Encouraging boys to choose pirouettes over hockey pucks

By Thandi Fletcher
Photograph by Ted Rhodes
Calgary Herald
March 23, 2012

A photograph of a male ballet dancer soaring through the air stirred a desire in a then eight-year-old Braden Falusi to sign up for his first ballet class.

“I was just looking through some flyers one day, and I saw this picture of male dancer pulling off a really, really big jump,” explains Falusi, a student at the School of Alberta Ballet in Calgary. “It just blew my mind, really. . . . I was really drawn to it.”

Falusi, now 14, is still dancing at the school, but there aren’t many others like him.

Boys doing ballet is not a common sight in Canada, especially Alberta, says the school’s artistic director, Murray Kilgour. There are just five boys enrolled in the school’s professional division compared with 95 girls.

But according to the school, it’s time to wipe the stigma of male ballet dancers off the dance floor. The school is launching a free, boys-only ballet program this spring to encourage boys to take a break from shooting pucks and have a go at plies and pirouettes.

“When you think of ballet, you think of pink and tutus and pointe shoes,” says program co-ordinator Sarah Rusak, who came up with the idea for the class. “But something that’s not as well known is the strength and how these dancers are really great athletes. They need to be so strong and have so much endurance.”

The program, geared toward dancers between the ages of eight and 11, gives boys a chance to see if they like dancing without committing to a full, year-long program. The hope is that they will stick with it in the future, Rusak says.

The concept of professional athletes trading in their skates or sneakers for a pair of ballet slippers is not a new phenomenon. “A lot of hockey players and professional athletes have used ballet training to increase flexibility, strength and endurance,” Rusak says.

For instance, during the 2011 National Basketball Association lockout, forward Michael Beasley of the Minnesota Timberwolves decided to skip the bar, instead taking to the barre, to help build a stronger, more limber body during the off-season, the Minnesota Star-Tribune reported last October.

Also on the list of professional athletes who once ditched their jerseys for leotards include former NFL players Lynn Swann, Herschel Walker and Barry Sanders.

Kilgour isn’t surprised that so many professional athletes have improved their physical abilities through ballet. While girls are taught the elegance of standing en pointe, using specially reinforced pointed ballet slippers, “boys don’t do that,” he said.

“For boys, it’s more about the athletic side. They still have to look grand, to have a poise, but they also physically have to be very strong,” he explains. “It’s as physically demanding as a sport.”

The physical benefits of ballet have helped Falusi, who also practises karate. “It helps me with strength and flexibility and stuff like that,” he explains. “When you’re talking about the leg coming up, in karate we do have very powerful kicks that we have to do, and ballet really helps with that. You have to extend your leg out really far with lots of power.”

Despite its popularity among the athletic set, male enrolment in ballet schools across Canada remains low, Kilgour says. “In Europe, it’s not a problem. It’s an accepted thing,” says Kilgour, who in the 1980s taught at the Royal Ballet School in London. “But because it’s looked down upon (here), then boys who are even interested in it are afraid to partake, and that’s a shame.”

Among Kilgour’s students while teaching at the Royal Ballet School was a boy from Yorkshire, in northern England, whose perseverance to study ballet against the odds inspired the Hollywood film, Billy Elliot.

It was that film, now adapted as a Broadway show, that first put the idea of ballet in the mind of 15-year-old Quinn Lazenby of Calgary. “That movie sort of inspired me,” Quinn says. “I was always dancing around the house, and I grew up going to the Nutcracker.”

After that first class, there was no looking back for Quinn, who will be studying this summer at Montreal ballet school, L’Ecole superieure de ballet du Quebec. Quinn started ballet at 11 at the School of Alberta Ballet, but now takes private lessons so he can also focus on other pursuits, like drama.

Quinn says the firm self-discipline required to practise ballet has improved his academic studies. “Sometimes some of my friends consider school teachers really strict, but I don’t really see where they’re coming from because I’ve had ballet teachers where it’s almost like the army sometimes. At times, that can be frustrating, but I think it’s a good lesson.”

Although he has confided in some close friends, who he says are “very supportive,” about studying ballet, Quinn’s penchant for pirouettes is still not something he usually shares with strangers. “There’s a bit of a stigma with male ballet dancers in Canada,” he says. “Sometimes people are like, ‘I didn’t know guys can do ballet.’ They think you have to wear tutus and stuff like that.”

But the image of men in tights couldn’t be further from the reality of what it feels like to be a male ballet dancer. “When I jump, I feel so powerful,” he says. “You feel invincible, like you can do anything. It gives you a lot of energy, and it’s really satisfying.”

And if the many benefits of ballet weren’t enough to persuade more boys to try it, Braden adds there’s always the perk of being the single boy in a sea of girls.

“Do you meet any hot girls there?” is a question Braden said he often gets from friends at school.

The answer?

Yes. Yes, he does.

For more information about the School of Alberta Ballet’s free Introduction to Ballet program, visit schoolofalbertaballet.com or call 403-245-2274. The program runs Saturdays from April 14 to May 26.

© Copyright 2012 The Calgary Herald

Ballet class for footballers

by Paul Suart
The Birmingham Mail
February 15, 2012

ASTON Villa’s next generation of stars learned silky new moves when they took tips from Birmingham Royal Ballet dancers.

Members of the under-15s squad teamed up with ballerinas and male dancers to learn skills which could be pivotal to their development as footballers.

The masterclass was organised as part of an ongoing partnership between the two organisations, with the football club keen to adopt BRB’s approach to identifying talented schoolchildren.

Steve Burns, Villa’s assistant academy manager, said: “It was an opportunity for the players to step out of one environment and into another and see how the dancers train and perform. “It gave them a different perspective of professional athletes, right down to their movements and diet.”

Villa’s under-17s trained with BRB last year and Steve said it had already paid dividends, with three of the squad featuring in the England Under 17s team which won a top tournament in Portugal.

Pearl Chesterman, director for learning at BRB, was impressed by the players’ efforts. He said: “For a group of young kids thrown into an alien environment, they were very open-minded and prepared to take home things they could implement as they develop their careers. “The boys took it very seriously and saw the benefits of attention to detail and how to use different muscle groups.”

Representatives from BRB visit 40 schools across the city every year to spot promise in Year One youngsters, as part of a scheme called Dance Track. “We look for focus and concentration, spatial awareness, flexibility – attributes that could be key for a promising footballer,” added Mr Chesterman.

Mr Burns said Villa had learned from the scheme and planned to roll their own talent-spotting version out to more schools in September. “We have seen how they identify talent and thought it may be an avenue to pursue,” he said.
© 2012 Trinity Mirror Midlands Limited

Mike Wallace is a football player who sings and dances

By Dieter Kurtenbach
Sun Sentinel
September 26, 2011

The days have become routine for Mike Wallace, but the American Heritage-Delray senior’s days are anything but typical. He’s at the bus stop by 7 a.m. so he can get to school, where he maintains a near-perfect GPA. He follows class with football practice. The difference between Wallace and other stellar student-athletes is what follows football practice.

The intimidating 6-foot, 210-pound defensive lineman is a dancer — a great dancer. He’s an equally strong singer and actor. He’s the lead in the school’s December production of “Cats” and has won a cabinet of awards for his performances. And after football practice, it’s time for rehearsal.

It’s a jam-packed day at school that eventually brings Wallace home around 9 p.m., when he is finally able to eat and start his homework. Most of Wallace’s days end in the early morning, and then he does it all over again.

Despite the demanding schedule, Wallace still succeeds in the classroom, on the football field and on stage. He has a unique set of skills and his excellence leaves those closest to him baffled. “It’s amazing. I don’t know about this boy and he’s my son,” said Debra Wallace, a single, self-employed mother. “It’s amazing how he can do all of those things.”

His coaches and teachers can’t explain it, either.

His answer? Passion. “All I want to do is perform. I want to perform on any stage,” Wallace said. “If it’s the football field, if I have to, or the main stage at the local college, I just want to perform.”

He wants to continue to both dance and play football in college. He’s not sure he’ll get the opportunity. And if it comes down to choosing between the two, he’s not sure he can.

In the meantime, Wallace goes from practicing with the petite girls in dance class to the 200-plus-pound boys for the highly ranked Stallions, and he doesn’t miss a beat in between.

“Any time you can stand still where you are and do a backflip … and land on two feet, I don’t know what else I can say,” defensive coordinator Greg Bryant said. “He’s dancing ballet and throwing young ladies up in the air and at the same time he’s throwing offensive linemen around.”

Wallace’s two, seemingly polar-opposite passions gave him detractors on the team, but it only took one run-in and a takedown of a senior football player to muzzle anyone who dared make fun of his showmanship. Wallace even serenaded the bully with a song.

Wallace came to American Heritage to succeed in both his passions, and eight months from graduation, it’s clear that he has. He transferred from Santaluces before the spring semester of his sophomore year. His brother-in-law thought it would be a better place for him to get a football scholarship, but Wallace was attracted to the school’s fine arts department.

American Heritage tuition costs more than $20,000 annually, meaning Wallace had to qualify for a fine arts scholarship to attend. Despite not having even half the training of a typical scholarship recipient, he was allowed to audition. During the audition, Brad Tremper, the head of the fine arts department, declared that Wallace was the most talented kid he had ever seen and awarded him the scholarship.

At first, balancing school, football and a full fine arts schedule was tough. Within a few weeks of starting Heritage, Wallace was overwhelmed and had frequent panic attacks.

He was ready to quit the football team in the middle of spring practice. Wallace said it was a great relief to him that Tremper, who is also the Stallions’ running backs coach, and his other coaches supported his decision to do so, but in the end, Wallace didn’t quit. His passion for both football and dance was too strong.

Wallace admits that the days are a grind, but he can’t stop for fear he’ll lose his chance to go to college. “I have to ace every audition I do so I can get the part and I can keep my scholarship,” he said. “I have to keep good grades so I can continue to play football. I have to do my best, to be the best, and keep everything I have.”

Wallace has turned down both Kentucky and New Mexico in hopes he can find a college where he can continue to excel in both of his passions. While he waits, he continues his extraordinary — routine — days.

“I tell him it’s too much on him, but I can’t make him stop,” Debra Wallace said. “And if he wants to do it, I’m 100 percent behind him.”

Dance studio offers free classes to boys

By Kristie Rearick
Glouster County Times
Photographs by Cathy Cramer
September 11, 2011

  

Inside an unassuming ranch-style home, Kimberly Chapman, co-artistic director and co-owner of Maxine’s Studio of Dance, holds up a photograph of a group of boys taken in 2007. “That first year I got nine boys. This year, I got 30,” she said as she pointed to another picture sitting on her desk.

Drive past the home on the corner of Garden Road and East Avenue in Vineland, and you may not realize what’s hidden inside. It’s a dance studio, where young students learn to plié and pirouette from Juilliard-trained dance instructors — Kimberly being one of them.

Today, the students — girls and boys — are getting a special treat. A guest instructor, James Ihde, a soloist with the Pennsylvania Ballet Co., is leading the young dancers through their steps. Classical music plays in the background while the class listens to Ihde’s instructions.

“Finish bold — two, three, four — and finish,” he said.

“He’s counting the steps for them,” said Maxine, studio owner and Kimberly’s mother.

There are two boys dancing among a sea of girls in this class. And in a room to the left of the studio space — a small “break room” — five boys are laughing, talking and having a quick snack before it’s their turn to practice some moves.

This year, 30 boys have taken advantage of the free lessons that Kimberly and Maxine started four years ago. Back in 2003, when Kimberly moved back to Vineland, she noticed that boys were scarce at the studio.

“I said, ‘OK, we’ve got to fill this void,’” she said. “It helps us as a studio to have both boys and girls. It’s so much more fun that way.”

The class is free for one year, but after the year is up, “if they want to continue, they are on half scholarship,” Kimberly said, meaning they can take dance lessons for half the regular price. It’s an incentive that is difficult to say no to.

“After their first year free, they are kind of stuck. Because they like it,” she said.

One student who definitely can say he liked it is 13-year-old Spencer Wetherington of Upper Deerfield. He is a mentor to the other boys, Kimberly said.

“I started dancing when I was 4. My mom asked me if I’d like to try soccer or ballet and I said, ‘Why don’t we try both?’” Spencer said. After a few years of splitting his time between the two, Spencer decided to leave soccer behind and take up dance full time.

“As an artist, you feel like you have to do it,” said Kimberly. “You get to say something artistically with your body.”

Maxine’s Studio of Dance, home of the Vineland Regional Dance Co., got its start in 1971. Kimberly began dancing at her mom’s studio and was a soloist with the Vineland Regional Dance Co. from 1979 to 1985. She continued her training at the School of Pennsylvania Ballet and graduated from Juilliard in 1988 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance.

Her passion for dance — and for her students — is obvious.

It’s the boys’ turn to go through their steps and Kim switches on the CD player. Classical music can be heard as three boys — she splits the boys into two groups, Spencer is in the first — take to the dance floor.

After they go through the number, Kimberly gives the boys some suggestions. “Know where you’re going to finish — you can’t change your mind halfway through,” she said.

The boys practice their jumps as they look into the long mirror that covers the wall in front of them.

“Take your heads up. Up, up. When you jump, your heads should be gone out of that mirror,” she tells the next group.

“Did your heads go away?” Kimberly asked.

The boys usually start out taking ballet lessons, but they also learn hip-hop, jazz and tap dances. It helps the boys improve their sports. From football to basketball, baseball to soccer, wrestling and track and field, dancing can help, Kimberly said.

“We had a whole wrestling team in here once,” Kimberly said. “Dance teaches kids body awareness, self-esteem and discipline — as well as creativity,” she said.

The free class is for boys only. Ages 4 to 7 meet on Thursday from 4 to 4:45 p.m.; ages 8 to 12 meet on Thursday, 4:45 to 5:30 p.m. If you are interested in signing your child up for this class, please call Maxine’s Studio of Dance at 856-691-6059. The studio is located at 2388 N. East Ave., Vineland.

 

© 2011 New Jersey On-Line LLC

Related Article: Vineland studio allows boys to dance for free

Ensworth athletes hit the barre

School tries ballet for sports from football to lacrosse

 

By Lea Ann Overstreet Allen
Photographs by Shelley Mays
The Tennessean
December 7, 2009

 

Herschel Walker did it. So did Lynn Swann. These football greats have more in common than their athletic abilities on the gridiron. Back in the day they were also known for dabbling in ballet.

It was no secret that athletes like Swann, who was an acclaimed wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, discovered that the principles behind dance could help him with strength, balance and agility, vital components of football as well as other sports.

The connection between dance and sports is something the administration at Ensworth High School thought was important to teach to its students. So now not only are the school’s athletes preparing for game days by practicing their respective sports, they are also practicing pirouettes.

“The class is making me a more well-rounded athlete,” said football player Myers Beaird. “It helps strengthen muscles that are not usually used in the weight room and also improves flexibility, balance and coordination. I am a much more limber athlete now. I am stronger, more agile. … The class has made me less injury prone as well,” he said.

Strength, flexibility improve
Dance can work for all sports — basketball, ice hockey, lacrosse, cross-country — as is apparent from the student athletes in the class, which includes standout tailback Orleans Opoko-Darkwa.

“It helps you learn to use more muscles for balance or changing direction quickly,” said lacrosse and volleyball player Carol Allen. “I think flexibility is always helpful in athletics. It increases speed and agility in addition to just making your overall performance better.”

And the class hasn’t just enhanced Allen’s athletic abilities. While she was nervously looking forward to the class, she ultimately has gained new friends, all of whom share the common interest of sports.

“I knew all the people would be really fun to hang out with and would have good personalities. I was a bit concerned about being able to contribute to the class, or whether or not it would be fun or just work. … I have loved getting to know everyone and learn these dance techniques,” Allen said.

For Matt Scarola, who runs track and cross-country, a noticeable change in his legs has improved his skills. “This dance class has greatly strengthened my lower legs and specifically ankles and feet, which has increased my balance and stability in running,” he said. “I was nervous about taking the class at first because I had never danced before, but now I look forward to class every day because everyone has a good time together.”

Lots of guys try it
This is the first semester for the dance class. “It’s the most successful introductory dance course that we have offered at Ensworth,” said teacher Sarah Shoemaker. “I have 17 students this semester and 13 next semester.” More than half of the class is male, she said.

Shoemaker has also taught the students yoga to improve flexibility, but ballet is the most important part of the class. “Ballet technique is physically the most demanding dance technique to execute,” she said. “I knew they would get a workout in a new and different way through ballet training.”

 

 

But Shoemaker is not trying to turn these athletes into professional dancers, only “give them exercises that enhance their ability on the field and court. They need the athletic meat of dance … how to transfer weight quickly, how to maintain balance. I think they have been surprised at how many exercises translate to things they do in their sport,” Shoemaker said.

Football coach Ricky Bowers said that while “flexibility, core strength, balance, discipline, endurance, and injury prevention are a few of the obvious benefits of our program,” another plus has emerged from the class. “Maybe the most important influence dance has had is on the boys’ appreciation for the athleticism of a dancer,” Bowers said.

And he might be right. The class has been so successful that although its description said there would be no performance required Shoemaker said the students have “begged” to perform. The class is scheduled to dance at the school’s holiday assembly set for Dec. 18.

“They have been pioneers, fearless and open-minded. Hopefully I helped them as athletes while giving them a new understanding of the art form. That was the goal,” Shoemaker said.

 

Copyright © 2009 The Tennessean

Boys in Ballet: Dancers Break Stereotypes

By Carrina Stanton
For The Chronicle
Photographs by Holly Pederson
and Dan Schreiber
October 26, 2009
[Edited]
 

   Mick Gunter leads a group of boys in a series of push-ups. Next, they lay on their backs and try to lift and hold their legs about three inches off the ground. Their muscles start to quiver with the next exercise, where they balance with their bodies in the shape of a V with only their bottoms on the ground.

    One might think they were getting ready for some sort of sport or martial art. In reality, they’re warming up to dance ballet.

    “Most people think ballet is a sissy kind of sport but they’re completely wrong,” said Gunter, who recently opened Centralia Ballet Academy with his wife, Nancy.

    When the Gunters opened the ballet academy in downtown Centralia, Gunter said he knew he wanted an all-male class to be part of his curriculum from the beginning. In growing the next generation of dancers, Gunter said one of the hardest parts about getting males to dance ballet is breaking stereotypes. Boys are typically not encouraged to take ballet. In fact, Gunter did not start dancing himself until 1998, though it interested him as a child.

    But Gunter said ballet can have various benefits for males so he offers a class that stresses basic ballet while being geared toward things boys like. In one class, he explained how the word plié looks very much like the word “plier,” a tool that opens and closes like the move. He encouraged his class to remember the move Rond de Jambe as being like running your foot around the bases in baseball. His all-male class also dances to music from Super Mario Brothers and James Bond.

 

 

    “I try to make dance something they can relate to by using things they’re familiar with,” Gunter said. “Other classes are usually lots of girls and sometimes being the only boy can be intimidating. We’re trying to create an atmosphere where they feel comfortable.”

    Most people think of ballet as being a female dance form, full of tights and tutus. But the first ballet performances can be traced to the Italian and French royal courts of the 1400s, where females were not permitted to take part in the theater arts. Dancers were male, including men wearing masks in female parts, until about 1680. From then both sexes were equally praised in the art form until about the 19th Century when male dancing began to decline with the appearance of romantic ballet, in which women excelled.

    Male dancers began to reemerge in the 20th Century but they didn’t gain respect as contributors to the art until well into the 1960s when Russian dancers such as Vaslav Nijinsky, Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov began to emerge and choreographers began to write pieces for all-male casts. Tanner Calder, 18, of Napavine, who has been dancing at Southwest Washington Dance Center in Chehalis for three years, said watching videos of some of these great male dancers really showed him how physical and athletic ballet really [is].

    “Watch footage of them dancing and you’ll understand completely what they did for ballet. They created male ballet,” Calder said.

    Centralia Ballet Academy has a total of six male students. The Southwest Washington Dance Center has five male dancers this year. Calder said just a couple years ago he was the only male dancer at the Chehalis studio and for some unknown reason their ranks have steadily grown. He said he’s happy for the company, both from a performance standpoint and also that as the number of male dancers grow, so may the public perception of them. Calder, who actually gave up a spot on the football team to dedicate his time to dance, said he still encounters a great deal of ignorance about male dancers.

    Fellow dancer Vernon Keech, 27, Chehalis, who danced as a teenager then returned to the art form last year, said he missed the creative outlet and physical strength dance gave him. But Keech admitted that when he decided to return to ballet, he felt a lot of pressure from his male friends who would take verbal jabs at him whenever he mentioned dancing. Now, he said he tries to educate those around him about just how strong male dancers must be.

    “They say, ‘What do you do?’ and I say ‘I dance’ and they give me this, ‘Oh really?’ and I say, ‘Yeah, it’s really cool,’ and then I expound on the really cool parts about it,” Keech said. “It’s physically challenging. It requires mental discipline and teamwork. It’s like being in an organized sport and it’s just as hard.”

    Soccer player Austin Hawkins groaned Saturday during his first male ballet class at Centralia Ballet Academy when Gunter showed the class some of the stretches. The 12-year-old from Chehalis said he was curious to try the art form and was surprised at how hard it was. “It was pretty difficult because I’d never done it before,” Hawkins said after the hour-long workout. “I’ll definitely be back.”

    Gunter said ballet is not just for those who want to dance. He recommends dance to any athlete or martial artist to improve their balance, agility and strength. He pointed out that Pittsburgh Steelers Hall of Famer Lynn Swann began dancing at the age of 8 and never stopped. The top highest vertical leaps recorded by the National Basketball Association range from 28 inches to a little less then 6 feet. Talented male ballet dancers can leap 4 to 5 feet high with no running start. On good days, Baryshnikov could leap six feet.

    Daniel Holloway, 13, of Olympia, who has been doing ballet for four years and recently started taking classes at Centralia Ballet Academy, said most of his friends are supportive of his involvement in ballet. For those who aren’t, he said ballet has given him the ability to prove male dancers are not wimps. “I only had one kid who thought ballet was just for girls, but I beat him in wrestling so he gave that up,” Holloway said with a grin.

    In many respects, ballet is much like any other sport, Keech said. You have to learn to work together, especially when it comes to partnering with a female dancer. He said lifting a 100-plus pound dancer is not as easy as it looks. Lifts are a 50/50 relationship, with the male dancer lifting at just the right moment and the female learning to hold her core straight and in just the right position to help her partner. Keech said it is something that has to be learned. You can’t just walk onto a stage and lift a partner or someone will get hurt. One exercise dancers at Southwest Washington Dance Center use to strengthen their muscles is lifting the 5-gallon water cooler jugs. The dancers place their hands on either side of the 40-pound jug, much like placing their hands on the waist of a partner. Then they lift the jug up, down and to either side. “We have to know how to support ourselves and how to position ourselves,” Keech explained.

    Besides striving for credit for the difficulty of their sports, local male dancers said more than anything they want to find a way for ballet to have a place among athletes. Gunter said he’s not trying to lure any athletes away from sports but rather encouraging them to take his class as a way to condition for their chosen activities. As someone who has seen both the physical act of dancing and performance change his life, Gunter said he simply wants to share the experience with more males.

    “We want to make it so that you can still be a guy and do ballet,” Gunter said. “You can still like sports and go to ballet as well.”

 

Copyright © 2009 The Chronicle