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Ballet is plenty geared toward men. It requires a lot of strength and control. And, to be very good, a body type not everyone has or can have. Have you seen male ballet dancers? Incredibly muscular, very strong with the ability to *control* that strength, able to easily lift women above their heads, can jump very high which requires a lot of power-- IOW, strength. Whenever I see someone say male ballet dancers are sissies I'm not sure whether to fall over laughing or stare at them in disbelief (most of the people who say it are usually even remotely as strong as these men are, either...). (and, let's face it, for the more base minds among us: male ballet dancers are highly in demand among women dancers because there are fewer of them, get to spend their days with a bunch of fit, strong, and beautiful women who are wearing very little... who's laughing now?)
Any kind of dance, from ballet to Highland to Irish to modern to Russian and many, many others, requires a lot of strength, control, proprioception, balance, rhythm, dedication, command over the body, and often cooperation with others, and sometimes the ability to improvise on the spot while understanding both the dance and the music. That sounds like something "geared toward" anyone.
OP, you are wondering if your son would enjoy it. Ask him, not strangers on the internet who don't know him. And see everything I said above so he has it ready for anyone who wants to make fun of him for being a dancer.
There are other types of dance more geared to boys ... I always thought tap was neat. Plenty of male tappers!
Tap might be better. I'm a little worried that he will be bullied if he takes up ballet. Even though I would not stop him from wanting to do it, if that's what his interest was.
Tap might be better. I'm a little worried that he will be bullied if he takes up ballet. Even though I would not stop him from wanting to do it, if that's what his interest was.
Here's a thought: regardless of what you enroll your son into---tap, ballet, or kizomba---go to a studio outside your town or neighborhood, or at least outside your school district. This way, he won't run into a kid from his school, or worse, his class. Remember: when it comes to how kids think, running into someone at a ballet class is "asymmetrical": it's acceptable for the cooler kid to be there, but not for the uncooler kid, even though they saw each other there.
Here's a thought: regardless of what you enroll your son into---tap, ballet, or kizomba---go to a studio outside your town or neighborhood, or at least outside your school district. This way, he won't run into a kid from his school, or worse, his class. Remember: when it comes to how kids think, running into someone at a ballet class is "asymmetrical": it's acceptable for the cooler kid to be there, but not for the uncooler kid, even though they saw each other there.
Ballet is plenty geared toward men. It requires a lot of strength and control. And, to be very good, a body type not everyone has or can have. Have you seen male ballet dancers? Incredibly muscular, very strong with the ability to *control* that strength, able to easily lift women above their heads, can jump very high which requires a lot of power-- IOW, strength. Whenever I see someone say male ballet dancers are sissies I'm not sure whether to fall over laughing or stare at them in disbelief (most of the people who say it are usually even remotely as strong as these men are, either...). (and, let's face it, for the more base minds among us: male ballet dancers are highly in demand among women dancers because there are fewer of them, get to spend their days with a bunch of fit, strong, and beautiful women who are wearing very little... who's laughing now?)
Any kind of dance, from ballet to Highland to Irish to modern to Russian and many, many others, requires a lot of strength, control, proprioception, balance, rhythm, dedication, command over the body, and often cooperation with others, and sometimes the ability to improvise on the spot while understanding both the dance and the music. That sounds like something "geared toward" anyone.
OP, you are wondering if your son would enjoy it. Ask him, not strangers on the internet who don't know him. And see everything I said above so he has it ready for anyone who wants to make fun of him for being a dancer.
Yes. When my son was playing football in probably 7th or 8th grade, a new boy joined the team. Kid was awesome and had a physique the other boys wished they had. Boy came from a family of dancers and had been dancing all his life - including ballet. He was an excellent athlete all they way around. Football to wrestling. Started with dance.
My son took hip hop dance for a while. He liked it and there were other boys.
In the day mine was crazy to take break dancing lessons. I thought it was cool and he had a ball. But of course there were plenty of rough-tumble boy kids doing it at that time.
I think you're smart to give this careful consideration, PV. If he has a natural inclination for the dance it will be evident and you can encourage and shelter him along. Although things have changed there will be a few things to watch for in this line of study that could be a challenge for him.
Any chance you can sit in on a couple of types of classes so he can see and give you his opinion?
Like any class of this sort (music, dance, art, etc) make sure HE expresses an interest in it. This type of stuff is not a "you" thing.
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