Why don’t boys do ballet?

I want to cut to the chase with this article and explore why I think so many parents are so totally opposed to their children taking ballet classes and where the American bias against dancers comes from. I am not trying to offend anyone with this article, but at the same time I have received so much criticism and met with so much ignorance as a dancer that what I have to say may irritate some. I hope this is taken with an open mind as this is a real problem and I try to explain what the real and basic reasons are for it.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve heard my friends laugh or make jokes at any man in tights dancing on stage. In the days before YouTube and cable TV, movies could be shown in school as part of a history or civilization class and would inevitably touch on the arts and then at some point ballet would be shown. As soon as the dancer appeared, the jokes and giggles followed. Having practiced ballet myself since the age of 4, this always shocked me a lot, but most of the time no one else knew I took ballet, so I just sat quietly and listened to the sarcastic comments. I have to say that while this is not the same as someone being teased or joked about because of their race, I think I know something of that same sentiment because I always loved ballet and would never stop doing it, but hearing people belittle something I knew that it was so good and that it was a part of me that was really hurt in a way that leaves you feeling totally powerless to deal with it.

Much later in life, I finally gained the perspective to look back at my childhood and also listen to the comments being made again and make some insights into the origin of this bias. What follows is my analysis of prejudice against male dancers.

1) Smooth or graceful movement confused with moving “like a girl”.

Many, many men never fully appreciate the value of being able to have a wide range of motion for the body and the ability to move separate parts at the same time with ease in maintaining balance. Virtually every sport anyone has seen on television since the 1950s features highly trained athletes moving in a straight line as fast or as hard as possible. Male dancers MUST move in a different way because a dancer’s goal is to maintain balance rather than imparting a large amount of energy to a ball or another person’s body to knock them over. Many mistook this for ballet making men move like girls. Apart from this, ballet actually makes men move a lot like someone who practices Tai Chi or Kung Fu or especially Yoga. Add to this the idea that ballet is a pure creative exercise set to music, not something meant to hurt or render another person unconscious, and you get to the core of one of ballet’s great misconceptions regarding men. Interestingly, this is also why many men find ballet extremely difficult to do and gain a grudging respect for it later in life if they ever take a class their daughter might be in during an event. type of open house.

2) Guys don’t wear tights.

Let’s examine this. When I warned that I might offend some people with this article, this part is exactly what I meant. I don’t know how else to go about this, so here goes: all male athletes wear tights or much less. swimmers? You’re wearing lycra swimsuits. fighters? Seriously, what’s that spandex bodysuit thing you guys are wearing? Football? Lycra-spandex cut-off tights with extra padding and cup. Don’t confuse the shoulder pads and leotard top with the fact that you too are wearing a cropped version of the tights. And, if guys are doing “girly” things when they dance, what do you call getting right behind a center’s butt and getting your hands almost to his crotch before a snap of the ball?

3) My son will be gay if he takes ballet

Now I’m a straight man on fire if you ask my wife. I know a lot of gay guys, but a lot of the gay guys I know are addicted to sports and have never done ballet. And as muscular as they are from working all the time, they’d be just as lucky doing ballet as Arnold Schwarzenegger. To be honest, this one really perplexes me and comes up a lot as a reason why parents don’t let their kids take ballet. Are there gay dancers? Sure. Are there gay men in all professions, including sports? Yes, there are, and again, as the football and wrestling examples given above show, if I were a gay man, I would play those sports because I would be in direct physical contact with other athletes rather than ballet, where 99.99% of the time you are dancing with GIRLS! More specifically, you’re teaming up with girls, which means holding them in all sorts of very difficult positions and breaking a sweat with them, which no gay man wants because most gay men don’t want close contact with women. Honestly I have to say there is simply no basis for this bias just like there is no basis for any racial bias and the answer to any bias is for education not to argue the bias itself because it is based on ignorance or outright stupidity . To be brutally honest, parents who dominate their children too much are at a far greater risk of making their children gay than any art form, including ballet, could possibly represent.

Now a lot of children, boys and girls, don’t like ballet and don’t take ballet classes and that’s fine, no activity, sport or art is for everyone. I just hope to provoke the premises check for anyone who has this ignorant prejudice against children taking ballet because for those who want it, ballet can be a lifelong benefit that will improve mental and physical health, stimulate performance academic. performance, almost guarantee a college scholarship for any middling dancer, and foster lifelong creativity and imagination. This is not something to oppose.