 the male dancer
written by Jeffrey               on 28.01. at 23:17:07 - as answer to: Re: Gay dancers? ( no im not offering its an essay question i would like an opin by Jaliberto at" 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. " Well, sure, these are stereotypes, and I'm sure they are probably not accurate nowadays, but I'm wondering if there might have been some truth to them in an earlier era...say, the 1940s-1950s, perhaps even the earlier 1960s, when masculinity was more rigidly defined and homoerotic display and imagery was more repressed and closeted....perhaps we are talking about some of the audience for ballet, rather than the actual dancers, during that era? Yet, one could name quite a few famous dancers from that earlier era who where gay, such as Merce Cunningham, Nuryev, Alvin Ailey, Fred Ashton, Eric Bruhn, Mark Morris, and Bob LaFosse (I think)...and impresarios like Lincoln Kirstein. ,,,but one could name straight ones too, like Michael Somes., so not sure what that proves, if anything. Still, an interesting stereotype. Answers to this message:
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