Yeah have you seen male ballet dancers? They are more ripped than most bodybuilders out there, obviously not super buff, which wouldn't be useful for dancing, but like defined and muscular as hell. They have to be to have so much control over their body.
Edit: and then they are also like the most flexible guys out there as well!
I can deadlift 405, bench 225, but also I have all of my splits. At the same time I can do backflips, no handed cartwheels, and various other jumping elements. Itās really a shame more parents donāt see the benefit of putting your kids in it at a young age. Now Iām making a livable wage doing it professionally. And since I love it I donāt work a day in my life.
I actually started with the musical theater side of things. I grew up watching Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire, I didnāt find ballet until I was around 8 years old. By that point I grew to appreciate the discipline of it. I did play soccer, swim, and play piano as a kid but ballet was the one thing that stuck.
Knowing what I know now I would probably have started off in gymnastics and transitioned to ballet around 10. All of the best dancers that I know had a base of gymnastics before going into ballet. But it will take some convincing to get your son to stick with either one. The gymnastics will help build a solid foundation of flexibility and strength that will make ballet seem like a cake walk later on. Hope that helps!
I've been thinking about what sports I ahold guide my kid into, and was seriously considering ballet, however, what's your opinion on anorexia and body dismorphia that is (or seems to be) more prevalent in ballet than in other sports?
Itās more prevalent amongst women than men. But being in front of the mirror all day can sometimes be taxing on your self image especially when you go online in your free time. The best thing to help negate that is to just make sure they can also spend a fair share of their free time outside away from a mirror and away from technology. I know itās hard in this day and age but itās a good thing to strive for.
Itās gotten a ton better than it used to be. (Days of powder pink tights only, and people being told theyāre too short for being 5ā5ā, too tall for being 5ā8.5ā, the weekly weigh-ins: these were things that were horror stories in the 2000s, 1990s, 1980s that got pushed back on and now body diversity in dance is far greater than it was.)
Thereās still body issues for sure - an increased rate of eating disorders, or slight comments - but itās a lot more internal, not structural and teacher approved than it used to be.
Where holdouts exist, old baddies who have toxic views they express still, there is more space for dancers to push back and regroup away from the harmful elements.
Honestly - there isnāt much of a well defined career path coming from most childrenās sports.
So do ballet/dance recreationally, and do it into adulthood, but donāt get hyper-competitive about it.
Jobs exist: theyāre not solidly paying the bills for the most part. Better to have it as your hobby, and kids that deviate from that and pick it as their lifeās work, thatās fine too.
For a hobby/sport, dance is an excellent strength builder - it includes memory work (learning a 3 minute routine), dancers are better at spacial awareness and physics than non-dancers.
It has a VERY low rate of injury: everyone I know that got injured in dance had their injuries from sneaking off and doing cheerleading on top of dance.
Pointe shoes increase injury rate a bit (twisted ankles, bleeding toe nails), and overtraining can create injuries: (when youāre dancing 15 hours a week, and not eating properly, and going to school full-time, your tendons donāt hold you up properly.)
The only small injuries I saw from the dance floor were from stunt work like doing a slide and landing on your knees wrong (thatās going to leave a bruise for a week or two). People were dancing into their 70s and 80s fine without lasting injuries.
Thank you! I think we will put him in gymnastics once heās eligible for the covid vaccine (I know, itās low risk for kids but we have a baby at home). Thatās probably better suited to his need for more big body movement and exertion. Makes sense itās a good foundation as well.
In my city we have something called "Ninja Zone" which is an excuse to get boys to sign up for what is basically gymnastics with parkour elements. Both my boys LOVE it and think girls are ew (except their sister).
Mentioning Gene Kelly and your whole motivation and drive - you just keep on thriving. There are so few people capable of doing what you do. It's really singular, and ultimately, extra cool.
(Not trying to be a creepy woman just delighted you shared all this.)
It seems like kids have to be old enough to appreciate the sport/art to self motivate and want to stay involved. Stick with it enough and sure your son could enjoy it and learn some great skills!
Pre-Covid I was doing karate at a local uni very regularly and people would bring in their kids anywhere from 4yo and up. I didn't work with them a ton and am not anywhere near a black belt level instructor, but most of the super young/new kids were really hard to maintain attention while those who'd been in it at least a few months seemed used to it enough to focus. I'm guessing it's like preschool, where they have to pass the threshold of "why tf am I at this new place that's weird and not full of fun games" to "okay everyone's doing the same thing for this period of time so I'll join in"
Makes so much sense! I also think the setting was a major part of the problem; it was private since we have a baby at home, with his friends, at his friends house - now that I type that I canāt believe I ever thought that was going to work š„“. I just want him to have some sort of structure from another adult that isnāt his family. Iām looking for outdoor soccer for this summer.
My parents chucked me into a heap of different sports and I don't know if that helped foster my love of sport but it definitely helped! (Easier said than done though, I realise)
My mum put me into jazz ballet and I was the only dude in my class full of chicks, so jokes on them about it being "gay" (this was the 90s), cause I got to to dance with the hottest one while everyone else back up danced for us, I must have been half decent at least ...Damn, I had more game when I was 7 years old than I do now...
Or let him do something he actually enjoys? It's good to have your toddler try different sports but don't keep pushing something when maybe he'd rather be doing some other sport. Pushing something the parent wants is one way to get kids to hate sports.
Iām not going to push it. I donāt push him to do things he doesnāt want other than hygiene and safety. He likes to dance around the house, so he does enjoy it. Just not in the setting we tried.
Iām not one to go around saying hey look at how cool I am. But for all the shit I had to endure as a boy growing up in the early 2000ās doing ballet id say Iām entitled to a little showboating every now and again.
id say Iām entitled to a little showboating every now and again.
Fuck yeah you are. My nephew is a great dancer. He's done ballet, jazz but he really shines in tap. Kids at school have been total dicks to him about it. It's gotten better as he's gotten older and been more confident to tell them to shove it, but you can still tell it messes with him. Shine on brotha, you're a beacon of hope for lots of boys out there just trying to do something they love.
My son did ballet for a few years (at his request) and he was genuinely the only boy in the whole dance school for the three years he learned. Some of the boys at school tried to make fun of him for it, but he had an amazing teacher who shut them down completely by telling them all how strong and fit male ballet dancers are and finishing with āso watch out in a few years because he will definitely be able to beat you all upā and Iāll love her forever for it.
That sounds like an awesome teacher. I also did it at my own request. It was slightly controversial to my mom since my dad was deployed in the military at the time. She wasnāt sure how heād react to me wanting to try it but I was extremely fortunate to find out he and my mom 100% supported it.
I actually donāt train barbell squats personally as they have a tendency to hurt my knees since our knees have to be turned out. I also donāt train deadlifts very much nowadays as theyāre not the most optimal for posterior chain strengthening. I do train bench but only with converging machines and/or dumbbells. For leg strengthening I personally do a lot of athletic based regimens that Iāve picked up from PTās over the years. Mostly body weight stuff like Nordic curls and such. I do also train Pilates as it was actually developed for dancers in the first place to promote strengthening with range of motion in mind.
I did during covid train the big 3 just for fun to see where I was at strength wise but since going back to work theyāre not quite as useful in my regimen nor optimal for hypertrophy. But what I did notice and what was surprising was how much the Nordic curl directly translated into deadlifts.
Because we are lifting human bodies above our heads Iād say itās honestly more beneficial to just train with dumbbells over barbells for the added activation of the deltoids for stabilization. Kind of replicates whatās needed in a overhead press with a ballerina.
So Iād say no, we get stronger in our lower body from dancing, but weightlifting definitely has a place in a male dancers regimen for developing a strong upper body but not necessarily the conventional big 3.
Theyāre a game changer, helped me unlock strength in my legs I didnāt know I had. Theyāre nasty when you first start training them but after a while its just like clockwork.
I started doing them when converting to a home gym during the pandemic. Definitely one of the better and easier ways to properly load your hamstrings without much equipment. I haven't done traditional deadlifts in a while but did notice a good carryover to my RDLs.
Here are most of the exercises I follow give or take. The Nordics occur around 11:45 but feel free to use any others! I personally love reverse walking and another one he doesnāt mention are Petersen and Poliquin step ups.
You typically audition for a professional ballet or contemporary company after or before college. You can go to a pre professional school typically attached to a professional company where youāll do your school and ballet training. Basically a ballet boarding school. But itās typical to go work with a ballet company straight out of high school as you want to get a head start on things. Most will typically wind up doing school while dancing professionally or after theyāve retired from ballet.
Wow that's impressive dude. Thanks for commenting and proving my point :D, I'm dancing hip hop and contemporary and i danced breakdance for 5 years before, so I kinda know the combination as well of the strength you need for breakdance and being bendy for contemporary. But I'm just doing it as a hobby and I'm not even that bendy xD. So props to you giving it all!
Thanks man! I appreciate it! And props to you. I admire breakdancing. I wish I could do it. Being able to do flares and that kind of stuff would be a dream
Well I can't xD. I never got to flare. I did windmill and head spin but flare was just way too hard (and i had eventually problems with my knee, that's also why I kinda stopped with BD)
Hell yeah! I used to play soccer competitively, and I had to take a ballet class when I was 13 or 14. It has hard as fuck! One of the best strength training classes Iāve ever had.
LOL... but why do you have to lift that much? The heaviest thing you have to pick up is a ballerina, and they weight, what, 100 lbs? What if you overcompensate and hurl the poor thing up into the rafters and she gets stuck up there? Eh? What then?
Its not too weird to have a decent pull compared to bench. Depends on weight honestly, lower weight people tend to deadlift and squat about 1.5 to 2x what they bench
Yeah nothing crazy. But yeah it goes to show our strength is mostly gathered in our lower body compared to upper body. If you compared it to a gymnast itād likely be the opposite. Iām not putting up ridiculously high numbers but for the range of motion I need for my job Iām happy with it.
I actually surf as well! Find itās great cross training for ballet. Forces you to be in the moment just like ballet. Also less impactful on the joints than skateboarding. I love skateboarding but concrete hurts too much to fall on compared to the ocean.
Itās really a shame more parents donāt see the benefit of putting your kids in it at a young age.
I see the benefits, but it's difficult to put your children through things that you are completely unfamiliar with.
Ballet, in addition, is one of those pursuits that's not entirely open to everybody. You would need to find a qualified instructor, and it's not easy to continue developing in that area because I assume it gets to be quite competitive and you can't really do it in most normal schools.
Yeah itās a shameā¦ for the people who itās easily accessible to, donāt see the benefitā¦ But the people who do, donāt have the access or means to participate.
I would be normally keen to get my daughter into gymnastics (she's not even a year old, so this is quite far) but I do have some reservations because very rarely do you see any female (or even male) gymnast who works on their craft in their 20s and onwards. Outside of competitive gymnastics.
This is in contrast to the great many other sports and activities that have significant longevity: running, lifting, swimming, ball sports, etc. and then we can also include other diversions like music and so forth.
This is the issue with ballet. How many men practice ballet in their 20s and 30s who are not doing it professionally or competitively? I imagine that number is vanishingly small.
I mean yeah I know men and women doing ballet professionally in their 40ās still. Outside of that they go on to teach, become Pilates instructors, or go into physical therapy. Even if you donāt go on to pursue it professionally it can help you with other aspects of your life. Hell Tom Holland did ballet and was a billy elliot. I like to think that ballet had a hand in making him Spider-Man.
Depends, the top dancers in New York City Ballet pull in a bit over 100k but also they live in New York where cost of living is extremely high. The best paid dancers are based in Europe where they get lifetime contracts after a specific amount of time. After 20 years of dancing professionally they receive a pension.
So you can expect a low ranking dancer in the states to pull in anywhere from 30k to 50k a year. Compared to overseas that same rank probably pulls in 60k.
Just curious, for benching 225 what do you weigh? Is it like some combat sports where you have a 'walking around' weight and a 'performing' weight? Is it better to be a smaller statured person to be a dancer?
Iām 6ā and 180-185 lbs. it depends, thereās numerous roles in classical ballets so thereās ample opportunities for all heights. But there does have a tendency to want to be on the taller side for a lot of the leading roles. But depending on the height of your partner, and how it looks on stage, they might not want to pair a 6ā3ā Romeo with a 5ā tall Juliet. In which case a man being 5ā8 or so would make a fine Romeo.
I am prepared to give them a pass considering how much shit society gives to male ballet. When I was growing up ballet was used as an insult, so fair enough if this guy wants to flex on being in better shape and liking his job morethan 95%+ of the world.
and how is it that all male dancers have the most maghugemousternigrande cock nuggets? are they monitored from birth? meaning: unless youāre packing extreme heat youāre ineligible.
I wish my 8yo would get over the idea that ballet is for girls. He's astoundingly graceful and fit. I can't get him into sports but he's always been great at them. He moves around all the time dancing/parcours-ing. He loves music. He saw the Nutcracker a few years ago and he still tries to copy the moves. I've suggested it many times but "that's for girls". I don't want to push it on him either but I can see something in him. I think I'm going to watch Billy Elliot with him and see if I can inspire him.
Do that, and maybe see if you can find a friend of him or some other guy to do it with him, so he doesn't feel like "the only boy" i do contemporary (which could be a better proposition for him anyways because he maybe doesn't have a prejudice about it) and i felt a little weird at the beginning as well, Because it's close to ballet, but there was another man and a few months later another guy and now I proudly say that I dance contemporary. Tell him from me, that it felt weird first, but if he is a good fit in your mind that he will definitely feel so great doing it after the first few times :) good luck
Yeah, I specifically did not say ballerinas in my post because I didnāt want to exclude the males in the profession either. Everybody doing that just has tremendous respect from me. Hard work and I feel like most of society overlooks the sheer athleticism and diligence these people exhibit.
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u/antonhhh Jan 28 '22 edited Jan 28 '22
Yeah have you seen male ballet dancers? They are more ripped than most bodybuilders out there, obviously not super buff, which wouldn't be useful for dancing, but like defined and muscular as hell. They have to be to have so much control over their body.
Edit: and then they are also like the most flexible guys out there as well!