Girls love ballet. Many girls want to be ballerinas and even if they never take a ballet class in their lives, they love to dress in pink and imitate what they believe a ballerina will dance like. Boys on the other hand are not likely to want to be ballet dancers, and this could be because our culture has a dominance of female ballet dancers whereas male ballet dancers are more of a rarity.

The strange thing is that although men are not common in the ballet world today, when ballet first began back in the Renaissance period, men were the only ballet dancers. It would be some years before women were allowed to take part in the ballets. Men of that period would dress in tonnelets, a hoop-skirt that came to the knee, and would dance female roles.

When to Start your Son in Ballet

Whose idea is it for your son to join a ballet class? You may love the idea, but the chances are that your son is going to be less than enthusiastic! You may see the reasons why ballet would be great for your son, but getting him to understand that ballet will make him stronger and more flexible won't be easy, especially if he's of an age to have friends who won't support his dance style choice! Boys are very gender conscious and want to appear tough and cool - boys in ballet do not have a tough cool peer image and this is something you're going to have to overcome in order to get him to go to class.

The main thing your child needs is to have shown an interest in dancing. Usually this surfaces at a very young age, and if you have a son you hope to enrol in a ballet school, then the younger the better! The earlier they start, the more chance you have of him establishing a routine and enjoying his dance before he gets amongst his peers and finds that this isn't something that many boys do. The older he becomes, the more involved he will become in the traditional male activities and the less likely he will be to willing join a ballet class.

How to Convince Boys

Hollywood has been kind to parents who want their boys to at least try ballet class. With movies such as Billy Elliot and Center Stage showing not only that boys can do ballet, but also that they can be normal cool kids - they just enjoy dancing. andquot;So You Think You Can Danceandquot; on TV is a great way of showing your son that although his friends aren't interested in dancing, there are plenty of other boys who are!

It is also recommended to enroll your son in an all-boys ballet class. This makes your son meet other boys who are into ballet. This will allow them to feel more confident that there are boys are interested in learning ballet. This will clear out the stereotypes and encourage them to continue ballet classes. This also allows them to interact and meet new friends sharing the same interest with them.

Ballet is fun, and you need to let your son see that fun. Keep an eye on what's happening at school to ensure he's not getting teased or bullied for taking part in ballet. One way of doing this is to let him take part in football or soccer at school so that he is doing something that's more traditionally a male activity. He'll find that his ballet training helps him play better and that's going to make him want to stay with his ballet despite what others may say!

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