Ballet classes

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I took my two year old to a ballet class today as she loves a dance. I was surprised to find the class was all girls and one of them also had a tutu on! Also it was all very 'graceful' (as I guess ballet is!) however it made me wonder if going to a class like this would start to ingrain in her that ballet is for girls and girls are graceful and pretty etc. Am i over thinking this?

We were told that they lose marks for presentation if you can see their underwear - therefore, for the younger girls, my DD's teacher suggested it was just easier for them to go knickerless. She said the older girls get high cut nude knickers which can't be seen under the leotard and tights

I know. But they are examining their dancing. Not their knicker wearing.

My son goes to ballet and he wears the boys uniform of white leotard and shorts. Actually you have to be a bit more dedicated as a boy dancers mum, (my girls also dance): the uniform is harder to obtain and more expensive, the comments (oh the comments), the child himself although he loves it does occasionally need a pep talk because its hard to cope with peer pressure. These things put people off.
That said, his karate teacher is very happy with him as he has superior balance, control and listening skills for his age, which (he remarked) he must have developed from his dancing.
Ballet is graceful anyhow but the control, balance and discipline of it feed very well into all sorts of other sports later and your daughter will find that best dancers are not the most girly delicate ones but the ones with resilience, strength and drive.

I'm probably going to sound like quite a loon but I have always had a feminist problem with ballet. The fact that women do the pointe standing on toes thing that is really bad for feet and men don't, the drifty floaty style for women and leaping lifting stuff for men. The association with eating disorders. My DDs do swimming, athletics and karate.

I'm probably going to sound like quite a loon

I have a problem with comments like would start to ingrain in her that ballet is for girls. Aside from not being correct- so what if it were? Does an activity automatically become bad if more girls choose it?

Sorry meant to say "yes, you do"

Thanks Lass . I didn't make the comment about ballet being "for girls" though, that was someone else. My point is that there are reductive physical expectations ballet has for women which are not there for men.

No, that was the OP.

My DD does 8 dance classes a week, one is ballet. She has two boys in her class.

My friends 9 year old son has just auditioned for the Royal Ballet.

Lots of males do ballet!

Lots of males do ballet!

Yes but why does an activity have to be validated as being worthwhile because boys do it too?

Quite lass

But it's not the same activity. Men don't stand on pointe and do permanent damage to their feet. One of the classic MN tests for 'is it sexist?' Is 'are men expected to do the same?' And ballet fails this.

You know what, I don't care. And that test is ridiculous in the context of ballet. Men and women are not exactly the same.

You are also missing the point. I was objecting to the "boys do ballet" as a validation. As if anything which girls do is inferior unless boys do it.

The health risks for men and women are different in ballet. Men are at risk of back injury due to the lifting.

Is the argument here that we should abolish all physical activity where people of different physiques take on different roles?

Ever watched the Trocs? And there are now a few more male pointe roles such as a Midsummer Nights Dream & Beatrix Potter.

The vast majority of kids doing ballet are not going to be suitable to dance on pointe or lift anyone anyway, so it is unlikely to be an issue.

urgh...ballet... the cause of my awful bunions! I wouldn't have taken my son based on that alone, even if boys don't stand on their toes... My son is only 2 but get's alot out of playing rugby/football and he's learning basketball now too. The shoes ballet dancers have to wear are completely impractical. I would encourage gymnastics though, that is a fantastic sport to get into.

I'm not missing your point Lass, I'm just making a different one. The answers from other posters aren't persuading me to love an art form in which people are injured by wearing impractical footwear and following sex stereotypes (or roles according to their physique which almost always translates into male = strong and leaping, female = light and floating)

Ds is 2 next month and will be joining his sister's ballet class

Training for rugby.......

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD86NEdBa6g

Nobody is asking you to love an art form.

It's a thread about children's classes.

It's like saying nobody should ever join a kids' fell running club in case they decide a decade later to become an olympic athlete and then damage a tendon due to all the training.

Most kids will never be allowed to lift anyone, be up on pointe etc, because they don't have the physique to do so.

But it's a thread in the Feminism section, so points about stereotypes are valid here.

It's like saying nobody should ever join a kids' fell running club in case they decide a decade later to become an olympic athlete and then damage a tendon due to all the training

Do only female ballet dancers run the risk of physical injury? You would think so from some of the posts on here.

Exactly Sylvia, I'm not sending my daughter to ballet for her to make a career out of it, it is just something she enjoys doing. She also does gymnastics, drama, and swimming.

But it's a thread in the Feminism section, so points about stereotypes are valid here

And is a prime example of why I don't call myself a feminist. Let's just reduce all life to some tedious , unisex monochrome where everyone is the same whilst analysing everything to death.

And anything which for whatever reason might be of more interest to girls or women is inherently bad because boys and men don't do it.

As if anything which girls do is inferior unless boys do it.

Well this is probably the crux of it. Because many people think an activity that is solely for girls, IS inferior.

So it's not always just about choice. It's about what that choice tells people and whether you feel the need to counter that, or maintain your own neutral viewpoint in the face of that.

I completely agree, that the choice should be neutral. But if that was the case, feminism would disappear.

But it all becomes something of a double bluff.

Knowing that people might view your choice as a girly thing, and inferior, whilst maintaining the mindset that it shouldn't be the case, so I'm going to do it anyway.