your question couldn't be further from the truth. while there are some gay dancers of course; the ones i've met are the extreme opposite: male whores. when i toured with my ballet company the male dancers were "hitting" anything in a tutu!

I'm disappointed that not a one of you seemed to blink at the use of the highly pejorative word "fag" here. On the contrary, most of you (male and female) rushed to defend ballet from the apparent slight of harboring gay men.
What *exactly* would the problem be if 1/3 of the men involved in ballet were gay? 1/2? 2/3rds? would it ruin your viewing experience? would that make any of those men less capable soloists and partners?

Wow, the original poster was an idiot. But no, not all male ballet dancers are gay. I speak from 12 yrs of experience. When I danced with Oakland only 2 of the 10 of males dancing with the company were gay. I still dance ballet and I’m still not gay. I think ballet has nothing to do with sexual preference. As far as tights are concerned our American forefathers used to run around in tights and silk Capri pants.

Well, ya know, er, ummm, I see you're unsubscribed--hmm, an elusive one!

It makes little difference what a dancing man prefers (men or women). If one is focused on the next step, and the movements that one creates ballet with, then one is focused on what is most important.

Yes, there are gay men dancing, and there are straight men dancing ballet. That's just like any other endeavor one might get involved with.

I recommend that you sign up to learn ballet, if this is your wish. What others think about your choice is not important. It;s more important to fulfill your own desires. You can be a macho dancer, or you can be less than macho. Dance is a creative art. Dance class helps you find personal balance, and strengthens all muscle groups. You can't ask for a better workout! Once you excel in the basics, you might go on to a partnering class, and find the exhuberance of the opposite sex.

So yes, buy the uniform of dance (for men, tights, tee shirt, dance belt), take class, and enjoy.

Keep On Dancing!

Mohabee

Hokay... soh, NO. Not all male dancers are gay. Of course not! A lot of them may come across as gay, simply because the dancer's lifestyle lends them to appear more "metrosexual" aka: dressing nicely, hair combed and styled, and speaking properly. Dance is simply a female-dominated sport. You always see a majority of women in the dance world, which makes it easier for men to get parts in dance companies and productions - but it also makes it much harder for them to excel, because their standards are placed much higher: they have to jump higher, dance faster, turn better and do everything ten times harder than women do. Women and men, at least in classical ballet, have different performance standards, just because A: their bodies are just physically developed differently in terms of muscle and bone structure, and B: their cultural standards have stereotyped them into different cultural roles and thus their dancing styles differ because they are developed to portray those roles in society. Men in classical ballet emulate Machismo - slow, loud, booming music with a lot of big high jumps and powerful turns. Women in classical ballet have been sculpted to emulate beauty and delicacy, dancing en pointe whilst flitting on air with precision and grace. Now, these roles may be crossed from time to time, such as in "Le Spectre De La Rose," which is a male solo choreographed to portray the feeling that a woman gets when she gets a rose, and a man is cast to dance and portray that rose. A man dresses in all pink, and is decked in rose petals and dances with gushy flourishes and emotion. When this ballet came out, it was a huge controversy, because before then, men were expected to be MANLY in ballet - not fluffy pink rose petals prancing about stage for five minutes. However, in modern-day society, gender roles have been allowed to be bent, since our consciousnesses are expending and we are realizing that it is not all that important to rely upon a gender "assignment." and that we are free to explore who we really are on the inside and out without people dictating who we should and should not be. So, all in all, dance is full of gay men, but there are gay women as well (just not as many... aka: me!), and also many straight and bisexuals as well. Men in ballet are portrayed as MEN - strong and boisterous. However, on the inside, they may also be the biggest fairies in the world. ;-)

P.S. - if you EVER think that wearing tights just to get a chance to "hit that" is going to give you an opportunity to get with a dancer, think again. It's a pretty big turn-off to a dancer chick when a guy comes to ballet class to make a fool out of himself just because he likes his girls flexible. Don't tell them thats why you're there either - you're cruising for a laugh or a slap in the face, and I'm not sure which one you'd prefer, but that's all you're going to get.

Seriously? Did you seriously ask that? Like you have to be a "fag" as you so delicatly put it to be a great male dancer? As far as I am concerned that shows how much faith you have in the straight men of the world. That is like asking, Are all women mechanics dykes? Seriously, this is atrocious. Like they have a test, you must be this gay to be a ballet dancer! I date a professional ballet dancer, (A woman) and I will tell you that if you go in there with that attitude, you are going to be laughed at, made fun of and down sized in front of everyone, until you want to quit. Dancers are not ALL gay, but you should know a GOOD chunk of the women ARE. And if they are not, dancers definatly have a way of being incredibly open and sexually comfortable enough to where if you go in there using a word as harsh as fag, you are going to be shunned, if not removed. Dancers are really awesome people, they don't go around questioning their sexuality for fear of being looked at as a "fag". They dance because they want to, because they have heart, and strength, and the desire to perform, not the desire to "hit that" I will tell you, all of the female dancers wont take one look at you... I agree with the comment above, the men don't want to hear that shit either. This is a rediculous question, and just goes to show what an ass you are for asking it, and how little educated and desperate you are for asking it. It is much harder than wearing tights and dancing to 50 cent. Don't belittle an art that takes so much talent by asking something like that, and I have NEVER danced a day in my life! You won't make it a week. Us "fags" will continue to overpopulate the dance world though, because that IS what we steriotypically do. Isn't it? Seriously, grow up. Just knowing you like the female dancers doesn't make you like ballet...it makes you unappreciative of the art and hard work itself.