This article is part of a collaboration project that I am working on with Henrik from Tights And Tiaras and Catherine from 4dancers. We are working together on “Pas de Trois” at dancing3.com. Each week we will present a question or issue pertaining to the dance world. We’ll foster a discussion on the topic and invite other people to join in with their ideas as well. We hope this will be a fun and engaging project that will help to create a stronger online dance community. You will be able to find the weekly question, along with links to the discussions at dancing3.com.

Many of these questions I feel like I might not be as much of an authority, since I’m a relatively new dancer, and I’m not professional. But here, I feel I have just as much to say as anyone. As a late starter, I feel I can remember all of the times in class. On the other hand, I know many dancers who don’t remember first learning to dance.

As an adult male beginner, there were a lot of things that I had to learn. I feel like I’m still  a slow learner, so one of the most important qualities I think a teacher can have is understanding. It is important for teachers to be fairly talented, but if they don’t understand the many ways that dancers learn, that talent won’t necessarily transfer to the students. Of course a combination of talent and understanding makes for an excellent teacher.

I’ve taken classes from many different teachers. Many dancers do. Many of them were great teachers, and everyone usually helped me to learn valuable lessons. If I am struggling in class, but I know I am being understood, I’m still happy and able to learn.

Everyone learns in different ways. An understanding teacher can be flexible enough to teach to a variety of students.

This question is important to me. This summer I began teaching creative dance classes for elementary school boys at my dance studio. Especially with these new dancers, I find it important to be understanding. I also found out today, that I will be co-teaching two dance classes a day for the next semester at a performing arts public middle school. I’m very excited to help bring dance to public schools. I’m hoping that I can take my learning experiences as an adult male beginner and help younger dancers enjoy their learning and growth.

This article is part of a collaboration project that I am working on with Henrik from Tights And Tiaras and Catherine from 4dancers. We are working together on “Pas de Trois” at dancing3.com. Each week we will present a question or issue pertaining to the dance world. We’ll foster a discussion on the topic and invite other people to join in with their ideas as well. We hope this will be a fun and engaging project that will help to create a stronger online dance community. You will be able to find the weekly question, along with links to the discussions at dancing3.com.

In some ways I feel like we are starting with one of the hardest questions. It is great because it is engaging and everyone has excellent input, but it is so hard to pick a single dancer as your favorite.

Something else that has come up in the discussion, is how we give dancers that we see more often a higher rating. There are some dancers that I see quite often that I definitely enjoy and admire. Ironically, I think I’m going to choose someone I’ve never seen perform in person. I think I’m going to say that Peter Boal is one of my favorite dancers.

Photo by Paul Kolnik with NYCB

I was pretty sure I would choose a male dancer. No offense to the ladies, but that is what I relate to, and that is what I’m drawn to when I watch a performance. I also knew that they would not only have to be a great dancer, but also a great role model. I also wanted to choose a dancer who continued to be a dancer even after they stop performing. This way I would know they really loved to dance, and it was not just a career decision they made and were stuck with.

Peter Boal is the artistic director for Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle (so I see their performances a lot), but he got his start in New York City. He has danced with a lot of great choreographers, dancers, and visionaries. Peter Boal started dancing at 9 years old at the School of American Ballet, after watching NYCB perform Balanchine’s Coppélia. Even from the beginning he showed great promise. Although he wanted to quit ballet after his first year, he was encouraged to continue. It is a good thing he stuck with it. Boal worked his way up to New York City Ballet as a corps member. Four years later he was a soloist, and in two more years he was a principal. He spent a total of 22 years dancing for New York City Ballet.

In 2005, Mr. Boal retired from NYCB and took up the position as artistic director of PNB. At PNB, Boal has brought the style of Balanchine, but has also pushed ballet-goers to think beyond what they typically think of as dance. PNB’s seasons contain a wide range of performance styles, making it exciting to attend all of their performances.

Peter Boal is one of my favorite dancers, not just for what he has done on stage, but for what he does behind the scenes, and for the type of person he is off-stage. Along with being the artistic director for PNB, he is also the director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet School. Several weeks ago I was lucky enough to take a master class instructed by Peter Boal. He was a great instructor, and it was also obvious that he believed everyone should participate in the enjoyment of dance.

I think it is important for dancers, no matter who they work with, or what they have done, to continue to welcome new interest into dance. It is obvious that Mr. Boal enjoyed his dance career, and he wants other dancers to find that same enjoyment.

Who is your favorite dancer and why? Join the discussion at Pas de Trois at dancing3.com.

Hey readers! We’ve got an exciting new Dance site starting up this week. This is a project that Catherine at 4dancers, Henrik at Tights and Tiaras, and I have been preparing for a little while now.

Through Pas de Trois, we hope to get a lot of positive discussions started about dance. Each week we’ll be featuring a topic. Every couple days one of us will give our insight, and we’ll always be encouraging you to take part as well.

At Ballet For Men, one of the big ideas I try to get across is that the dance world is full of many different people. Pas de Trois will bring in a lot of great perspectives. Hopefully we’ll help to create a stronger community as well.

Bookmark Pas de Trois, and check back in with it. We’ll announce our first discussion topic very soon. Also, check out our Facebook-page, join the discussion on Twitter, or add our RSS feed to your reader.

Hope to see you there! Visit now!

Before I get started with this post, I want to tell everyone to check out: www.DaveTriesBallet.com
This is a new site by a new male beginner who is excited to start taking ballet soon. I think this will be really helpful for anyone considering trying ballet too. I also think seasoned dancers will enjoy being reminded why they started dancing in the first place.

Flexibility was one of my many concerns when I started to take ballet. When we think of ballet dancers, we tend to picture extremely flexible people with their leg somewhere we’ve never imagined it could reach. I thought I was too old to get the splits. I know a lot of other people worry about flexibility too, especially guys. I get asked about it a lot. Sometimes it is the first question after people find out I’m a dancer, “can you do the splits?” To which I usually answer, “not in these jeans.”

I want to talk a bit about stretching and the possibilities of flexibility, especially with older beginners, and male beginners. This will be sort of an introduction for the more scientific and strategic ideas on stretching I hope to write later.

As it is with most things in dance (and in some ways, life), stretching is very much about the mindset that you have. If you believe you will never get the splits or gain more flexibility, you won’t. You just won’t put in the effort. And I don’t mean that if you just think you’ll get flexible you will. You have to believe it enough to put in some effort.

When I started taking ballet, at 25, I didn’t know if I would gain much flexibility. I could see how girls could, they’re more flexible right? And I guess if guys take ballet from when they are six, they keep their flexibility from when they are young. I believed that people, especially guys, became less flexible as they got older.

I still worked a lot on stretching. I knew that if I didn’t do it, and didn’t try really hard, I wouldn’t get better as a dancer. Flexibility shows up a lot in dance. I started to read a lot of books on stretching, and I think that was what helped me the most. I saw that much of what I believed and heard wasn’t really true.

With a few ideas in mind, I kept working on stretching. I don’t feel like I’ve reached an ultimate point, but in dance you never really do. I feel I could always be more flexible, but I can get the splits (when in proper attire and properly warmed up), and I’m way more flexible than when I started. I started to recognize that a late 20’s male who wasn’t very flexible but worked hard could be more flexible than a 13 year old girl who took ballet her whole life but didn’t work much on stretching.

Here are some ideas to keep in mind as you work on stretching:

It isn’t about age, but use
People don’t get less flexible because they get old. They get less flexible because they get old and stop moving. This is a big difference. Sure, as you get older your body doesn’t repair as fast, but it doesn’t shut down either. You may gain your splits slower, but it is not impossible.

The splits are possible for the average person
A lot of people believe that some body types can’t be flexible. For example, when I was reading about getting the splits, I saw a lot of discussions on martial arts forums where people said that they heard African American people aren’t as flexible because their muscles are more dense. There is not drastic body difference like this. The biggest differences would be between male and female, and with flexibility, the differences are minute. It may be more easy for some people, but it is possible over time and work for everyone.

The Splits Test
Michael Kurz, author of Stretching Scientifically (2003) gives a test to see if you will physically be able to do the splits. Part one is to do a deep lunge. If you can get your thighs in a straight line, that means your hip joints and ligaments don’t prevent you from the front splits. Part two is for the side splits. Put your leg out to the side and rest it on the back of a chair or on a table, about hip height. If you can get your hip and standing leg in line, it is possible for you to get the side splits (try both sides).

Stronger muscles stretch more
The stronger you get your muscles, the more they’ll stretch. This was really helpful for me. I started using the abducter and adducter machines at the gym, and my flexibility sky rocketed. If a muscle is stronger, it will stretch further before tightening up. Weaker muscles will tighten up much earlier than a stronger muscle.

NOTE: I don’t really know any non-awkward way to workout the adducter or abducter. Those are the muscles between around your inner thighs. For some reason, whenever I work them out at the gym, I start to think people think I’m hitting on them. If you have room to do it at home, you can lie on your back and put your legs up straight. Open your legs wide and close them. Keep repeating this. Try to do 50. Try to get up to 100. Put weights on your ankles. I never have space to do this at home, so I use the machines at the gym. They are the machines where you open and close your legs to lift the weight. I used to always feel weird when I would stretch at the gym. Eventually you’ll get over it, and in a little while you’ll be so flexible it is impressive. I also realized that most people at the gym really don’t know what they are doing when it comes to stretching, so they won’t judge you that much.

There are different types of stretching
Ideas behind stretching have come so far since I was in school (wow I sound old). There has been a lot of research on stretching, and there are probably more ways to do it wrong than right.

Static stretching (holding a stretched position for a long period of time) can be tiring for your muscles and not the best to start off with. Basically, I save it until after my class or workout.

Dynamic stretching (stretching in movement) is better for warming up. These are stretches that combine movement and flexibility. Leg swings or arm swings are an example of dynamic stretching. These will warm you up for movement (before class), but can be not as good if your muscles are tired.

Stretching is a process
It takes time. Do a little every day. Stretch a little in the morning, after your workout, before bed. Fit it into your routine. Don’t push it too fast. Work but don’t strain.

These basic ideas will help you get a mindset that will help you gain flexibility. Know that you can do it. I hope to write more later, with actual research based techniques and examples.

Tanner and D both dance at different studios in the area. They come by occasionally to take some partnering classes. We got together after class to see how it was for them when they got started in ballet.

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When you decide to start taking ballet, you’ll be excited to start learning what you can. Outside of class you may be looking for resources to study up. There aren’t many books geared toward the brand new ballet student. A lot of books are advanced enough to confuse or intimidate the new beginner. There is a lot to learn about ballet and it comes with time. Here are 5 books that are suitable for the brand new ballet student.

1) New York City Ballet Workout by Peter Martins

This is a book and a DVD. I suggest the book to new beginners. I remember trying the DVD before I started taking ballet, and the exercises moved a bit fast for me. With the book you can go at your own pace (which will probably much slower than the book suggests). The first section of the book also includes a lot of interviews with NYCB dancers. This book will help to inspire you, and the stretches and exercises will introduce your body to the movements of ballet.

See my earlier review of the book and dvd here.

Purchase a copy of the New York City Ballet Workout Book here.

2) Basic Ballet: The Steps Defined by Joyce Mackie

This is a small book featuring many illustrations and a glossary of ballet terms. I suggest new beginners pick this book up. However, I do not suggest that you try to learn positions strictly from the book. I think that books are great tools to refresh your memory, or review what you have learned, but it is very hard to learn correct positions just from a book. Use this book to review the names of the positions, and recognize what those positions are. In class, you can work on actually doing the positions.

Purchase a copy of Basic Ballet here.

3) Ballet Apparel for Men: A Complete Beginner’s Guide by David Hunter

I have to include my book in this list. It is specifically for the new beginner, so why not? This book covers the complicated apparel that guys wear in ballet.

Download the Free Ballet Apparel for Men E-Book here.

Purchase a copy of Ballet Apparel for Men from Amazon or HD Wear.

4) Conditioning for Dance by Eric Franklin

The thing that I find surprisingly helpful about this book, is the emphasis on visualization. There are plenty of great illustrations. Just by looking through the book you will start to understand some of the concepts that will help you understand dance movement. Combine this book with the New York City Ballet Workout Book, and you will have plenty of exercises to work on between your beginner classes. Conditioning and workouts are the best thing for the new beginner to work on by themselves. As I said earlier, it is best to leave the technique to when you have your teacher around.

Purchase a copy of Conditioning for Dance here.

5) A Notebook by You!

Keeping a dance journal is the best way for you to remember your corrections and reflect on your dance. It is also very helpful for you to recognize your own progress. Learning ballet is slow, and it might take you a while to recognize the progress you make.

Read my earlier post on keeping a dancer journal to learn more.

If you have any other suggestions for books that are suitable for brand new beginners, feel free to leave a comment. There are plenty of great books out there for dance and ballet. I’m limiting these suggestions to ones that I think are suitable to inspire, but not overwhelm the new dancer.

Yesterday was the first Boys’ Creative Dance class of the summer at my local studio. This is a class that I am teaching for elementary school aged boys. We offer it for free, in order to encourage boys and parents to take interest. You should be glad to hear that the first class was a great success. It was a success in the sense that I believe the boys and the parents both saw that dance wasn’t such a bad idea. I will go over a little bit about how the class got started, and why I think a boys creative dance class is a great way to introduce elementary school aged boys to dance.

Forming the class

I think boys should be given the chance to dance. It is sad to not give them the chance. It seems natural for girls to be put into dance, while boys are placed somewhere else, maybe a sport. But everyone should be given the chance to experience what dance has to offer.

I offered to teach the class for free. It requires a small amount of time each week that I am giving, and I feel that dance has already provided me with so much, so it seems a very fair trade. We thought about starting the class during the year, but everyone was so busy with performances that we put it on the schedule for the summer.  By the first class 14 boys had enrolled. Because the class was so large, and boys tend to be very active in class, we had another male dancer help out. Only 3 of the boys had taken any dance before at all.

We put together the lessons using ideas from Creative Dance for All Ages by Anne Green Gilbert. She does a lot of great creative dance workshops and a few of the teachers I’ve had have been to them. Creative Dance for All Ages breaks down different concepts of dance, showing tons of great lessons and exercises that kids and adults can really enjoy. I chose different exercises that I thought young guys would like to participate in, created a 40 minute lesson plan, and grabbed some songs I thought were pretty fun and not offensive.

The Class

When I arrived at the studio before the boys’ class, there were already quite a few kids waiting in the lobby. I saw a few mothers trying to calm their sons down. The parents wanted to watch the class, so I let them, and it created quite a fun atmosphere. 40 minutes went by really fast. The dancers were extremely enthusiastic and seemed to whole-heartedly take part.

At the end of the class, a lot of parents came up to us and said they really enjoyed watching. Many said that their sons were not to into the idea of a dance class, but that after they said that it was so much fun. We did all have a lot of fun, and I think that the boys saw that dance can be really enjoyable. Hopefully next week will go as well.

When I think about the mothers trying to calm their boys down in the lobby, and then how those boys were able to use a lot of that energy in the dance class, it just seems to make sense to put a boy in a creative dance class. I hope that parents and their sons recognize that a dance class is a very natural place to be.

At the studio we are talking about adding a second class in the week. There are other boys who are interested in taking dance, but can’t make it on the day that our class is. It will be interesting to see how many boys stick with the class through the summer, and if any boys continue on to take other forms of dance.

I think that dancers should always be thinking about ways they can extend opportunities to others. If you are someone who has gained a lot from dance, think about the many ways that you can introduce others to new experiences. Learning dance is rewarding, helping others learn dance is an honor.

A dance journal is a helpful tool for either the beginner or the advanced dancer. It is a good habit to develop a practice of reflecting on your dance improvement. Dance journals can also be a good reference for yourself. I’m going to tell you a little bit about how to keep an effective dance journal, and then you will be able to form a practice that works for you.

A Reference of Your Past

Last week I was cleaning my bookshelf and I found my first dance journal. As I read through my notes, I recognized the value of this book. I’ve always known that a dance journal is a good way for you to concentrate on your progress, but I hadn’t really realized how valuable it was to look back at my progress. The dance journal isn’t just about looking forward, it can also be about looking back. It really helped me to realize how much better I had gotten. I have a hard time remembering what I was working on years ago, but in my journal I could read along with the notes of corrections I needed to concentrate on during class. It made me feel pretty successful to know that I did continue to take those corrections to heart. Many of them I no longer think about, but only because I spent so much time thinking about them that they became second nature over time.

A Tool for Progress

A dance journal can be most effective because it gives you a chance to reflect on your dancing. When you are given a correction in class, or make a realization, that shouldn’t just be forgotten at the end of that class. You should bring those ideas with you to the next class, and to all of your future dancing. Reflecting on your dancer makes you a conscious learner. To learn quickly, you should always have an idea of something you want to be working on. Don’t just go through the motions. You should be aware of what you want to get better at.

Taking a moment to reflect in your journal after a class, rehearsal, or performance will help you to realize what you want to work on. What continually becomes something you want to work on? What do you have the hardest time improving on? What works well for you? It is amazing how much you can affect your own progress with a little bit of reflection. Make it a habit in your dance journal.

How to Keep an Effective Dance Journal

One of the biggest parts of keeping a dance journal is writing it down. This may seem really obvious, but it requires a little bit of forethought. Get a journal that you feel comfortable writing in. It doesn’t have to be anything special, but make sure it is something you can keep in your dance bag. You’ll want to have access to it after class. Make sure you have a pen as well.

It will be helpful to keep track of the date for each entry, as well as what class level it was, where it was if you take classes in different locations, and who the teacher was. You would think you could remember all of this, but after some time you probably won’t. It can also be helpful to look back and notice any patterns. Is there one teacher who was most helpful with certain areas of your dance? Do you make the same mistakes in different classes? Recognizing patterns in your progress is helpful in being a conscious dancer.

As you get started with your journal, there are a few pieces of information you should consider keeping track of. Most obviously, keep track of any corrections your teacher gives you. These are important because your teacher recognizes what is most important for you to work on. But you should also keep track of corrections that your teacher gives to your classmates. Your teachers can’t give all the corrections to you, so you will benefit from paying attention to corrections made to others, or to the class at large.

Be sure to write down any realizations that you make when you are dancing. These could be a-ha moments from watching others in class or making a slight change. I usually find my a-ha moments are more of a feeling while I’m dancing. For example, while practicing double tour en l’airs, I once noticed that they were much better if I just imagined all of my force in my core instead of my legs or shoulders. These sort of feelings and realizations are hard to remember. Your journal can help remind you of what works best for you. I’m pretty sure that you will notice patterns here as well.

Feel free to keep track of any combinations or choreography that you enjoyed or struggled with. This is very helpful especially when rehearsing for performance. You could take up rehearsal time having to re-remember the choreography, or you could spend a few minutes before rehearsal reviewing your notes. It is especially helpful for people like me, who are a bit slower at learning choreography. Keeping track of combinations you enjoy is also a good idea.

These ideas will get you started, but ultimately your dance journal will become your own. You’ll figure out what works for you. Mainly you want to keep in mind that having a dance journal will help you to progress, and keeping the right information will help you to reflect.

Feel free to leave any comments about what works for you when you and your dance journal.

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

I’ve been going to graduate school (for teaching) and performing as Von Rothbart in Swan Lake. This has kept me pretty busy. One of my professors suggested I write a short response to a book that we read, “Releasing The Imagination” by Maxine Greene. She suggested that I relate my experience rehearsing for and performing Swan Lake, as well as my experience learning dance, to the book. I thought I would post the short response here for anyone who might be interested.

Before I started to study ballet, I imagined myself as a successful dancer. I imagined being complemented on the part I played. I imagined responding “Thank you, I worked very hard” and I imagined I would be proud. That vague image that I had a little over 3 years ago is now a reality. It took a lot of imagination to go from an untrained dancer who was working on cargo ships and had only seen a ballet once, in a society where men aren’t normally seen as ballet dancers, to a dancer who was successful and proud, and could express something to a large audience.

Learning to dance and taking part in Swan Lake could not be done without imagination. Imagination helps us to grow, to connect, and to experience. In my experiences, dance is closely tied with imagination.

Imagination helps us to grow as people. It provides the vision that is needed to bring together many ideas. Similar to how imagination can help many ideas come together to create a better society, many ideas had to come together to make Swan Lake happen. Imagination also helps us grow as individuals.

Dance and imagination work together to help me do more. I use dance to express things that I can’t easily express with words, and imagination is something that can’t easily be expressed in words. Becoming a dancer requires imagination. I need to be able to imagine the dancer that I could become. Growing is a process fed by imagination. Even just becoming a dancer requires imagination. As Maxine Greene (1995) said:

A young person trying to become a ballet dancers is affected in her or his conception of a life in dance by the way those immediately around her or him in childhood talked about such a choice as worthy or impractical, as romantic or somehow suspect. (p. 20)

I had to use my imagination to overcome the limited perceptions I learned from people around me. I remember watching television shows that laughed at males as they tried to learn dance. I remember taking my girlfriend to see The Nutcracker when I was 16. Her father ostracized me and told me I was gay because I went to the ballet. I needed imagination to see beyond the limited views around me.

Imagination and dance create connections. These connections are created with the characters we play, with other dancers, and with the audience we perform for. To learn Swan Lake, I had to become a character. I had to believe I was the character. Through imagination I had to connect my emotions with the characters. Without my use of imagination, the audience’s imagination would not have been accessed.

Maxine Green (1995) stated that “of all our cognitive capacities, imagination is the one that permits us to give credence to alternative realities” (p. 3). We move beyond the assumed and limited views, to something more. By providing “occasions for significant encounters with works of art, we have to combat… ‘thoughtlessness’” (p. 125). Watching dance produces imagination. The audience connects with the dancers to imagine alternative realities. I am struck by how strongly both adults and children respond to watching Swan Lake. Parents comment to me how engaged their children were, and I think that we all begin to reminisce what it must be like to imagine so deeply. Children should be exposed to dance and art in order to provide experiences to engage their imagination.

According to Maxine Greene (1995), “the arts provide new perspectives on the lived world” (p. 4). Art and dance promote imagination which promotes a disconnection with our limited views on the world, as well as a connection to others in this world. This connection develops empathy and compassion for others. It took a lot of hard work for me to become a dancer, but it took even more imagination.

More greatness to come at a more regular schedule. I am looking forward to summer!

Be sure to also check out some other great blogs:

4dancers

Tights and Tiaras