But basically when the girls started getting into trouble, they didn's want to answer questions. Denial, Dr. Hamilton said, is a large part of the problem of eating disorders, a problem that affects a large number of young ballerinas. The exact cause is not yet known. But Ms. Guenther had eating problems. She had complained to her family in recent weeks of a racing, pounding heart, but she refused to see a doctor.
Dance is a highly competitive, high-pressure and physically demanding profession.
The problem of eating disorders has created a minor industry of nutritionists and therapists specializing in dancers' emotional and physical problems. Despite increasingly sophisticated methods, however, eating disorders in ballet remain extremely difficult to treat. At a news conference last week in Boston, company officials said that two years ago Ms. Guenther, then a member of the Boston Ballet's junior ensemble, had been encouraged by Anna-Marie Holmes, now the company's director, to lose five pounds. She lost weight over a summer break and was then told not to lose more weight, they said. Ms. Guenther was promoted to the senior company last September.