written by DancingDoc  on 27.08. at 22:11:25

Paula:

I saw this posting on the Dancewear Dreams site and I saw BalletMaster's response.  He gave good advice.

Can I ask your relationship with this guy?  Are you a teacher, family memeber, or a friend (and how much older?)  Because of this relationship, he might not accept advice directly from you, no matter what you say.  Teen boys can be funny that way.

I find that a lot of young men, especially around 13-14-years-old, have "manly" concerns about wearing tights.  A lot of those concerns have to deal with appearance of the anatomy and what changes might happen. (I don't want to seem too "gross" if you happen to be about his age.)  These kind of concerns are normal.  You could e-mail me {Click on my name, above.} if he has these kinds of concerns.

The other problems that might be involved deal with the whole idea of how a young male dancer appears to his peers.  (As BalletMaster pointed out, the tights are like a uniform, and lots of young male athletes wear tights or leotards.  I liked his reference to the wrestlers - no one would laugh at a wrestler, who basically wears a leotard.)  But the issues with peers are something that a 14-year-old male might not discuss with an older guy.  If he'd like to he can look on the www.danceart.com message boards for boys, teens and men to see how other guys feel.  There are also guys (men) who use this site who might have advice.  (You can also e-mail me if you think he might take advice from this older guy!)

This is NOT to complain, because I encourage free exchange of ideas, but there are guys here who object to dancebelts and tights.  But my feeling is that any 14-year-old male who loves dance and wants to perform should accept the ballet uniform as part of his art. They are designed to be functional and are worn to help a young dancer improve his technique, not to embarass him. And, after all, when a director says "Wear this costume," you have little or no choice.

There are many of us here that will try to help.  Give us a few more deatils about his objections.

Thanks!  DancingDoc