Thoughts for the Day

In the syllabus' I have trained in and now teach, we have set exercises for boy's and set exercises for girl's. In today's society does this reach the needs of our current population? In an article I recently posted, it was discussed that some professional Ballet dancers may not stick to their assigned gender class. Female Ballet dancers join the Male classes and the Male dancers will join the Female classes. The dancers feel there abilities are pushed further and they have a lot more potential than they originally thought however, when going back to the performance, they dance their female or male roles.

Looking into the history of dance and why male and females were trained differently, it shows there is a reason for this. It could be due to physic and physical development, emotional development and emotional maturity. But in today's society, people don't just identify with male or female so how can and should dance meet modern day society?

The syllabus' I currently teach haven't been changed in many years so does this need to be reviewed to meet the needs of the current generation? Even the uniform the students wear is designed for either male or female dancers. When I took my teacher training, my ballet teacher explained to me how I should dance differently when teaching a girl and how I should dance differently when teaching a boy. I should dance more fluid and with softer arms when teaching girls but be more strong, broad with the shoulders and precise with movements when teaching boys. During my training I trusted my teacher that this was and is the correct way but looking further into my inquiry I am seeing that this may not be the case.