 the male dancer
written by Jaliberto at on 25.01. at 06:10:16 - as answer to: Re: Gay dancers? ( no im not offering its an essay question i would like an opin by Jeffrey >Yes, well, on the other hand, historically speaking, where else can you see men dressed in skintight outfits showing off their muscles, bulges and rears, or dress like this yourself. Ballet traditionally was one place where this was possible (before the advent of spandex and workout gear & such). >So the homoerotic appeal of ballet is difficult to deny, at least for maybe older generations of gay men. >Whether or not this says more about the fan base for ballet than it does about the actual dancers is another question. But then, this could be a reason for ballet to attract younger gay men to start dance as well, possibly. I still think its an open quesion as to whether or not ballet or dance in general attracts more gays than would be typical or average. It's my experience as an adult dancer that gay adult beginners are a minority (a minority to which I belong). I've met quite a number of professional dancers, by virtue of either taking classes with them or talking to them in the halls and dressing rooms, and to date I have only met one who is openly gay, and one who, alas, is a closet case. When I began to take ballet classes I had the same beliefs and expectations about male dancers as most people. But my real-life experience of dancers just did not jibe with my beliefs and expectations, so I've had cause to reflect. Now I read these posts in this forum and I can see that the other gay men here have bought into the stereotype about male dancers as much as straight men. The difference being that male dancers are objects of derision and scorn to straight men, but, to gay men, they are objects of fantasy and fetish. (I know that I am making great generalizations here about straight men and gay men.) Why should dance - any form of dance - be strictly the province of women? Why can't ballet be a masculine pursuit, the same way that tap dancing and hip hop are? What does sexual orientation have to do with ballet, anyhow? As to the skintight costumes, remember that they were the rule and not the exception for men in Europe for over five hundred years, and during that half-millenium period women did not wear such garments. And nowadays women are just as likely to be turned on by a man so dressed (and the men know this). What we know, or think we know, about how a man ought to dress is totally rooted in culture and is therefore arbitrary. No conclusion can be drawn about a male dancer based on tights or a leotard. A couple of nights ago I was watching my community's local cablecast, and I chanced to see a high school wrestling match. Here were couples of teenage boys dressed in form-fitting unitards (and nothing else, apparently) mounting each other and grabbing onto each other's bodies in ways that would swiftly lead them to public executions if they did that sort of thing in Saudi Arabia. Why, it was like watching soft core gay porn. Yet these boys are considered in popular culture to be the epitome of masculinity, and, by implication, heterosexuality. Go figure.> >>the late nineties, there wasn't a single gay man in the Pittsburgh>>Ballet. He said that that same season the Pittsburgh Steelers were>>1/3 gay. It figures. If you were a gay man, would you rather dance>>with a young, good-looking, scantily-clad girl, or would you rather>>get in a pile-up with a bunch of hunky boys?>>>[Shameless plug:] For more on this topic, see my FAQ, Part 3, the>>question "I'm a man. I feel funny about taking ballet classes. I>>mean, isn't it...er...a little...?">>Tom Parsons Answers to this message:
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