Gym or ballet for 4 yo boy?

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I am interesting in developing an extra curricular sport/hobby for my 4 year old DS. He is not very physically confident and has taken a long time to get on board with other physical activities such as using climbing equipment at the park. We have just moved house so we are at a useful point for starting something new.

Both ballet and gym are available locally at fairly convenient times/locations.

Points in favour of ballet:

He used to do a pre-school ballet class and really enjoyed the skipping around, making shapes etc. But I assume it will soon get a bit more formal?

He loves watching ballet - clips on YouTube etc

Points in favour of gymnastics:

Might develop more all-round confidence/agility - his movements can seem a bit stiff when he is climbing, bending etc

More gender-neutral? I know that it shouldn't be the case, but...

Any help or suggestions welcome.

Mine have tried both...I have girls. I think gymnastics is all round better for the body. Ballet forces them into unnatural positions and there's a lot of having to stand still and hold positions....gymnastics is more athletic...and more varied.

I'd go with gymnastics as he's likely to keep it up longer

My 4 yr old ds does ballet. He's actually quite good at it for his age. We tried the gym but he just messed around. What would your 4 yr old prefer? I'd go with what he wants.

My DS did both gym and ballet when he was 4. He's now 7 and has kept going with gym but replaced ballet with martial arts.

my dd has done ballet, tap, gym and karate from around 4 years old. I would go for ballet as he has shown an interest (it does get more formal though) have you thought about karate though, good physically teaching about respect etc.

My 3 year old ds does mini ballet, however it is not completely ballet focussed, and invludes lots of general dance. He loves it. He would probably love gym as well but he is a real monkey and i dont thibk he is ready discipline wise to cope with a busy gym atmosphere whereas he copes fine in a dance studio. He also loves performing and was thrilled dance in a show. I might think differently if it was a very formal dance class

The poster who said that ballet forces the body into unnatural shapes and poses- so does Gymnastics!

Personally I'd go with what he wants to do. I have four children, two of each, all do ballet. It's so good for them.

My ds9 started with gym at 4, added ballet (and other dance styles!) at 7 and dropped the gym a year later because he loved the ballet so much. Start with a class of both maybe?

As far as the unnatural positions are concerned, it depends on the body! My ds has fantastic natural turnout so his body isn't forced at all to do anything. Gym was much harder for him because it was all in parallel.

Thanks for the advice all - it turns out that he should be able to get ballet via nursery anyway, so I will go for a trial of extra-curricular gym and see if he enjoys it.

4yo DD has done ballet for 15mths and gymnastics since Easter. Whilst she enjoys ballet more she has learned a lot more at gymnastics. I think that she prefers ballet because she has friends in the class and thinks the teacher is a princess. From gymnastics, her agility and confidence has grown hugely. From someone who was really nervous about anything physical she has turned into a careful daredevil (by which I mean that, before going down the firemans' pole in the park, she will ask and then leap rather than just leap) and is, apparently, one of the most physically capable/aware at pre-school in that she never falls off the stepping stones or beams, is the best at judging whether she can jump from one to another when they increase the distance but will still give it a go even if she thinks she can't make it as gymnastics has been very useful for teaching her that not being able to do it doesn't matter as its all about practice.