Film heroes transform boys’ stance on ballet
GRACE made global stars of Rudolph Nureyev and Carlos Acosta – while the story of a miner’s son from Co Durham turned principal ballet dancer made Billy Elliot a film sensation.
Yet it has remained difficult to convince young boys there is nothing soft about pirouettes, pas de deux and jetés. Now the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) wants to crack the age-old problem by swapping classical repertoires for stories inspired by superheroes.
It beat its target of signing up 1,000 boys to masterclasses – 1,046 are involved – and saw a 16 per cent rise in boys taking exams, from 1,127 in 2013 to 1,316 last year. Instead of following a traditional repertoire of fairytales and princes, boys are encouraged to ape superheroes and characters from films and video games such as Transformers,
Angry Birds, Star Wars and Toy Story. Iain Mackay, RAD’s new male dance ambassador, says the secret lies in encouraging them to view ballet the same way they see sport – as “cool”, physical, aspirational and addictive.
He was given a lesson by his own son Oscar, six, who said ballet was “girly”. Mr Mackay said: “I taught ballet using traditional methods, but I could see the boys weren’t really engaging. And when I took Oscar to his first class it was a sea of pink and white. He said it didn’t look like they were having any fun. So I thought about the things boys relate to.” Now Oscar likes the sword fights in his father’s rehearsals, but doesn’t think of it as “ballet”.
Initially reluctant Evan Paterson, nine, of Dunbar, East Lothian, is a regular at the classes and is taking exams. “I like expressing my feelings and how you can jump high,” he said. Mr Mackay asks the boys to end routines with a pose and Evan picked a rock guitarist: “I thought that it would be cool.” Mr Mackay said: “If they like Trans
formers I ask them to hold themselves with their chests out and heads up. Then I explain ‘that’s the position Acosta stands in’.”