{"id":768530,"date":"2026-06-29T21:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/768530\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T21:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T21:11:11","slug":"ariane-beeston-critiques-ballets-toxic-culture-in-new-ya-novel-dont-forget-to-smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/768530\/","title":{"rendered":"Ariane Beeston critiques ballet’s toxic culture in new YA novel, Don’t Forget to Smile"},"content":{"rendered":"

“It felt like a pleasure to be able to make things up,” Ariane Beeston says of writing her first work of fiction, the young adult novel Don’t Forget to Smile.<\/p>\n

Beeston had previously written an acclaimed non-fiction work, Because I’m Not Myself, You See<\/a>, about her experiences with postpartum psychosis.<\/p>\n

“Following such an intense, traumatic memoir, it was nice to stop and go ‘This isn’t going the way I want it to, I can just change it’,” she says. “It was quite freeing in that way.”<\/p>\n

Don’t Forget to Smile may be fiction, but it’s a story close to Beeston’s heart.<\/p>\n

\"Cover<\/p>\n

Don’t Forget to Smile follows young dancers vying to compete in an elite ballet competition. (Supplied: Black Inc)<\/p>\n

Inspired by her time as a dancer, teacher and choreographer, it follows Clara and Elle, two teenage ballerinas at a prestigious academy, who are vying for a place in the International Ballet Grand Prix at the Sydney Opera House.<\/p>\n

Clara has grown up in ballet, while Elle is a relative newcomer, a naturally talented dancer who recently shot to viral fame on TikTok.<\/p>\n

Elle initially thinks Clara is cold and standoffish, while Clara resents Elle for skipping the years of hard work to make it in ballet.<\/p>\n

As these two rivals develop a grudging respect for each other and become friends, we gain an insight into the incredible levels of dedication and physical exertion that go into making ballet look beautiful and effortless.<\/p>\n

A balanced view of the ballet world<\/p>\n

While Don’t Forget to Smile is a fun read that recalls the soapy tone of the much-loved ABC TV show Dance Academy<\/a>, it doesn’t shy away from the dark sides of the ballet world.<\/p>\n

The story opens with a flash forward to nude photos of young dancers being shared in a group chat.<\/p>\n

It then picks up in the present, following Jason Manning, an older ballet star, as he preys on a teenage dancer he calls Lilac Fairy, promising to help her break into the exclusive world of professional ballet companies.<\/p>\n

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Ariane Beeston worked as a child protection officer, the vicarious trauma of that work impacted her when she had a child of her own.<\/p>\n

Beeston says this storyline was partly inspired by the story of Alexandra Waterbury, a former dancer at the New York City Ballet, who filed legal action against the company<\/a> after she said male dancers had shared nude photos of her.<\/p>\n

“I remember thinking what a brave thing that was for [Waterbury],” Beeston says.<\/p>\n

“I talk in the book about how difficult it is for dancers, and in particular young women, to speak up about this stuff because it’s so competitive; there’s always someone waiting in the wings to replace you.”<\/p>\n

The novel also reflects on ballet’s often outdated notions of gender.<\/p>\n

As the competition approaches, Elle’s friend Ben wants to express himself by dancing en pointe (a notoriously demanding technique in which a dancer wears special pointe shoes and supports their weight on their extended feet), which is normally reserved for female dancers.<\/p>\n

The stuffy ballet school rejects this plan, unable to abide by any break with tradition.<\/p>\n

Inspired by #BalletTok<\/p>\n

Throughout the story, Elle voices her criticisms of the ballet establishment on her TikTok account, @HardCorpsTruths.<\/p>\n

Elle tells her followers about the routine body shaming, the culturally insensitive behaviour of some ballet companies (such as the Bolshoi Ballet’s use of blackface in the not-so-distant past) and the often prohibitive cost of learning ballet.<\/p>\n

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Beeston says she was inspired by an online movement of young dancers holding the ballet world to account.<\/p>\n

“I watched so many TikToks about this \u2014 these kids coming through love ballet and everything about it, but they can also want to change it,” she says.<\/p>\n

“They’re able to hold both of those truths at the same time and do it in a way that is starkly funny and intelligent.<\/p>\n

“I learned a lot from watching that. Just because you fiercely love something doesn’t mean that you can’t also want aspects of it to change.”Beeston’s time as a dancer<\/p>\n

Beeston says she can see herself in both the book’s main characters, the serious, poetry-loving Clara, and the more irreverent Elle.<\/p>\n

“Clara is a lot like me, so I drew on my own experiences of training in the 90s, looking at how much has changed but how little has changed at the same time.<\/p>\n

“There are parts of Elle that bring another perspective. I feel like there’s a lot of me as I am now with her. I was that traditionalist and then [went] on that journey of looking at the ballet world more critically through Elle’s eyes.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Beeston, pictured with her beginner ballet class, says dance has been an important part of her recovery from postnatal psychosis. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Beeston originally quit ballet because she was deemed too short, an experience she says is all too common.<\/p>\n

“I think there are still quite stringent requirements around height and body shape. It’s one of the harsh realities that you can burn out and feel ‘Well, there’s nothing I can do to change this, the ballet world doesn’t want me’.<\/p>\n

“It’s getting better, and there’s definitely more diversity, but I think there’s still a long way to go.”<\/p>\n

Being ‘a different person’ on stage<\/p>\n

Beeston also relates to the sense of serenity Clara feels when she dances in front of an audience.<\/p>\n

“The anxiety disappears,” Clara says of performing. “I’m a different person, a different Clara. I’m not shy or awkward. I feel strong and powerful.”<\/p>\n

Beeston started dancing again after she experienced severe perinatal mental illness after her son’s birth, and it became a vital part of her recovery process. She now teaches classes for adults.<\/p>\n

“Part of what I found so healing was that when you’re in the studio, dancing, you’re very much out of your head and in your body.<\/p>\n

“I find, now, for people I know who experience anxiety, dancing and moving through that can be so helpful.<\/p>\n

“My lovely adult beginner ballerinas come in from different careers, or they’re parents, and for them it is such a nice hour where you can forget about what’s happening in the world outside and just focus on dance; it is really special.”<\/p>\n

Don’t Forget to Smile is published by Black Inc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“It felt like a pleasure to be able to make things up,” Ariane Beeston says of writing her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":768531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[365675,365683,365679,64,63,365676,365681,365680,365678,365677,365682,134,365674],"class_list":["post-768530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ariane-beeston","tag-ariane-beeston-author","tag-ariane-beeston-book","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-author","tag-australian-ya-author","tag-ballet-book","tag-best-ya-books","tag-dont-forget-to-smile","tag-dont-forget-to-smile-ariane-beeston","tag-entertainment","tag-ya-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=768530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/768531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=768530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=768530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=768530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}