Cross gender train? Yikes. Kind of a wierd way to put it. I guess I always just try to learn as much as I can no matter what it is. A jump is a jump, a turn is a turn, arms are arms...an so on. I agree that there are movements that would be considered more masculine or more feminine but I think that it is more beneficial just to forget that and learn as much as possible, but that's my rambling.

Cody

Boys don't dance is myth no.3, but the sad thing is that peer pressure did make him give it up:

10 myths about boys
Vandals, lazy, rampant, unfeeling: boys these days are victims of gender stereotyping gone haywire, says Jenni Murray in The Guardian, herself the mother of two sons. She sets the record straight.

When my first son was born, a friend who hovered on the fringes of the radical feminist movement whispered poison in my ear. "Poor you," she hissed, "having to raise one of the enemy." I crossed her off my Christmas card list, but the words still rankled.

click for more

One of our men this summer program sat through the repertoire class when what was being taught was les Sylphides. He was learning how to dance like a Sylph with fairy arms. At the same time, he was also in men's class, learning le Corsair variation.

The two styles are very different. He kept getting criticized for Sylph arms in men's class and pirate arms in repetoire class. In that way, he learned how to handle two styles at once. It is a very important skill --- our company usually puts on 4 dances, each one with completely different movement quality.

Jackie Chan had a positive influence for ballet.

Teri Reyes, until a few years ago a long-time member of NYCB, sometimes used to do double tours and entrechat six in class with the boys when she was in her early teens at Los Angeles Ballet. She had a powerful, deep plie and exceptional elevation, and did the masculine steps as well or better than most of the guys. It was quite a thrill to see her, and I always thought it would be interesting to have a woman dance such steps on stage.

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I guess Mr Segal hasn't seen Torsion by George Piper Dances then!

Copying a post from another thread:

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okgo
Member
Member# 3410

posted 15 January 2004 12:52 AM
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if you tell most men you do ballet most men will tell you your gay or atleast think it. .its also true that alot of girls might think that but not girls that do ballet.i do ballet i believe none of the girls think it werid they dont say it nor do i get that veb.in usa men think if other men do ballet their feminem or gay.not all male ballet dancers are gay.i guess the question is why to people think this way,

Regarding Mr. Segal's review up there: I don't think I've read anyone more cyncial than this typical Southern Californian shmoo. Maybe it is because he lives in LA, but really I think he's seeing completely different companies than I am.

All I know is that gay or not, ballet is not for
the meek. The process to weed out people, who aspire to dance ballet is backbreaking, and takes
steely determination. They are not paid like a baseball or basketball player. They will dance
professionally for 5-20 years only. And then many
have to start a new career!!!

what guys here do ballet?

Okgo.. ballet has gay connotations because of the nature of ballet and because of societal expectations regarding gender roles.

In ballet, you are making your body into a piece of art. It is socially acceptable (and expected) for girls and women to do this. Women spend so much time on their appearance, to present themselves to the world. Beauty is status.

But for men it's different. For men, being something isn't so important socially. What's important is DOING something. The man who can run the fastest, lift the most, or manage the most customers at work is highly valued. Men are actively DISCOURAGED from taking pride in their appearance or in being seen as a work of art.

Men who seek to be part of a work of art are seen as "feminine", and women are seen to be less than men. There is very little concept in America of a sense of masculine beauty.

This bias carries right over into dance.

critbob i adgree.

ballet dancers rank at the top of the chart for strength, flexibility, and other criteria to judge
athletic ability. There has been quite a few studies that support the statement above. Ballet dancers outperformed footballers(Amer.& European),
along with athletes in: baseball, basketball, hockey, boxers, ect. At the top of the athletic
ladder. Pound for pound the all-round best athletes on this earth! Gay has absolutely nothing
to do with it. Edward Villela of New York City Ballet, once said that a 5-6 minute Pas De Deux is
more difficult than 6 3-minute rounds of boxing(he
boxed while in the Navy). Case closed!!!!!!!!!