Alexandra Beller on Body Image, Somatics, and Creating Embodied Art

Choreographer, educator, and author Alexandra Beller discusses her early experiences coming of age in the 1980s amid intense diet culture, bullying, and body shaming, while finding wholeness and spiritual aliveness through dance.

She describes how her body type limited casting and training opportunities, the power critics once held, and how joining choreographer Bill T. Jones’ company broke industry norms but increased public scrutiny of her body. Beller reflects on building chosen family in dance, developing internal guardrails for self-worth, and learning to receive praise without taking criticism as truth.

She explores menopause as a neurological and personal rewiring that strengthened consent and self-advocacy, and shares creating a pivota ...