First the Canadians had trouble recruiting boys for figure skating. Now Americans are having trouble recruiting boys for ballet. Or so says a recent article in the San Diego Union-Tribune. Wonder why? You guessed it: The gays. Because ballet is considered feminine, the boys who gravitate toward it are assumed gay by many people. It’s not as big an issue in Europe, according to the article. And the writer makes a good case to consider male ballet dancers elite physical specimens and athletes:
What makes a great danseur? Anyone who’s seen a man explode in turning leaps across a stage appreciates the power of men’s legs in solo dancing. What’s less obvious, because the man intentionally places himself in the background, is the upper-body strength required for partnering, when he displays the ballerina in graceful poses – by hoisting her 100-pound body in straight-armed lifts.
Sign me up to watch that!
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 1:05 AM
1. It’s simply not true that male ballet dancers are majority gay
2. If stupid, homophobic American boys want to turn down an excellent place to meet the ladies, fine
3. I saw the amazing Roberto Bolle (totally NSFW) dance Romeo in Prokofiev’s awesome ballet of Romeo and Juliet and he did incredible physical things all night. Spinning across the stage at top speed > stopping on a dime, forming a perfect pose > picking up the Juliet in an artistic way. Ballet is great because it’s a fanastic art form, has cuties all over the place and the phyiscal things they do are jaw dropping.
It’s a brutal activity on the feet and knees and legs though.
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 11:33 AM
I expect a lot of these “frightened” boys are black or hispanic. In which case they should see Cuba’s Carlos Acosta: http://www.havanatimes.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/acosta-1.jpg who admits to being quite a Casanova: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-556289/Carlos-Acosta-Royal-Ballets-new-King-Dance.html even though he is not particularly attractive by the standard of many of the more athletic black and blatino american males in college and pro sports. Note in the article he talks, rather boastfully about all of his affairs with vanity and won’t mention his girlfriend.
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 11:44 AM
Since all of us old pederasts are salivating at the young men in tights, that could put a damper on recruiting straight boys to become danseurs.
on Dec 2nd, 2009 at 11:56 AM
“All” of us “old pederasts”? Speak for yourself, perv. By the time a ballet dancer is a principal at a company, he’s well in to his 20′s, he’s not a “young man” anymore, he’s a man.
And, riiiiiiiggggghttttt, straight dudes never ever cock tease pathetic old men who can’t keep their hands to themselves to get what they want, oh no siree!
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 9:31 AM
Given that: (i) a professional dancer has maybe 10 to 15 years of “career”, and (ii) only the principals of any dance company really get paid liveable salaries, and (iii) here in the U.S. male ballet stars are not sought after for lucrative product endorsement contracts; so I really don’t think the “Gay” issue is the real problem. People have to eat and pay bills for an entire lifetime, including athletic gay and straight men. There are better ways of making money in the U.S. than dancing ballet ….. that is “the” problem.
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 12:53 PM
OK – so here in Canada one of the ways we addressed the problem of not enough guys being attracted to figure skating was to team up some of Canada’s best female skaters with ex-hockey players – including a couple of tough guys Ty Domi and Bob Probert – on CBC’s Battle of the Blades.
http://www.cbc.ca/battle/
Heck we even borrowed your Dick Button as one of the judges and broadcast the event live two nights a week from the Shrine of Hockey Maple Leaf Gardens – which had basically sat empty since the Leafs moved to the ACC. And Hockey Night in Canada host Ron McLean was the host for the show. Huge ratings and hopefully more guys who actually wanted to get into figure skating would be more inclined to do so now.
Any ideas for something similar that could be done to showcase the athleticism and strength required in ballet. Maybe ex football players?
on Dec 21st, 2009 at 1:52 PM
The problem of attracting boys to ballet is the fact that, there are no WIDELY KNOWN young boys in ballet.
There is no young boy as popular in ballet that boys can really relate to. That makes it difficult to get young boys interested in ballet.
I’ve seen the many dance recital costumes that come to dance studios every year. They always have girls in ballet dance costumes, but no boys. I will see a young boy in some type of ballet costume maybe every 2 or 3 years in one of the many dance recital costume catalogs a school gets. Usually, there is a male ballet dancer except he is either in his 20s and boys can’t relate to him.
Oh, yes…The movie of “Billy Elliott” was a real good one that dealt with that subject, EXCEPT many parents got turned off after they saw the “R” rating on the film. When I saw that movie poster showing a young boy dressed in boxing attire surrounded by little girls in cute pink ballet outfits.The picture on the movie poster suggested a film for kids. Then, you look at the bottom, you see the “R” rating of the film. The rating had to due with foul language in the film.
What is REALLY NEEDED is some YOUNG BOY CELEBRITY BALLET DANCER that can make an impact on this. Like the “Jonas Brothers” for rock music and “Leonardo DeCaprica” in motion pictures.
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on Dec 21st, 2009 at 3:51 PM
It is a well-known fact in ballet that young men who are short and slight are called boys and play those roles. Taller men are not boys and play lead roles. Watch the name-calling, Mr. Self-Righteous.