Some believe that pregnancy terminates the ballet dancer's career. But others think differently, notes Giovanna Montalbetti The 19th-century dancer Marie Taglioni was one of the most celebrated ballerinas of romantic ballet. The first dancer to perform a whole ballet en pointe, she was adored throughout Europe, so much that it is said a pair of her slippers, auctioned to the highest bidder, was cooked and feasted on by the buyers. The only thing that could stop Taglioni's career was her pregnancy, and, finding herself pregnant in 1835, she decided to fake a knee injury that would allow her to abandon dancing for a while. Being away from the stage was not a problem for Taglioni, but being pregnant was, and, more than half a century later, the famous ballerina Anna Pavlova's mother also forbade her daughter from getting pregnant to avoid "ruining her body". Dancers who performed under the choreographer Georges Balanchine's supervision in the 1960s also say that though he did not object to motherhood as such he used to make it very hard for dancers to have any other priority in their lives apart from ballet. Despite the feminist revolution of the later 20th century, for most dancers up to the early 1990s getting pregnant was simply not an option. Many delayed motherhood until after their professional careers were over, while those who did get pregnant while still dancing would often use Taglioni's excuse of un mal au genou (a pain in the knee) to justify leaving for a few months. However, luckily times have now changed, and the last 15 years have seen an unprecedented baby-boom in the ballet world. For Erminia Gambarelli Kamel, former prima ballerina and artistic director of the Cairo Opera House Ballet, this change in attitudes is due to the more general emancipation of women at last being reflected in the world of ballet. Two of the female stars of the Cairo Opera House Ballet are presently pregnant, for example, but Kamel, while admitting some casting inconveniences resulting from their both being pregnant at the same time, is encouraging and supportive of the ballerinas. Indeed, as a result of her own experience of motherhood -- she is the mother of Karim, aged 21 -- she says that motherhood can be essential to dancers. Motherhood, Kamel says, can provide an emotional background for a ballerina that gives her performances greater depth. Asked about the long-held belief that dancers who give birth never return to their former physical condition, Kamel says that, given enough time and practice, a ballerina can recover her physical form and response. She recalls that during her own pregnancy she suffered some lumbar pain, but this wore off after giving birth. Her advice to dancers facing motherhood is that they should not be concerned about the aftermath, since with some small effort they will get back their careers. A good dancer can also of course be a good mother, she says; Sahar Helmy and Nelly Karim are good example of this. Kamel's comments reflect a more general change of opinions in the ballet world, and some international dance companies are today even producing productions that focus on the figure of the pregnant woman. This is true of Balletlorent, for example, whose piece MaEternal explores the different phases of pregnancy. In this show, which opened in Newcastle (England) in May 2008, regular members of the company share the stage with 12 pregnant dancers. It should be noted, however, that contemporary dance allows greater freedom of movement and character composition than does classical ballet: an eight- month pregnant Coppèlia might find it hard to keep up with the choreography's technical demands and the dancer's pregnant figure might not suit the role of the dancing puppet. So is a ballerina's pregnancy like that of any other woman? Some medical data and statistics suggest otherwise. At first glance, one might think that the exercise ballerinas get and their physical strength might result in safer and healthier pregnancies, but this is not so. Most doctors say that professional dancers and athletes can keep working well into their pregnancies, as long as they listen to their bodies and do not overwork themselves. While the fetus can usually withstand around 70 per cent of the mother's maximum workout capacity with no problem, it is the remaining 30 per cent that can make the difference between excellent and perfect for a dancer. The strictness of a ballet dancer's training and diet may also affect the body's biological processes, and this is not always well understood by those accustomed to working themselves to the limit. Although no complete study of the issue has been made in the case of ballet dancers, the medical records of professional athletes tend to show that their babies are smaller than usual. It has been suggested that low calorie intake -- a woman needs around 300 extra calories per day in order to supply the metabolic demands of the fetus -- may be enough to explain this. Athletes and dancers sometimes do not eat enough to give them the extra calorific needs, and this nutrient deficiency and a low percentage of body fat may also explain why conceiving a child can sometimes also be difficult for women athletes and dancers. However, that is not all. In a recent article that appeared in the Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, Sandra Barry explores her own and other colleagues' midwifery experience in relation to professional ballet dancers. Some recurrent problems with pregnancy, labour and delivery were detected: in relation to other women, for example, ballerinas tend to experience an increase in abdominal pain during pregnancy. These observations were on women who delivered healthy babies, and Barry attributes this pain to the separation of the placenta from the abdominal wall (a condition known as abruptio placentae ), one of the reasons for which can be a deficiency in folic acid, its absence being common due to strenuous exercise and dieting. A lack of progesterone in the early stages of pregnancy due to dietary restrictions affecting regular menstruation cycles may be another source of this pain. Barry also observed that the second stage of delivery is more difficult for dancers than it is for other women, since a dancer's abdominal muscles seem to delay the crowning. This last observation seems to support other studies that suggest that a significant proportion of dancers give birth by cesarean section, with all the disadvantages, for both mother and child, that this kind of surgical intervention can have, such as a higher risk of infections and longer recuperation. To this should be added the typical discomforts associated with the hormonal changes experienced in pregnancy that can interfere with a dancer's usual professional needs. Probably the most important of these hormones are progesterone and relaxin, which act to relax ligaments, tendons and smooth muscles in order to allow the passage of the baby's head through the birth canal. These hormones tend to act on all the joints and muscles of the body, thus increasing unsteadiness and the risk of injury. Other hormones like estrogen affect collagen formation and tissue repair, so any injury during pregnancy will take longer to heal and might do so incorrectly. Estrogen is also responsible for the itchiness and headaches many women experience, and these can significantly alter a dancer's concentration and equilibrium. The release of the hormones progesterone and estrogen is controlled by human chrionic gonadotropin (HCG), which accounts for morning sickness (which, despite the name, may occur throughout the day), incontinence and immune function suppression that pregnant women suffer to a greater or lesser degree. Pregnant dancers may find their bodies changing to the extent that their slippers may not fit anymore, and they will have to listen to "purists" arguing that the stomach of a three- month-pregnant woman can destroy the line of an arabesque. They are exposed to a higher risk of falling than are other women, and increases in body weight will change a dancer's centre of gravity. This last effect of pregnancy may occasionally be a benefit for a dancer: Houston Ballet's Sarah Webb reports that her increased size allowed her better turns, though she also became tired more easily and found her muscles did not "fire" quite so fast. Finally, as each woman is unique, it is even more important than usual to listen to one's body during pregnancy's nine- month pas de deux.
