TV Commercials

[Jutty1224]

It seems like all the TV commercials that feature ballet, its only female dancers that are featured. Its like they are trying to send a message thats its only for girls. I think it would make a different if they made televison commercials featuring boys as dancers.

[Tuesday]

I don't watch a lot of TV and I don't remember many commercials featuring ballet. I think these all girl dancer commercials are just a symptom of the larger problem that male dancers face in terms of how they are viewed by society at large. To have boys doing ballet in TV commercials (and not as a joke), I think we'd have to overhaul the general population's misconceptions about dance and particularly about males involved with dance.

 

Maybe these new dance competition shows will cause the average person to think differently about men and boys who dance...what do you think?

[Mel Johnson]

What they do on the dance competition shows isn't ballet. Or when it is, it's either not well-done, or the "judges" disparage the discipline as a whole.

[Tuesday]

Mr. Johnson--I've heard about the quality and type of dancing on the shows. Even my 11 yr old DS knows it leaves a lot to be desired, and isn't interested in watching the show beyond the train-wreck of the audition clips, haha!

 

The general public isn't aware of technique, though, and my thought is that maybe just seeing men participating in dance might make people more open to the idea that dancing is something all sorts of different types of guys do...as in not just effeminate men as is often (erroneously) the misconception.

[Mel Johnson]

It might, but I suspect the sneering that goes on about ballet on that show is heard more readily.

[Tuesday]

Oh, that's too bad. Since I don't watch the show and was told there wasn't any ballet being done, I assumed it wasn't being discussed at all.

[Mel Johnson]

It does show up now and then, and when it does, it gets attitude:

 

"Oh, that's all very well, but not really relevant. Excellent discipline, though."

[Hamorah]

I think the problem with these dance competition TV programmes is that they're searching for the most versatile dancer, rather than the best dancer in any particular discipline. Basically the ones that advance are all modern dancers, because they find it easier to do the various off-shoots of the contemporary dance scene. However, the moment they're asked to do anything vaguely resembling classical ballet, the deficiencies in their training (or lack of it) show up. I think that anyone who really concentrates on classical training, even if they study the other disciplines, is not going to be versatile enough to succeed. So yes, it does promote the acceptance of male dancers, but you still won't see them in tights and classical tunic on these shows, so that their "macho-ness" is not compromised.

[EMM]

Here are a few examples of ads aired on television involving men dancing ballet (not the US though):

 

- Hospital environment, man (doctor?) starting to dance as his mobile has a piece from Swan lake as ring signal (ad for ring signals)

 

- Theatre setting, pas-de-deux on stage, Swan lake again of course (something to do with mobile telephones but can't remember what)

 

- Ad for some food-stuff with the catch-phrase "What do you do when xx is doing the job for you?" showing short clips of people different things such as juggling and a couple doing a pas-de-deux in the kitchen wearing normal clothes.

[slhogan]

Well, it's definately not an American commercial and probably doesn't do anything to strengthen the reputation of male ballet dancers, by my husband and I got a big kick out of this beer commercial--

[Ericka]

It does show up now and then, and when it does, it gets attitude:

 

"Oh, that's all very well, but not really relevant. Excellent discipline, though."

 

I dunno. I think my boys' perception is that they're helping make the notion of boys dancing more "cool," at least to their peers. On the other hand, my boys haven't received much of any flak for dancing, so perhaps their peers are more enlightened to begin with ;-) The dancing isn't ballet, but just the idea of it being cool to do *any* kind of dance seems to be encouraging to them. They feel like they're a part of it, even though ballet isn't represented on the shows and they don't have any urge to do anything but ballet.

 

Best wishes,

Ericka

[Hamorah]

Well, it's definately not an American commercial and probably doesn't do anything to strengthen the reputation of male ballet dancers, by my husband and I got a big kick out of this beer commercial--

 

 

I loved it, slhogan - great commercial! That's what my boy student used to say - what's wrong with dancing with twenty leotard clad girls?

[Tuesday]

That commercial is a riot! Thanks for posting the link, slhogan.

[Garyecht]

Were I a young boy knowing what I know now I’d rush to take ballet classes if for no other reason than I’d be in a room full of attractive females all wearing leotards and who think I’m cool because I’m there. Forget the artistic development, this goes right to the heart of the young male’s brain. If it weren’t for that &^%* teen self consciousness, it would be a great marketing approach.

 

As a dance style, I do think ballet is essentially feminine, which most young males perceive immediately. Ask the person on the street what they think when they think of ballet and I’d guess you will most likely will hear about dancing on pointe and wearing tutus, not very masculine. That you find boys a huge minority in ballet classes all over the world suggests it’s just that way. Of course, not all boys think that way, but they are a minority.

 

Other dance styles are different. In the competitive ballroom world, though there are more females than males who take lessons and compete, the male-female ratio is more like 45%-55% I’d estimate. I’ve never taken a tap class, but I’d guess that the male-female ratio in tap is higher than in ballet, judging from the popularity of male tap stars.

[Clara 76]

From my neck of the woods, the ratio is the same; about 2 boys for every 10 girls in tap classes.

 

I personally think that the reason for all the male tap stars is because it is seen as a more "masculine" form of dance, because of the heavy 'hitting'. Many of those same male stars are a bit chauvanist preferring to 'hang' with the guys. They'll teach the girls but in performance and when choosing proteges, will pick a male every time.

 

I think the only way to make all forms of dance 'acceptable' to everyone is to get the arts back into our public schools, and not just by hiring an art teacher, but by actually incorporating the arts into all learning.