Boys and ballet

[UniS]

Boys 2nd baby ballet class today and he met a small pink child of about 3 years old who declared " boys can't do ballet".
Any one else own a boy who "does" ballet?

At the mo hes wearing sports shorts and T shirt and borrowing shoes from ballet school, what do boys wear & how much are black ballet shoes in small sizes? most of the pink children were in leotards, new pink ballet shoes and pink net skirts. they are only 2 and 3 year olds.

[1dilemma]

my lo keeps saying 'I wish I went to ballet school' in a very wistful way.
I'm thinking he's watched a DVD/TV prog. somewhere maybe Angelina Ballerina and its gone to his head!!

[frumpygrumpy]

I have a ballet boy! Normally the ballet shoes are about the £7-12 mark. My boy does it in bare feet (he's 4). He adores it.

[Peapodlovescuddles]

I had a ballet boy, he also did rugby and karate but has always been much happier around girls. Now aged 15 he is quite the ladies man! His present gf did ballet with him for a while...

[LargeGlassofRed]

ds1 did ballet from 3 to 7,

he used to wear a white leotard and blue ballet shorts with white socks and black ballet shoes.

He looked sooooooo cute

Strapping nearly 11 year old now and mainly into football.

[islandofsodor]

What boys wear depends on whether it is an RAD, ISTD or BBo school. Usually at that age it is black lycra shorts and tight fitting white T-shirt or leotard (short sleeved). Pink net skirts for the girls (voile and spotty?) sounds like RAD.

The cheapest place to get the clothes and shoes is from Dance Direct www.dancedirect.com however ballet5 shoes comeup very small and the first pair you are better going to a shop where they fit them. They are supposed to fit very close to the foot with not really any growing room, however the foot must not be squashed, you usually need a size larger than your normal shoe size.

Boys are so in demand in ballet, they get tp lift all those pretty girls and have you seen a male dancer's physique?!!!!!

[UniS]

Yep pink voile, some with spots some with out- that was the 3 year old pink kids.some of the younger ones just starting this term were in normal clothes like boy. Cycle shorts and Snug fit T shirt / vest we can do with no problem.
Think I'll carry on borrowing shoes for now, once we move he won't be able to go to that class and not sure whats available for his age in new location.
I'm not fussed about him doing ballet for years, just seemed like a nice activity he could do with one of his friends (girl). I was sooo pleased to see him joining in a group activity and following instructions.

good to know there are some other ballet boys out there.

[janinlondon]

We have loads of ballet boys at our school - several have won dance scholarships and one is now professional. He comes back on Saturdays to help the little ones with their exercises. The Mums go into a mild flap whenever he appears (fans self frantically). Amazing how far a good role model goes to encourage other boys.

[UniS]

have checked out ballet schools at our future "nearest town" and one of them says she has 3 bys in her youngest class. this is hopefull, may be one or two of them will still be there when he is old enough to join that class. ( 3 , current class starts from 2.5)
I think a bigger boy in new class would be a great help, he is certainly sticking close to his friend in his current class.

[madmummy4]

There are quite a few boys in my daughters ballet class, and the numbers seem to be increasing.They are Rad so its white leotards and navy shorts.The mums all use a local dance shop, who also sell online. I know they sell Freed dancewear who are make the official rad uniform.I haven't seen Freed much online to be honest except for dance sites that work from actual dance shops not a warehouse.I have looked at all these discount sites but to be honest I would prefer to deal with someone who knows what they are actually talking about.We are lucky we have several dance shops nearby so they have to keep their prices down to compete!!
You can checkout Freed on these sites
www.blushdance.co.uk[www.freedoflondon.com]]
www.thedancershop.co.uk
www.baillando.co.uk
However I know the mums at my daughters dance school have a problem finding boys dancewear so they tend to use the local danceshop as they have all the brochures etc and help the mums find what they are looking for.

[tammybear]

There's a boy started a few weeks back in my daughter's class. He's 4. He seems to be loving it

[madmummy4]

There is about 7/8 little boys in my daughters dance class which I think is quite a lot.Its good to see boys dancing though.I was speaking to someone a while back whose daughter went for an audition for a hip hop pop video.There were about 400 at the audtion and the first thing they asked them all to do was put on their ballet shoes!!!That got rid of over half the dancers as they had never done ballet in their life.I was shocked but it just goes to show you if they only do one dance make it ballet.

[UniS]

up-date on my ballet boy. He now has his own black ballet shoes. I bought them today ( great granny is giving him them for Christmas) after 2 months of borrowing pink cast offs from the school. His class don't have to wear uniform so he wears shorts & T shirt plus the stripy socks he likes. I'm now not sitting in on most classes as he concentrates better with out me watching.

[keresley]

My ds has been doing ballet since he was 2 1/2. He is now 4. He really loves it and wears a white leotard with black leggings over the top.

[caroline94]

My son is 10 and the only boy unfortunately in his ballet class.The ballet teacher was very flexible about what he could wear.For the first year he wore shorts,ballet slippers and a tee shirt.This year after he'd attended his first few classes of the new ballet term he asked me if he could wear tights.He wears black footed tights with a white tee shirt and feels perfectly at home in tights.The girls in his class are all very supportivea as is the ballet teacher.

[UniS]

thanks for the stories of boys continueing to enjoy dance. DS will carry on with ballet for now, although he says he doesn;t want to go ( when we are on the bus on the way) he spends the rest of teh week " doing ballet" at people- jumping round on teh spot or runnning round waving his arms. So I guess he does like it.

[CLAIREANDCLIVE]

my son is 9 and as with caroline he has taken to wearing his black footed tights very well! no need for a phobia although he was alittle apprehnsive about his recent light blue princes costuime !

[cookie35]

I have 10 year old who has done ballet for 4 years he really loves it and dreams of going to the Royal Ballet School. Each time he has had a different piece of uniform he has been hesitant but then he looks at himslf and sees a dancer! He danced with the English Youth Ballet last year and absolutely loved it. I wish there were other boys in his class, there is a male teacher but he rarely takes his ballet classes. It's great to see a good adult male dancer.

[UniS]

Back to ballet again this week after a few off ( chicken pox, cold, me working , too tired etc) boy joined in for 30 mins but then sat out teh rest. been "doing ballet" all over teh place since tho...
One he is settled into next terms preschool routine I'll try him with a shorter non ballet dance class I've heard about, it might suit him better.

[muppetgirl]

My ds 1 does ballet and has done since he was 3.6 (he's now 5) it's part of his school curriculum so all the children in his class do it. We get to see a lesson at the end of each year but he gets to choose whether to continue at the end of year 1. I don't think he will as he doesn;t talk about it much even if we ask and haven't really progressed from good toes/naughty toes!

He wears the black ballet shoes.

He's just started judo (beginning of term) through school and we do tend to hear more of that...

[MrsWeasley]

my DS's did ballet. DS1 did it until last year when he decided to stop because he was fed up of the principal moaning and because he wanted to do something else(tennis and music)

He loved it but had a situation where the principal kept him away from the man body of boys because DS was doing ballet and she didnt want the other boys to persuade him to drop it (as they all had!)

If he wants to do tap, I have a small pair of boys tap shoes.

[Toffeepopple]

My son did it for a couple of years. A book called "Ballerino Nate" about a boy who loved ballet which helped when a couple of kids said it as just for girls.

www.amazon.co.uk/Ballerino-Nate-Kimberly-Brubaker-Bradley/dp/0803729545/ref=sr_1_1?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21? ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238758274&sr=8-1

[UniS]

well after a gap of about 6 months, we are back with ballet. A different teacher, much less formal, much more hopping about being frogs and boy is loving it again.

[Francesa]

My son is six and started ballet last year, he is the only boy in his class but really seems to like it.
His teacher was okay about what to wear so I just bought him ballet shoes and he wore a tee shirt and shorts at first.
Before christmas they put on a show which was cinderella and my son was asked if he would like to take part as a mouse, I had not given any thought to his costume and asked his teacher and she told me that there would be six mice and they would all be dressed in leotards and tights and she would provide the leotard with attached mouse tail, so all I needed to do was buy a pair of white ballet shoes and tights.
I was a bit worried that he would not want to even try them on, but he was quite happy when I showed him the leotard, so he wore the costume around the house to get used to wearing it.
So now he has no phobia about wearing tights/leotards etc.