Thanks to Twitter user “DoctorDancebelt” for posting this link to an article on Maxim online.
Maxim is the ultimate “dude” magazine, meaning it is all about scantily clad attractive women and “college humor.” I’m not a reader (I prefer Esquire, the jokes are funnier), but I was interested to read what Sports Column blogger Joshua David Stein had to say about ballet.
Stein spent two weeks studying Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) followed by two weeks studying ballet. He compared the two, seeing which was more demanding. His comparisons were very interesting and worth reading. It seems that he started to understand one of the hard things about ballet: it is you versus yourself.
Anyway, it is worth giving this article a read and seeing what Maxim is telling guys about ballet. I’m pretty impressed with it overall. It helps to get the word out there.
Read the article here: Mixed Martial Arts vs Ballet
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
This was great! Thanks for sharing it–I enjoyed the read…am going to tweet it next.
Reading this makes me miss the relatively straightforward world of traditional Karate. I studied it for years before I came across the mind bending complexity involved in the word of classical Ballet. I had to smile about the “seemingly random steps” line. Coming to dance from the martial arts world I had this thought many times in my first few years of dancing. In Karate you are taught how to kick, punch and block for the most part in a very straightforward way. “punch like this and it will hurt more” But the functional reasons behind Ballets “pull up and turn out” can take years to understand. It would be fantastic if more men where willing to spend a few open minded weeks in the world of Ballet.
This was an awesome article. I being a big fan of MMA has never gone to any formal training but an avid grappler who (not to boast) hasn’t been tapped out after like 20 friendlies with my buds. Been a big fan of dance too ever since and from hip hop my whole highschool life I just got into ballet around 10 months ago and I absolutely fell in love. I knew I found my new thing. The article is such a good shout out to those who stereotype male ballet dancers or ballet itself. Tweeted and wall posted!
Thanks!