Thoughts from a male dancer

As a male dancer you will face many challenges as you grow up. You will come across many people with different assumptions and opinions of you just because you dance. It's very important to never forget why we love what we do and to push through when you come across any roadblocks. Growing up dancing will always give you a label, this is just something we have to come to terms with and completely rock being the “dance boy”.

Feeling included in school is very important because you are there the majority of the day when you're not at the studio. Something that I have noticed is, due to the fact that dancers are a minority among your peers and teachers it's hard for students to feel as though they can connect to you. A great solution I have found for this is sharing all of your interests besides dance. Not only will your classmates learn more about you but, you will see that people open up to you more and share more about their specific interests as well.

Something I have noticed throughout all my years of dancing is that companies are granting scholarships or awards to males to encourage them to get in the industry. Don’t get me wrong I think it's great that there are slowly becoming more male dancers, but this is not an excuse to not work hard or expect an award with minimal effort. It's important for us males to create a strong image for ourselves because we should never take for granted the number of us and the advantage we may have. Yet, it is key that we work to our own fullest potential and earn something on our own merits.