I remember teaching a group of teenaged Lindy dancers who were sent to me from another dance teacher. They were advanced dancers who had outgrown their first teacher. When I asked for a follower with whom to demonstrate a new move, one of the boys volunteered. They had all learned to dance both parts and not because they had been taught to. They just wanted to and as advanced dancers were up to the challenge.
The boys in that class were lucky to have been brought up in such a way that they felt no stigma to learning the “girl’s part.” For that matter, they were lucky to have avoided the stigma of boys dancing at all.
In the wonderful article “Ten Reasons to Let Your Boy Dance”, The Irish Atheist takes on the cultural bias against boys dancing. Dancing is athletic, masculine, a great confidence builder, and as I have mentioned many times, a major chick magnet.
Sissy? Ah, no. Dancers train harder than professional athletes. Football players take ballet to make them better players. It’s way past time to retire that old bias. Go for it, boys!
By LaurieAnn Lepoff
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