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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Anyone got a boy who goes to dance classes?

24 replies

alysonpeaches · 14/10/2009 18:57

Our 3 1/2 year old girl loves dancing and I took her for the first time to a dancing class. I have 3 girls (also a 2 year old and a 1 year old). I imagined the 2 year old would probably want to join in too, but I was surprised to find her 6 1/2 year old brother went along and loved it. There wasnt another boy in the class and at first I was worried by that, but it didnt bother him and he amazed us all by joining in and enjoying it. This is quite a huge achievement for us, as he has a diagnosis of high functioning autism and ADHD plus one or two other things, including, Developmental Co-ordination Disorder.

Half of me is so chuffed that he took part and I think it will be good for him, helping with social skills and coordination. But I also feel sorry for him that there are no other boys in the class, but its almost as if he hasnt noticed. I dont want the bubble to burst but I think he will give it up because there are no other to the age where this matters to him.

Anyone else had boys go to dance?

BTW its Theatre dance, they do a bit of everything and put on shows at a local theatre twice a year. Not exams.

OP posts:

ICANDOTHAT · 14/10/2009 19:10

Awww, that's great. My son has ADHD and also loves to dance - mainly disco and break dancing. It's great for burning up the enormous amount of energy he has - he's also got surprisingly good rhythm (takes after me ) I think you should encourage it as it can only help his confidence and co-ordination.

UniS · 14/10/2009 19:45

I have a dancing boy. he is in a 3s-5s ballet class. He did one week as only boy then managed to get his mate ( who has sisters in the older class) to come along as well. now other mums in the village are talking about it and say they may try it for their boys when they turn 3.
It seems to be lots of bouncing about pretending to "be" things and a bit of actions to songs with not too much formal ballet.

Hope your lad continues to enjoy it.

Ps- black ballet shoes are SOOO Much cooler than pink ones.

luckywinner · 14/10/2009 19:49

Yup, mine does ballet, all through his own suggestion. He is 4. He is the only boy in the class but he loves it, mainly I think because of the dressing up aspect. He would take a disney princess comic over a spiderman one any day. Hope yours continues to enjoy it.

rabbitstew · 14/10/2009 20:40

Yup, I have a dancing boy. The only boy in a class of sixteen 5-7 year-old girls, noticeably less able than they are and not remotely bothered by this. The girls don't seem to mind, either. For some reason, he loves it, despite being an otherwise extremely self-conscious child. Maybe it will teach him a sense of rhythm one day!

Original poster

alysonpeaches · 14/10/2009 21:09

Thanks everyone. At this class the girls wear white shoes, some have ballet shoes and others those lace up leather ones like jazz shoes, also white. They change into tap shoes halfway through which are silver.

I will be sending the boy in jogging bottoms, T shirt and a pair of black plimsolls I think, but today he asked for a pair of purple dance shoes as purple is his favourite colour.

You can all guess what DH says ...

OP posts:

rabbitstew · 14/10/2009 21:19

That purple is his favourite colour, too?

Original poster

alysonpeaches · 14/10/2009 21:22

Well he has got a purple shirt so he must get it from him.

OP posts:

LissyGlitter · 14/10/2009 21:34

I only have girls, but I love to see boys in dancing classes.

lolapoppins · 14/10/2009 22:47

Yes. My ds, nearly 7, does street dance. He also does a musical theatre class which includes dance.

He is one of only two boys in the theatre class, but the street dance is really cool, so quite a few boys in there. He wants to do tap dance too, so we are trying to find a way to fit it in. He loves his classes - he has got two left feet, but his face lights up when he is dancing

lolapoppins · 14/10/2009 22:50

forgot to say, dh has had some really nasty comments from other guys at work, saying they would never let thier sons do musical theatre or dance, he has had some pretty hurtful comments. That kind of attitude really gets to me tbh.

VulgarAchesButCanRun5k · 14/10/2009 23:32

My Ds does irish dancing. He is a really good dancer like my Dh!

aWitchForLifeNotJustHalloween · 14/10/2009 23:39

from the other side of this, I've got a dance school and have a good number of little boys who dance they're fantastic too. one of my own boys does, the other doesn't - no way I'd make them do it but as one loves performing he absolutely adores it
oh btw, one of the little boys in my dance class is on the autistic spectrum too. We also do musical theatre / stage dance and no exams either.

MrsWeasley · 14/10/2009 23:41

Both my boys did dancing.

DS1 did ballet from aged 4 and tap and modern from aged 5 until he was 11. He loved it all and was often the only boy, especially in the younger classes. He didnt actually have another boy in his class until he was 8 yo.

His best friend loved all sorts of dancing and at aged 5 begged to learn to tap dance but his dad refused to allow his son to dance! Same dad refused to allow his son to wear shorts to school as its wasnt the manly thing to do!

DS2 Did ballet, tap and modern for a few years, again enjoyed it.

Northumberlandlass · 15/10/2009 11:39

YooHoo [waving] Dancing boy here too !

DS (just turned 6)has started Boy Hip Hop about 4 weeks ago. Oh, he just loves it ! Lots of jumping about, and vague attempts to spin on his head, something called the helicopter and the caterpillar.

gingertoo · 15/10/2009 12:05

My 9 year old boy does Street Dance.
It's brilliant. Really energetic and fun.

As he got older, the lack of boys in the classes started to become an issue so we looked around and were lucky enough to find a boys Street Dance class which is run by a young man at a local dance school. That coupled with the popularity of Diversity means that he is now part of something 'cool'.

He still gets the odd comment about doing 'sissy' dancing but that practically stopped when he got on stage at the last school talent show and did a routine - everyone was up on their feet (so proud I wanted to burst emoticon needed!)

So OP, I would encourage your boy to dance especially if he's enjoying it

haggisaggis · 15/10/2009 12:11

My ds does Irish dancing. He's nearly 10. THere are between 2 and 3 boys (including him) in the class. He started becuase his sister (who has DCD too by the way) started. He enjoys it - particularly the heavy shoe dances. He doesn't particularly enjoy competing though.

haggisaggis · 15/10/2009 12:15

Should add that they both went to dancing last night straight from sports club - so covered in mud! ANything looking less cissy I have yet to see!

Original poster

alysonpeaches · 15/10/2009 20:29

Thanks for your words of encouragement, I thought in the area we live in it would be unusual (former industrial mining area), but I spoke to the head and she said another boy in his class does dance too. We have yet to find out who and where.

We will see what next week brings, I know they can soon drop these things.

OP posts:

elvislives · 15/10/2009 20:52

2 of my boys danced. They started (ballet) at 6 and 10 and continued to 15 and 19. The eldest has dyspraxia. They were lucky that there were other boys, but they were in a class of mainly girls the age of the younger DS.

Original poster

alysonpeaches · 17/10/2009 19:57

Wondering now about dance wear. Are boys ballet shoes different from girls? I managed to get one of the girls shoes cheaply on ebay. I only saw what the girls wore at class, they wore white ballet shoes and red skirted leotard. I will ask the dance teacher, but what do your boys wear for dance. He will need some shoes fairly soon as his trainers are a bit clumsy.

Also, do boys wear tracksuit bottoms or shorts or what?

OP posts:

Pyrocanthus · 17/10/2009 20:10

At my DDs' old ballet school, the youngest boys wore white t-shirt, navy shorts and black ballet shoes with white ankle socks. The older lads wore the same shoes, with a white leotard and navy tights.

Not many of them though, sadly. My friend's DS kept going from nursery to early in year 7, by which time he was the last lad there and felt lonely.

He has a legacy of terrific co-ordination and physical confidence though.

Ejm2009 · 18/10/2009 12:16

I have a dancing boy he is 6.5 and loves it!
He does jazz and acro and wants to start tap too.
My boy wears jazz shoes and just shorts a t shirts in the class colours.

suzi2 · 18/10/2009 13:24

My 4 yr old son has recently started ballet along with his 2.5yr old sister. He's the natural out of the two of them. He almost didn't go as he got told (by his grandpa I suspect) that boys don't do ballet. He is the only boy in the class and I've had a lot of stick from some relatives about him getting picked on etc.

I used to student teach as a teen and there were very few boys which was a shame. One neighbours boy was keen and I encouraged his parents to send him - he went onto a ballet school and is now performing in the west end.

Glad your son is enjoying it. If he sticks with it he'll find out that one of the huge advantages of being the only boy, is you get all the girls to yourself! :-D

bigstripeytiger · 18/10/2009 13:34

My DDs go to a dance class, and there are boys who go too. (Its street dance, so maybe that makes it more popular for boys?)

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