/Circle Electric, a double bill of works by choreographers Harold Lander and Stephanie Lake.

“Last week the Sydney Morning Herald reported that The Australian Ballet dancers were looking ‘unusually thin this season’.  Commentary regarding body image is not acceptable and I am compelled to address this,” said Hallberg.

The Circle Electric. Photo © Daniel Boud

The review, by Sydney Morning Herald dance critic Chantal Ngyuen, was published on 5 May. It was largely negative, awarding the production only one-and-a-half stars. Nguyen likened Lake’s Circle Electric to “a banal hour of channel surfing”.

The “too thin” comment was qualified by an acknowledgment that “perhaps this was the lighting”. The qualification cut no ice with Hallberg, however.

“Comments about weight, shape and body comparisons can have a serious negative impact on a person’s self-esteem and body image and can be detrimental to individuals’ mental and physical health,” he said, adding that professional ballet dancers are identified as a high-risk group for the development of body image concerns, disordered eating...