Biographies
Please send in your biographies to inspire and encourage other male ballet students (and potential students).
Me!
My journey as a male ballet student is somewhat unusual. I started dance quite early, when I was only six years old. I learnt little kid ballet and performed in a number of shows. Unfortunately, peer pressure and self-consciousness won the day and I gave up ballet. I had tried to hide that I learned ballet from my class mates and it just became too difficult. However, when I I grew older the desire to express myself through dance resurfaced and I started ballet again at the age of twelve. I have been happily dancing since then. I don't have any realistic desire to be a professional dancer - for me it is just a leisure activity that I have a passion for and which brings me much enjoyment. My advice to other people thinking of doing ballet is just to go for it! I gave up once but the desire to dance was stronger than any peer problems. The pleasure of dancing is definitely more lasting than any teasing! Ballet also keeps me very fit and healthy and it is also how I met my girlfriend!
Tomica
My parents were both dancers, but for some strange reason my elder brother and I both hated ballet. When I was 16 with no reason either I just wanted to dance (this was quite unexpected for everyone thought that was going to become a computer engineer like my brother). For some time I didn't tell anyone about that, I just watched some videos and read some books, and I was amazed. I had no idea that this was what ballet is like. I always thought that it was just some little walking on the toes and nothing else. So I gathered my courage and told my parents about it. They were a bit sceptical in the beginning, but they found me a teacher to take classes with. So I started my way in ballet, with everyday discovering it again how difficult that way is. So after a year I auditioned for a school for classical ballet, and they accepted me. Now I am 18 years old, with only a year and a half of ballet training, and at the third year in the school, and with great will and determination to be a dancer. tomicadance@hotmail.com
Kev
Hello: My name is Kevin and I started ballet at the age of 26. I am now 31 years old and I take three to four classes a week! When I first started ballet I took only one class a week. I started ballet because I played a lot of sports and I heard that it would help me ! After six months of ballet, I had really noticed an improvement in my jumping and coordination ! I was even more graceful and flexible in volleyball and basketball after taking ballet. I was really surprised because I thought ballet would not do a thing for me. At this time I like ballet more than any sports I had played before taking ballet. I am HOOKED on ballet and there is NO turning back for me. . It is one of the koolest things I have ever experienced and nobody can take that away from me. I will take ballet as long as I can! I just added a jazz class too! I just wish that I started earlier. I am taking ballet and jazz as a hobby and I am not planning on becoming a professional! I was first introduced to ballet when I was in 6th grade. We had a school field trip to see the Nutcracker at the San Francisco Ballet during the Christmas season. After that show I wanted to take ballet so badly but I was too scared too because of what my MALE friends would say if I took ballet. I was immature like most boys at that age. As I recall there was a guy in sixth grade that took ballet because his mom made him take it. All the guys at school made fun of him including me because I wanted to be one of the tough guys. Thinking back now, it was very mean of me to tease him. Even in high school I wanted to take ballet, but the peer pressure was even greater ! In high school our quarterback for the Varsity Football Team took ballet because he thought it would help him in football and most of the guys had respect for him because he was a JOCK! Then I thought it would be a great opportunity take class with him but I still chickened out! My whole life changed after getting my Driver's License at age 16. I drove myself to many of the dance studios located from San Francisco to San Jose , Calif. I checked out many ballet classes during that time. I knew most of the class schedules and I knew the teachers' names and most of the Artistic Directors of the dance studios. Many years had passed by but I still hadn't taken a single class. I still like ballet so much but it was still a secret of mine. Then when I was 26 I finally Took the PLUNGE. I signed up to take ballet. I started taking at a studio called Western ballet. I took there for like 6 months and then I left the studio. Then I started to attend Dance Art Center because it was closer to home. When I started At Dance Art Center I took one ballet class. There were two other guys taking ballet at that time. Now there are like 10 guys in my ballet classes. I took one class for like three years and I finally decided to add another ballet class because I wanted to improve in ballet at a faster rate. After taking the 2nd ballet class I have seen myself improve a lot faster. Then the Jazz teacher has been begging me to take a beginning jazz class for like four years now. After adding my 2nd ballet class I have also added a jazz class. Ballet has really helped me in jazz class a lot. I am doing great at jazz for the amount of time I have taken jazz. I will take ballet/jazz for me and not for others ! I really don't care of what other people may say! Before I took ballet , I thought to myself that ballet was easy and simple.....WRONG, what a rude awaking. It was very hard but fun! When I started ballet I wore Black sweats. I did that for like 2 years and then my teacher asked me why don't I wear tights. I told her because I felt funny in tights and she said "How Can I correct you if I can't see your errors?" Then she said that if you play football, you wear pads and the right equipment...right? Then I said yes and then I finally bought some black tights. At first I felt funny but I got use to it. I got corrected on lots of things that my teacher overlooked because I wore sweats. I would recommend wearing tights/ shorts from the beginning because having a good foundation in ballet will help you in the long run. It EVEN helps in all dance. I have seen Jazz/Tap dancers that take NO ballet and they look horrible. I want to encourage more guys to take ballet / dance if they are interested in it. Don't make the same mistakes as I did! Take the plunge and go for it. I am now NOT ashamed of telling people that I take ballet/jazz. If my friends don't understand then they are NOT my real friends. I even told my family and my mom thought it was "Kool" that I took ballet because there are NO dancers in our family. I made so many friends at my dance studio. My mission in life is to encourage more guys to take ballet/dance. I have gotten over 25 guys to take ballet and most of them are still taking it. As they say .....NO PAIN NO GAIN. I am always chatting in the DanceArt chatroom. The address is http://www.danceart.com. I am in there as kjl.
KevLO - kjlo@pacbell.net Ps: This is a very true story! Ballet Is DA BOMB ! PERIOD .......
Dean
Hi my name is Dean. I'm a male dancer and I love ballet more than any other dance because I've found a passion that I would love to follow as a career. I'm at a full time college called Reynolds Performing Arts Academy witch is mainly a dance college but also so has singing and drama which I also enjoy. I'm one of three boys there but I'm the only one that dances so I get given all the main rolls which I love. At the moment I'm just starting to learn lifts and finding it very fun to try new lifts. I've only been doing ballet since Jan 2000 and I've been at the college since September so I have another 3 years to go and as I'm only 16 I have a lot of time to work on my ballet to improve it so much that after the 3 years I will be able to join a ballet school/college to pursue my dream of becoming a ballet dancer. feel free to e-mail me at deany_B@hotmail.com
Daniell
I am 20 years old and started ballet at 19. I live in South Africa and study music- the piano; I want to be a performer one day! Ballet has changed my life: my body and my soul completely! I just want to dance the whole day. I think I am a born dancer, that never had the chance to dance before. Gladly I have noticed it! In South Africa where I live it is actually seen as an art form mostly for girls. I differ from this, because I think that dancing is one of the most 'male' things to do. You have to be very strong physically as well as mentally.