Ballet boys get help from adult dancers with bullies, homophobia

“Ballet is woman,” proclaimed George Balanchine, the great 20th-century Russian-American choreographer.

Mr. B, as he was affectionately known, may have been indulging his penchant for saying provocative things, but there was truth in his statement. Ballet’s popular image was and for many people remains that of a woman in tights and tutu — and preferably tiara — poised on her tippy-toes in shoes designed to make her appear almost weightless.

The back-breaking job of ballet’s men was to support the ladies in pas de deux work and lift them without showing the effort — or dropping them!

Today’s reality, of course, is very different. The greatest male dancers can rival their ballerina counterparts in public acclaim. Men still do a lot of supporting and lifting, but they are also expected to be virtuosic soloists and are given exciting choreography that tests their artistic-interpretive skills as much as their muscle power. It can be a fulfilling and rewarding career.

The problem is global supply. There are not enough men in ballet. The very best have the luxury of training in elite academies and joining major league companies. Many artistic directors, especially of smaller troupes, find it challenging to attract and retain men with the level of ability they’d ideally like to see.

One of these artistic directors is Bengt Jorgen. His namesake company, based in Toronto, is renowned for bringing quality professional ballet to underserved communities across the land. The 34-year-old Ballet Jorgen has built enduring partnerships with local schools in the sometimes-remote centres it visits. Students from those schools are often recruited to appear in the company’s productions, which has made Jorgen acutely aware of how isolated boys interested in ballet can feel.

“They don’t have male role models and often not even male teachers. We felt we could perhaps help,” he said.

In response, the company has launched a campaign called Boys Who Dance. It provides one-to-one mentorship for boys aged nine to 17 with volunteers from Ballet Jorgen’s contingent of men. The dancers’ role is to listen, to encourage and to offer insights into what a ballet career entails. Additionally, the company has already hosted the first of what are planned as recurring virtual town halls with expert panellists to raise awareness of the issues that may dissuade boys from entering the profession.

“I just want to see more boys dancing,” said Jorgen.

And why are they not? The subtitle of the campaign says it all: “Abolishing stereotypes.”

Ballet is conventionally regarded as a gender-appropriate activity for girls. Boys, by contrast, must overcome an intimidating array of barriers and deeply insidious prejudice.

“Let’s face it, a big part of the prejudice against boys in dance is homophobia; there’s no other way to slice it,” said Jorgen. “And in my day we didn’t have to deal with social media. Now bullying online grows exponentially. Push a button and it’s out there in the world, potentially forever.”

It’s sad but true. Too often boys feel discouraged from even showing an interest in ballet because it’s seen as unmanly. Others begin enthusiastically as children only to be cowed by peer pressure into dropping ballet as adolescents. Not everyone is Billy Elliot, with his Mrs. Wilkinson to inspire him to achieve his dream.

In an infamous 2019 moment, Lara Spencer, co-host of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” made fun of Prince William’s plan to let Prince George, then six years old, take ballet class. There were chuckles among Spencer’s co-hosts and probably among many viewers, but fortunately there was also powerful pushback on social media. Spencer’s bigoted comments spurred the launch of the #boysdancetoo movement. In Australia, ballet teacher and choreographer Jake Burden launched Ballet Brothers, “to support and encourage all boys who love to dance.”

Spencer later made an abject on-air apology but, as Sarah L. Kaufman of the Washington Post pointed out, the damage was done. Kaufman’s lengthy article cited chilling research. Studies in the United States have concluded that more than 90 per cent of male ballet students have experienced discomforting teasing. Nearly 70 per cent have endured verbal or physical abuse. Professor Douglas Risner of Wayne State University estimates that teenage male ballet students are “at least seven times more likely than the general adolescent population to be bullied.”

Jorgen was savagely bullied as a ballet student in his Swedish homeland. Luckily, he had a very supportive family. That’s not always the case.

“My two brothers bullied me and used to call me ballerina,” said Marcio Teixeira, a Brazilian-born Ballet Jorgen member. “Because I was so fearful of letting others know that I was dancing, I never invited my parents to watch my performances.”

Now Teixeira is mentoring 11-year-old Sebastian Kaban. Most of the mentorships are held via weekly online meetings, but in this case mentor and mentee got to meet in person when Ballet Jorgen performed in Fort St. John in northeastern B.C. in September.

“Being able to be mentored by Marcio has impacted me in many ways,” writes Kaban, “through being able to talk to him about being bullied and handling the negative thoughts, to him giving me tips and stretches to increase my flexibility. Marcio dances with confidence, which inspires me to push harder.”

Jorgen emphasizes that his dancers are not counsellors. They have been trained to listen, and they are ready to share their own experiences and offer practical advice, but if they sense there are deeper emotional issues that need attention, they pass it on.

He is aware that his company’s efforts are modest, but Jorgen hopes the idea will be picked up elsewhere. Already his company is getting new requests for help. Clearly Boys Who Dance is answering a need.

“We have developed this campaign for all of the boys out there who want to dream big and become a dancer,” he said. “Let’s get our boys dancing because dance is for all!”