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Producing Male Dancers


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Forgive me, for I am procrastinating, and probably asking something that has been covered here before.... apologies in advance.

I was struck by the following conversation on the thread about new dancers at the Bolshoi:

I find it rather alarming that the Bolshoi has to bring in male dancers from outside. In the past the company was always renowned for its male dancers. What's happened?

In my opinion neither Merkuriev nor Shpilevsky are outstanding dancers, though Merkuriev is the better of the two. Obviously the company can produce future female stars - just look at Osipova and Krysanova, so why aren't they producing top male dancers any more?

It's the school which doesn't "produce" them, Mashinka. The company can't groom any top male dancers if the basic potential isn't there. But Ratmansky has high hopes in Ivan Vasiliev. And with that name, he'd better be good :)

This has been a discussion regarding dancers at the Royal Ballet as well - both men and women, but recently more focussed on the men it seems, at least to my naive eyes. With recent 'imports' (Ansanelli, Lamb, Bonelli, Samodurov, even McRae) It's now a 'big deal' to have a RBS-trained student (Cuthbertson, Pennefather) rising through the ranks. While there are national funding arguments hoping to support 'national' dancers, there's also the question of whether or not the RBS is producing. It's probably felt more amongst the male ranks with the need for some taller men for partnering/princely roles - Pennefather has indeed been thrown in numerous times. McRae looks dashingly perky with Cojocaru.

Anyways, I digress.

Is the problem of 'producing' dancers one that's affecting a huge number of company-attached schools? Are they producing, as noted with the Bolshoi above, more suitable women than men...? Is this reflective of a general trend focussing on women's mobility and athleticism? A change in teachers? How big of a problem does this pose for the future?

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It's a good question, and I'll look forward to reading everyone's comments. I wonder if at least part of the problem is that fewer talented children are available for training -- or if, when the students graduate, the artistic directors don't know how to groom the dancers, and perhaps ignore some dancers who would have been groomed in the past. (In the search for The Highest Possible Extension or Greatest Number of Pirouettes, for example, some dancers with great artistic potential may be pushed to the side.)

As for the talent pool, in Russia, dancing is not as secure a career as it was 20 or 30 years ago, and that may well be having an effect.

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Maybe ABT has snatched them all up! :)

But seriously, even across the plaza from ABT, NYCB's male roster is thin. We are starting to see some very talented men emerging -- Andrew Veyette, who was just promoted to Soloist, and the amazing Tyler Angle -- but the generation that's now in its prime has not risen to the level that a world class company demands.

I do believe the problem is not a lack of talent but a failure of the schools in helping the young men realize their potential. It is very sad. The audience is cheated, but worse, so are the dancers.

And one wonders if these dancers, whose training has been lacking -- what? -- some important ingredients, as they themselves become teachers, will they have what it takes to bring out the best in their students?

These things tend to be cyclical. I hope this is a short-lived arc in the current cycle.

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Maybe ABT has snatched them all up! :)
Or PNB. Boal said there were 15 dancers (men and women) he taught at SAB when he applied for the AD position. That should mean an abundance of riches at NYCB, since traditionally, NYCB is first choice of SAB students.
As for the talent pool, in Russia, dancing is not as secure a career as it was 20 or 30 years ago, and that may well be having an effect.
I wonder if this a ten-year blip in Russian ballet, like in figure skating, where during the chaotic period for arts and sports after the fall of the Soviet Union, there were revolving Artistic Directors, movement to the West, and financial instability as state funding dried up. Or if because of new opportunities for becoming wealthy in business, with the prestige that goes along with wealth and real estate, this is permanent.
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I wonder if this a ten-year blip in Russian ballet, like in figure skating, where during the chaotic period for arts and sports after the fall of the Soviet Union, there were revolving Artistic Directors, movement to the West, and financial instability as state funding dried up. Or if because of new opportunities for becoming wealthy in business, with the prestige that goes along with wealth and real estate, this is permanent.

I don't have the expertise or the information to say if this is a cycle or a new trend, but I do think that there is a strong economic component in this. In the US, as the social service support infrastructure continues to wither away, more and more emphasis is placed on young people being able to earn a substantial income early in their working lives. People are moving away from what we used to call 'the helping professions' (teaching, nursing) since they're perceived as having a low earning potential. If you combine that with the usual difficulties in recruiting male dancers (social stigma, cost of training) it just makes it that much harder to attract and keep a large enough pool of students to produce a large group of good male dancers.

It might be worth remembering that when the NEA's Dance Touring Program came along in the 1970's, it was considered a thrill that the number of bookings a company could get through the project would often make their dancers eligible for unemployment during the off-season -- one of the first times that people could actual count on year-round pay.

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Great topic, atm1436. I'm not qualified to comment on the aestheic and training aspects, but I wanted to develop some thoughts that came up while reading sandik's posts.

Training as a classical ballet dancer has a number of qualities that do not fit into the values and traditions of American economic culture. (Insofar as the American system is spreading to other parts of the world, you might expect our economic values to play an increasing role in dance-training elswhere.)

-- training in classical ballet is long and hard, and the decision to begin and to "commit" must be made very early as compared to other possible careers; the model is closer to medieval apprenticeship than to the kind of career decision-making that we see in almost all other fields;

-- training takes place in virtual isolation from one's non-ballet peers; it involves spending vast amounts of time in a sub-culture that is not highly valued by most of the young people and their families that a student would know;

-- as others have mentioned, pay is low (except for a tiny group at the top), career length is very short, injury risks are high; (on top of that, ballet is a profession in which some professionals actually brag about their efforts to encourage planning for second careers, saying, in effect: "you don't have much of a future as a ballet dancers, but we'll give you some help on what to do when you, alone among all your peers, become unemployable in 10 or 20 years")

-- those making hiring decisions are increasingly tempted by the idea of buying already-made products (dancers) from abroad, especially those with the glamorous "made in Russia" or "Cuba" or other "Latin" labels.

Of course, most of this would apply to female students as well as males. But there still remains in the upbringing of girls a large amount of pressure to engage in service, self-denial, nurturing, and "doing cultural things." Few boys, I would think, receive this kind of advice and encouragement from those around them.

P.S. Alexandra also raises an interesting point dealing with the state of the Art:

(In the search for The Highest Possible Extension or Greatest Number of Pirouettes, for example, some dancers with great artistic potential may be pushed to the side.)
Yesterday I did some research about the Genee competition (for young pre-professional dancers) in order to respond to a question from a poster. One site listed all the medal winners since the awards were instituted in the 1930s. I knew only 2 names on this very long list: Leanne Benjamin and Stella Abrera. This probably reflects my own ignorance more than anything else, but it made me wonder. :)
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Yesterday I did some research about the Genee competition (for young pre-professional dancers) in order to respond to a question from a poster. One site listed all the medal winners since the awards were instituted in the 1930s. I knew only 2 names on this very long list: Leanne Benjamin and Stella Abrera. This probably reflects my own ignorance more than anything else, but it made me wonder. :beg:

I believe that Genee competion is International but of clear British tradition: a few of the winners had or are having relevant positions in the London Royal Ballet.

Among them Elisabeth Mc Gorian, David Drew, Michael Nunn (one of the two Ballet Boyz), Ravenna Tucker and the Royal Ballet raising star Steven McRae; and Lisa-Marie Cullum.

Maybe not big stars, but for sure very good dancers.

Returning to the main point of the thread, in “Ballerina” the doc on Kirov Ballerinas broadcasted few days ago on TV5 Monde, Ljudmila Safronova, former etoile and now teacher at the Vaganova school, admits that in this moment there are more interesting Ballerinas than male dancers. The doc is about the Kirov stars Lopatkina, Vishneva and Zakharova (the film covers the 2003-05 period) and the young Obraztsova and Somova.

Somova graduated in 2003 in Safronova class and is considered best graduated from the school and the future of Kirov company. I’m sorry with Somova fans, but that make my really worried about FEMALE dancers at the Kirov… :crying:

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:wink: As a parent of a 16yr male currently training in Canada at a national ballet school, I would say that Bart's points pretty well sum up my son's life so far. It is a long, rigourous, undervalued, ridiculed (at least for males), isolating journey that is also compounded by the fact that he has been living away from home since the age of 12. Thankfully he has found an excellent niche at his current school, teachers who challenge him, more guest teachers this year, administration who believe in artistry, musicality, performance quality, but above all focus on clean classical technique. Still, there is such a limited pool of male dancers in Canada that even at the 3 or 4 big schools, classes for boys/men are not large. There are even fewer males in local home studios, and male teachers/mentors are rare outside of NBS, RWB, Quinte, Goh, etc. This makes it a challenge for a young boy to see to what he can aspire, no peers to compare himself to for motivation. He will be pressured by peers to give up this "girly stuff" - play manly sports like football, HOCKEY, soccer, etc.

So, if the young boy actually stays in it past say 10 or 12, then he can, with talent and ambition, audition and hopefully get accepted to a professional school - but sad to say, even that is not any guarantee of a job at the end of it all. How many trained dancers does the RWB or NBoC take into their ranks every year - a few maybe, to none. Our companies are small, if there is none to little movement of dancers over the course of one season to the next, there will be no positions open at the entry level. Starting salary below the poverty line. So why would any male bother to train for a career in ballet and even crazier, why would parents spend all that money for the training? I really don't want to go there...I'm supporting his dream and passion as is the government funding to these ballet schools.

He plans to audition for a post-grad year in Europe - German schools most likely as he spent a few weeks with Anna Marie Holmes' Ballet Adriatico in Italy in August and discovered that Europeans actually appreciate ballet and men in ballet. And he was reading an article that stated Germany now receives the most funding for arts and ballet in Europe - so, it is partly a decision to go where the money is and where there are numerous companies. In Italy he was exposed to terrific male teachers, professional dancers who took the time to help him after class (without solicitation), daily class with the pros - it was a real eye-opener for him.

Sorry this is somewhat all over the place, but what I also think is missing in the training is exposure to other art forms, visual, musical, theatrical, etc. So many are simply ignorant of anything outside the ballet world and even then, it can be a pretty narrow view...so narrow that many of these dancers in training are even unaware of the state and economy of ballet in their own country.!

Lastly, I would have to say that our culture often celebrates mediocrity in all forms, including ballet training and that is simply a result of little exposure to the greater world where a person would have to throw off this cloak of smugness when faced with excellence in any art form and say, Hmmm, I guess we could do better. Or at least try.

Thanks! :blush:

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Thank you, dancemomCA, for that wonderful post. So many of us think about, talk about, and evaluate dancers without really understanding the process that molds them, or the "world" in which they live. This must be especially hard for young males. You son's experience is very relevant to all of us.

On other threads we have been discussing some of the difficulties young dancers have in developing true artistry, as distinguished from technical wizardry. Something you said seems very related to that:

... [W]hat I also think is missing in the training is exposure to other art forms, visual, musical, theatrical, etc. So many are simply ignorant of anything outside the ballet world and even then, it can be a pretty narrow view...so narrow that many of these dancers in training are even unaware of the state and economy of ballet in their own country.!.
This may not be true in some schools and companies -- especially those in major cultural centers like NYC, etc. But it certainly rings true of some of the young dancers I've had the privilege of meeting in our more provincial neck of the woods. Europe -- despite it's own extensive lapses into bad taste and dubious experiments in fusing the pop and classical arts -- does seem to have it better in this regard.

This seems to me to be sad for our young dancers -- and a major handicap when it comes to creating the highest, deepest form of their art.

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DancemonCA,

Wonderful post!... Can you tell us a bit about how your son became interested in ballet? It seems more understandable that little girls would be attracted to dance.. In fact, I see many with the moms at the ballet at Saturday matinees for example... but can't recall an "excited big eyed" young man with his mother or father.

As unusual as this sounds... I assumed that male dancers came from a "dance environment" or a home where the "high arts" were cherished and children were exposed at an early age... and this would be true for girls... but less so. Of course your son's story is only one anecdote... so perhaps those who DO know about how male dancers got the "bug" to pursue a ballet career as a young child.. it would be interesting to know about that.

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Bart - when I have more time on the weekend, will read more threads/topics, especially about the artistry vs technical wizardry...

SanderO - well, I would love to say that we are an artisitic family; however, I cannot sing a note or play an instrument, I did dance in my late teens/early adult years (strictly recreational), but our family are avid readers and I dragged them to as many cultural experiences as I could afford. My son did attend the Nut with me one December, but kept asking me why weren't they talking? I think he was about 5! I do distinctly remember him watching a dance special on tv with Rex Harrington of NBoC and he turned to me at one point and said, "I want to lift the ladies over my head." :dry: His sister danced and he was very, very interested in her jazz class and watched every class - finally the teacher asked him to join in and I think that was the real beginning. Then he joined a ballet class - the lone little boy in a sea of pink, but he was very serious and things just took off from there. The turning point was attending the NBS summer school at 12 - that opened his eyes and really intensified his passion for ballet. He hasn't looked back since...I think when they reach 16 or 17 and are still in it, they are usually very serious about ballet as a career.

But back to topic - I was thinking about Hans' comment that teachers can only do so much with limited talent and vice versa which brings me to the point of the actual size of the pool of male dancers a school has to draw on each year. At some audition sites there is not one male in attendance, others may have 1 or 2, so what does the school do? They need male bodies, so the mediocre get scooped up along with the talented. This may not be a problem in larger countries ie. US, Russia, etc. But how discriminating can the schools be? They are businesses after all. However, they do want to graduate a well-trained product or dancer, so it is a catch-22 situation I think. I do firmly believe that as in anything, the cream will rise to the top with excellent training, support and mentoring - IF the dancer is challenged, if they are given opportunities to work outside "the ballet box" through exposure to contemporary or modern choreograpy, traditional national dances, etc.

I also think that the school must train male dancers to have a certain "swagger", not conceit, but belief in their masculinity in a world where so much of the feminine is emphasized, where the male can be strong, develop bravado yet move with grace and finesse. They must also learn to be wonderful partners - as my son's teacher advised him last year, "If you can't partner, you ain't going to find a job!"

I wish I could be more eloquent, however, it's late, I'm tired. I will edit tomorrow.

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I would suspect that there would be more support, suggestion.. guidance of a young girl by her parents into ballet classes than there would be for a young boy. DancemomCA illustrates that it was her young son who got the "bug" and she rightfully then picked up on his interest and did the good parent thing and got him into classes.

Do you think parents ever suggest dance to young lads.. or perhaps music and sports? My sense is that male dancers come from highly motivated young boys and not doting parents.

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I had one disturbing experience at my niece's school's Nutcracker performance one year. During intermission I asked my nephew, then about 7 or 8, if he thought dancing was something he'd like to do, and before he even had a chance to answer and despite (sparse) evidence to the contrary on stage, another relative ( :shhh: nameless) said, "Oh, no! Ballet's not for boys!"

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I just viewed a long interview with Jacques d'Amboise, an add-on to the new DVD "Jacques d'Amboise: Portrait of a Great American Dancer."

d'Amboise, now 72, became emotional when he spoke of the factors that led him into his first ballet school: poor, hard-working family; a mother who believed deeply that her children would all benefit from exposure to the arts; an older sister whom (like Villella) he accompanied to her dance class. His gratitude for the oppportunities opportunities he had been given by the world of dance -- the chance to travel, living with beautiful music, meeting so many creative and interesting people, being the best that he could be -- was palpable.

I realize that these are not values currently held in high regard in much of America. Nor can every dancer have a career like d'Amboise's. But every dancer is PART of this world and has the chance to grasp his or her own version of its blessings. It is a shame when stereotypes and ignorance combine to stifle these wonderful aspirations in young men.

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I wonder if the presence of Baryshnikov, 20-30 years ago, as a kind of "socially acceptable" superstar (that the masses knew) had any influence on the career choices of the illustrious ensemble at ABT and other circa-40 male stars elsewhere? None in our era has that combination of charisma and acceptability. Perhaps that kind of star is needed to deliver the combination of exitement and "excuse" young men need to give ballet dancing a try...

Maybe the problem is not so much what the schools are doing as who is motivated to go to the schools. Perhaps the true greats are at least as much born as produced.

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I wonder if the presence of Baryshnikov, 20-30 years ago, as a kind of "socially acceptable" superstar (that the masses knew) had any influence on the career choices of the illustrious ensemble at ABT and other circa-40 male stars elsewhere? None in our era has that combination of charisma and acceptability. Perhaps that kind of star is needed to deliver the combination of exitement and "excuse" young men need to give ballet dancing a try...

I think drb has hit the nail on the head. The English-speaking world, at least, hasn't really had a ballet superstar, male or female, since Baryshnikov. If you were to ask the proverbial man in the street to name an active ballet dancer, I doubt he'd be able to. I don't think it's the fault of the dancers. The sad fact is that the ballet boom of the 1970s is long gone. It ended when Balanchine died, followed by Tudor and Ashton. Unfortunately, ballet companies didn't seem to realize that the golden age had passed, continued to behave as before, and by the late 1980s and early '90s many of them (very notably ABT) were in real crisis.

During the 1970s and even '80s the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was still in the habit of showing the National Ballet of Canada, with productions of Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, La Fille mal Gardée, Onegin, The Merry Widow, plus the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Romeo & Juliet. The NBoC toured frequently, and its stars weren't unfamiliar to the public at large. By the mid-1990s it had shrunk from a company of 70 to a company of just over 50, its dancers were no longer guests on chat shows or subjects of stories on national news programs, and ballet began to fade from the public imagination. Again, I doubt the average Canadian could name any of the National Ballet's dancers. Sonia Rodriguez is more famous for being married to figure skater Kurt Browning than for being a principal with the NBoC.

I expect the situation is quite similar in the United States. When was the last time a ballet dancer graced the cover of a large-circulation news magazine? Does anyone still remember the days when A&E ("Arts and Entertainment," remember?) showed operas and ballets on Thursday nights? High art has always been a hothouse flower dependent on patronage. Forced to compete on the market, it degenerates. At its inception, Canada's Bravo network set aside Mondays for dance. Initially it featured worthy programs from the CBC and Dance in America archives. By the late 1990s there was an endless stream of Riverdance. Now you've lucky to see a B movie musical in between the cop show reruns.

It's not surprising that Europe is in better shape. State pensions and exemptions from military service are still strong incentives for boys to enter ballet school. I think what ballet really needs is choreographers capable to amazing and delighting audiences. (Sorry, I don't think that Forsythe or Wheeldon, for different reasons, are capable of this.) I don't see the tendency to dumb down ballet as a solution either. Thus far poppish music and film-inspired librettos haven't spawned a new dance boom. Balanchine entertained his audience while pushing the art form forward. Okay, he was a genius and they don't come around too often, but until ballet companies give audiences something really worthwhile to see, they won't come, nor will TV networks be in any hurry to give them airtime. If the public at large doesn't have the opportunity to see ballet, that means on television, they can't discover potential dance superstars. Until the new male superstars are crowned (by the public, superstardom can't be manufactured by management), you won't have too many boys eager to follow in their footsteps.

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This has raised an interesting point about ballet in the mind of the masses. With so few superstars being "promoted" as they are in sports... ballet may be viewed as a "team sport"... which in a sense it is... a company with principals etc. who perform a selection from their repertory each season. Very few superstars seem to emerge into the general publics consciousness... names to easily recall etc as in the case of Baryshnicov... and he with a popular film star too!

Perhaps young boys may need to have "heroes" to identify with more so than young girls... just a guess... like their favorite baseball player etc.

And since ballet is performed largely by companies which seem to not want to promote a superstar, but an ensemble.. a corp of talent.. they ("ballet") may be not choosing the market themselves in the way that would appeal to young boys... who might choose athletics over dance. I suspect the image of ballet and all dance in the mind of youg boys is not very "positive"... that was until street dancing became popular... break dancing and hip hop and so on. But these seem to mostly be about individualism, competition. I suppose the good thing is that young boys are open to developing "dance moves" now... but the bad thing is that they are not looking to classical and traditional dance to express themselves.

Perhaps a few "cross over" popular public icons who "promote"... love.. attend and exalt ballet can open the minds of young boys to ballet? Does ballet have an image problem for young boys perhaps?

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Part of what I meant was that baryshnikov became an adjective describing particulary admired male achievement. Hardly a baseball telecast went by where an announcer didn't describe some spectacular play as a baryshnikov move, and early on the basketball moves of the amazing Michael Jordan were so described. This usage still pops up once in a while. Also, announcers would even use "balletic" as a positive descriptor (especially by those who had trouble saying his name...): Baryshnikov's positive image even rubbed off on ballet!

I have faith that there will be another.

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drb, SanderO, and volcanhunter, ou all have raised so many interesting points about the lack of role models and "heroes." As I've thought about them, I find myself returning again and again to conscious decisions made by people in the media about what is and what is not important.

Nureyev and Baryshnikov -- or Pavarotti and Domingo in opera, for that matter -- were identified by the media relatively early in their American careers and promoted extensively as being extraordinary. Once upon a time the arrival of one of these artists in town was a headline event -- I mean front page, not the lead article in an isolated entertainment section. Their photos were on the cover of Time, implying a kind of parity with statesmen, Nobel prize winners, sports stars, and other such figures.

Today, most of the media outside a few large cosmopolitan markets have made a strategic decision that there is little interest in ballet or opera. More accurately, they have determined that whatever interest exists is narrowly restricted to a small demographic as to age, class, education, and income. This audience has been surrendered to the niche media: arty journels, specialist websites, and the like.

Ballet has to fight the isolation -- indeed, the provincialism -- that has been forced upon it in so much of the United States. One thing that might help is if schools devoted more attention and effort to increasing the performance opportunities for their students, and not just when they have completed the course. One or two recitals a year -- before an audience of adoring families -- may not be enough to keep American boys proud of what they do. They should also be given the chance to appear in the schools, in the downtown amphitheaters, in the local dance contests (even with hip hop competiton).

Even the most cynical high school kids (male aas well as female) will respect the sight of their peers performing big jumps, dramatic turns, and scenes that are funny, romantic, tragic, or just plain beautiful. I've seen this taking place. And it's ...... awesome.

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I don't feel qualified to propose solutions but this a provocative discussion.

I notice that the Met, with it's new director Peter Gelb is trying new marketing approaches including showing Madame Butterfly on the Times Square JumboTron.

And Anna Ntrebko, the Russian born soprano was featured on 60 Minutes and has produced some "contempory" videos which would have cross market appeal. She does not come off as some fat old lady singer (no insults intended here).. but as a hip chick who parties with 20 and 30 somethings AND is an opera diva. This is in opera and she is a woman... but it illustrates how opera is trying to make itself into something which has wider appeal.

I would think that in addition to some big "marketing" approach as noted above... more outreach where these incredible male dancers could visit and perform some pas de duex with anyone of the lovely ballerinas in high schools etc... to inspire some of the young people. Seeing these incredible dancers up close and personal.. and even have a Q&A might get some people interested...espcially if there were also accessible dance programs for these young people. Why tease them if you can't deliver the programs? Perhaps the companies are doing just this... or have tried. I never saw anything like it when I was in school and it was in a rather upscale high end albeit public school where 90% went on to college.

Is ballet too inaccessible to young boys?

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Funny, my son has a large picture of Baryshnikov hanging in his bedroom - which was actually mine but he has now appropriated it.

His ballet school is right next door to the high school he attends, so all his peers and those of the other ballet dancers know what they do day in and day out. They do perform in the school auditorium, they do 3 community Nut performances, plus an end of year show and also take their end of year show to smaller communities which normally don't get any type of ballet companies, small or big. It is their way of doing outreach - they also usually take a number of senior dancers to a Dance Festival in a smaller town, but school is spending money this year on bringing all dancers to Ottawa to attend the Kirov "Swan Lake" performance (completely understandable). Does all this outreach actually increase the number of boys wanting to take ballet - hard to say...I do know that last year one guy poked his head out of his pickup and said to my son "Great job buddy!" so hope springs eternal!

Some schools offer free "Boys' classes" which do seem to bring in larger than normal numbers of younger boys - the challenge is to keep them in traditional ballet classes when they are older...is it unaccessible after a certain age? Is it just not "cool" to be a boy in ballet? The media certainly doesn't give them any ink, or airtime. There is little large-scale promotion of men in ballet by either the schools or companies, well, there may be attempts made, but whether or not the media picks it up and runs with it is another issue.

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Some schools offer free "Boys' classes" which do seem to bring in larger than normal numbers of younger boys - the challenge is to keep them in traditional ballet classes when they are older.

Has there been a relative increase in the number of boys in NON-ballet types of dance? What I'm getting at -- is the problem they have one that has to do with "ballet" in partticular or with "disciplined dance study" in general?

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Some schools offer free "Boys' classes" which do seem to bring in larger than normal numbers of younger boys - the challenge is to keep them in traditional ballet classes when they are older.

Has there been a relative increase in the number of boys in NON-ballet types of dance? What I'm getting at -- is the problem they have one that has to do with "ballet" in partticular or with "disciplined dance study" in general?

Based on my own experience only, I think with the possible exception of hip-hop dancing, there is a paucity of boys all over. My son takes classes at the Ailey School, which offers ballet, West African, tap, and modern, and I frequently hear that they are short on boys. Even at my son's very young age, there are probably 3-4 clases full of girls for his one class of boys.

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