wibu to send ds to ballet in a dress?

[dddancer12]

looking at dance classes for ds, i think ballet would suit him very well.

on the faq theres 'what should my child wear to the first lesson' and the answer is 'For young children attending ballet, a skirt and t-shirt or a dress and bare feet.'

obviously the title is lighthearted, but i thought they may have at least thought about the boys!

[iamscarlett]

Maybe boys aren't allowed

[DearMrDilkington]

What about a vest top and thin leggings?

[Pseudonym99]

I bet it was a female that wrote that. Sexist bitch!

[HollowTalk]

Boys just wear shorts and a t shirt to ballet.

[CalleighDoodle]

Blue shorts / leggings and a white top and black ballet pumps usually.

[dddancer12]

yeah but would be helpful if they had written that and not just answered for the girls!

yes leggings or shorts would be good :) thanks

[Leanin15yearsmaybe]

This is disgusting. He should not be doing ballet !!! He clearly needs to do boxing instead as per billy Elliott! Ffs

I would be tempted to turn up with a dress too OP, not on your son, but maybe the most most garish outlandish tutu you can find on a hanger....waltz in with it flailing about and announce 'where can he change??'

[Floggingmolly]

Why would you put in a performance like that, Leanin? When you could just use a bit of cop on and put him in shorts... ffs!

[harderandharder2breathe]

Very sexist dress code!

I would have expected leggings and a tshirt for all tbh, allows full movement and the teacher can see clearly what they're doing

[Leanin15yearsmaybe]

That was said 'lightheartedly' flogging

[GreenTureen]

I'd be looking for another dance school tbh.

Who goes to a dance lesson in a skirt or dress? That's ridiculous, regardless of the sexism aspect.

[Floggingmolly]

Why look for offence at all is what I meant, Lean. It Doesn't Matter.

[dddancer12]

GreenTureen, once they havejoined they have to dance in the istd official dance wear which is a dress so i think thats standard for ballet

[teenmumandsowhat]

At my dd's ballet classes, the boys wear white tshirts, black pe shorts and black ballet shoes.
The girls wear pink sleeveless leotards, wrap around skirts and pink ballet shoes.

[Floggingmolly]

It isn't a dress, it's a leotard. Possibly with an overskirt; but a ballet "dress" doesn't exist.

[dddancer12]

still a skirt i was just replying that its pretty normal to dance in a skirt

[reallyanotherone]

Flogging- to point out the sexist assumption that only girls do ballet.

I think lean's idea is a good one. Makes an entertaining point :).

In reality op i'd be slightly concerned about the attitude. Have they never had boys? Is there a reason for that? Are they stereotyping the children and teaching the girls to wave about prettily and pretend to be flowers- would they treat a boy differently?

I'd have a look round for classes that aren't so openly "ballet is for girls".

[pastizzi]

Pre Grade 1, girls wear a ballet skirt, don't they? Then a leotard.

Ds is the only boy in his ballet class. Loves it. Does wind me up a bit that all instructions from the dance owner only refer to 'the girls'. And special costumes are made for the girls in various shows and I have to chase up re what ds should wear!

Interestingly he has never had a doubting word from any of the boys in his (yr 2) class but the girls have given him hell! He hears no end of 'you can't do ballet, it's for girls'....

[Pestilence13610]

DS used to do ballet in shorts and T-shirt like all the other boys. Except one, who used to wear a lycra dragon costume. Ballet teacher did not blink an eyelid.

[Leanin15yearsmaybe]

Thank you really for getting the gist!!!

If we have to be serious.....(could have sworn the op mentioned LH!) both my sons dance and wear shorts and t-shirts. But yanbu to challenge the dance school on their perceptions/advertisement to potential service users OP

[howwhatwherewhen]

yanbu

[ElphabaTheGreen]

The girl focus of ballet absolutely boils my piss, and for a ballet school to perpetuate that is outrageous. The Australian Ballet have just released a range of Ballet-Disney Princess-Frozen themed girls-only dance wear. I expressed my low opinions of that in no uncertain terms on their Facebook page (and have not received a response ).

I adored doing ballet - if I'd had the right body shape, I'd probably have tried to make a go of a career in it, and I can assure you, there is nothing pink, sparkly or girly about the hard work involved. I now have two DSs and I take them to the Birmingham Royal Ballet and ENB children's performances as often as I can. With the exception of the boys coming with school groups, they are almost always the only boys there and are surrounded by little girls in pink tulle, so the older they get, the more reluctant they're becoming about going, even though they love watching. I'd love to start one/both of them in ballet, but I'm too worried about the grief they'd get at school for doing it. Given that male ballet dancers are the epitome of strength and grace (not to mention hottentot-hottie-HOT!) it's ridiculous that I should even have to worry about that in this day and age.

Thanks for the lighthearted thread on one of my prevailing bugbears, OP, and well done for encouraging your DS into this beautiful activity.

[GrabbyGrabby]

I sent my DS1 to one ballet lesson. He was happy to try it but ended up never wanting to go again. The class seemed all about pretending to be pretty little ballerinas rather than being about dance and movement IYSWIM

I should have done my research. (Parenting fail number 25492 )

[reallyanotherone]

I have to say my girls hated the waft around like princesses aspect too.

They wanted "real" ballet. I tried 3 ballet schools but gender stereotyping has hit hard and they all cater for either a) stage school parents who want ballet as part of a singing/dancing/stagecraft package, or b) the parents who buy into the pink frilly girly aspect and care more that they look cute and can wear hair bows than learn correct technique. Not a boy to be seen.

They took up gymnastics instead.

[YouWereAlwaysPerfect]

Why would you even think about sending your son to Ballet in a dress? And I missing something here?

Put him in shorts.