I received a phone call last week asking if there was room in one of our tap classes for a seven-year-old boy.  After pointing out that we indeed did have space, I heard a very familiar question:

“Are there any other boys in the class?”

While our dance classes are not gender-specific, our current dance roster is almost exclusively female. At some point in the last several decades, contemporary dance styles became something only girls do.  Boys should never appear “happy,” nor demonstrate flexibility, and they should never, ever wear tights.

If this is all true, I’m not sure what to do about this:

Or this:

Or even this:

If you’re a parent that has contemplated putting your son in dance because, yes, he’s actually interested in it, do it! Dancing is cool.

Click here for another helpful article describing the benefits of putting boys in dance, among them being confidence, self-expression, and discipline.

Perhaps at Starlight Studios, we can make dancing cool for boys again.