Billy Elliot the Forum

kport wrote:I wish it were possible for Her Majesty to confer an OBE...or an MBE.

Order of Billy Elliot and Musical of Billy Elliot do have a nice ring to them, i would agree.

This is excellent news. Kudus to these talented young men. You can definitely see a few potential Billys in this video. If only there was a Broadway production for them to join.

As stigma fades for boys in ballet, they are filling the ranks of The New York City Ballet's "The Nutcracker."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5CU_QNC6nE

Is ballet even considered a girl thing anymore? I work with kids (admittedly in a context where they're all performers) and no-one batted an eyelid when one lad mentioned he was going to ballet school.

I don't understand this stereotype...
As a child I used to go to the Dutch National Ballet School (like one of the Dutch Billys, Stijn van der Plas) and I always thought of ballet as more of a boys thing. Like the boys always got a lead. Usually a boy and a girl, but you were more likely to get a lead in the show if you were a boy. And the older boys all had these insane muscular bodies and were as maculine as possible.
It wasn't until years after I realised that people think of it as a girl's thing. Strange.

OliverWaters wrote:Is ballet even considered a girl thing anymore? I work with kids (admittedly in a context where they're all performers) and no-one batted an eyelid when one lad mentioned he was going to ballet school.

I think your performing arts context is what makes the difference. At my studio, where I take tap, there are about 10 boys and about 300 dancers in total. Most of the boys are only taking the boys-only hip-hop class.

SolidarityForever wrote:I don't understand this stereotype...

Folks on this forum are more enlightened but yes there is still the stereotype. Hence the lines in BETM about ballet being just for poofs.
Stories like the ones in this thread are encouraging signs of the stereotype breaking down, but it takes time.

But the show is based 30 years ago, hardly anyone says "poofs" these days, let alone think they'd be the only lads interested in ballet.

At my dance studio, it is mostly girls, but we have a good dozen boys who are there, ranging from toddlers up to pre-professionals. They are all great, and for the most part, every guy ends up being great, since they get a lot of personal training and also get featured in most numbers. In many ways, for the guys, its survival of the fittest. Between the training and the performing, if you don't have what it takes, you aren't going to last long. I think in many ways, that makes dance an incredibly masculine trade, cause you need to bring your A game every time! I am incredibly proud to know them and work with them.

For myself, I generally don't brag about dancing but I also don't deny it. Most everyone at work knows I dance, and I've had nothing but positivity from everyone. In fact, a number of people at work are joining me to see the Nutcracker. I love that they are interested enough to actually come see the show with me.

The times, they are a-changin'

OliverWaters wrote:But the show is based 30 years ago, hardly anyone says "poofs" these days, let alone think they'd be the only lads interested in ballet.

I would disagree here - I'm from Northumberland and one side of the family all live in ex-mining villages in Bishop Auckland - very near to Billy's home - and there would 100% be stigma in both places. It all depends on the community, and if you're in a lower class area, like Billy was, I think that stigma still exists.

Case in point: I went to a lower class school until I was 16. No boys I knew of even danced tap/hip hop, let alone ballet. Then I moved to a private school in the city centre for sixth form, and two boys were taking A level Dance.

Also - poof is very commonly said up north, 'Shut up ya poof' is one of my favourite lines in the show because me and my friends grew up saying it.

This article provides a certain perspective:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_ ... let_dancer

Apart from stereotypical thinking and reactions, in most forms of tuition-based, non-ethnic dance education, males are indeed far out numbered by females, I think for a variety of culturally based reasons (which reinforces stereotypical thinking?). I can imagine that there are more males than females involved in non-tuition forms of dance like hip hop, street, etc. Ballet and highland dance historically were mainly male oriented, but the pendulum has swung.

The arts and stage worlds have a long history of being more accepting and inclusive of the diversity of individuals, and not being so straight laced as mainstream society. Here's a PDF edition ebook that explores why this is so.
http://m.friendfeed-media.com/4b6872d43 ... 408c6c52d8

This article makes reference to the Elton John biographical ballet.
http://www.macleans.ca/culture/men-in-t ... tereotype/

This article refers to Billy Elliot effect on boys participation rate increasing for dance
http://www.macleans.ca/culture/the-real ... olution-2/