When I first joined dance class, I was really excited to see how many people would be in the class, but there were barely any people in the class, though I didn’t think of anything at the moment. As time passes by, day after day, I would think, there’s barely any boys in dance class, even in other periods there’s barely any boys, either one or two, or there’s none at all. But why?
It could be the genre of dance that they don’t want to do or aren’t interested in and want to do something else, like jazz, ballet, contemporary, krumping, b-boy (breakdancing), K-Pop or hip-hop, which most boys do. Even our dance club, Dance Moanalua, barely has any boys throughout the school year. It starts out pretty big more than 7 boys in the club, but as soon as EXPO auditions pass and we go into the preparation for Moanalua Elementary School’s Fun Fair, it drops heavily, mainly because of the Music Department also having their rehearsals in that same time stamp, yet there’s people in dance class who’s also in the music department at the same time.
However, the more that I dance and/or watch my favorite dance crew from New Zealand, The Royal Family, the more that I wonder why there aren’t more guys in any dance program. Even in The Royal Family, the guys are either in the back, or they aren’t shown as much, but if they are, then they’re doing masculine and simple moves that isn’t eye catching to the viewer, mainly doing partner work with the girls. However, the girls in that same crew are more powerful moves, sometimes simple, but more eye catching to the viewer, even during the partner work in a performance. It could be based on the choreography, the genre, or the choreographer, but it tends to be more powerful towards one side and never the other, so what I’m making sure next year after my first year of dance, it won’t apply to one side or the other, everyone will be doing the same thing, masculine or feminine.
Even with choreography, it can be based on the person’s genre, what they’re more comfortable and more dominant with. I’m more dominant with fast, sharp movement and hip-hop genre, so that’s what I mainly enjoy, but other times I would also do different types of movement, like slow, flowy movement and jazz genre, or the one thing that people look down on and make fun of a lot based on their view, feminine movements. The question I always ask myself is, “Why do people make fun of boys dancing? Is it because they do sports and think that dance is for girls? Is it because they think that the boys who dance like girly things? Or is it because they think that they’re homosexual?” All of those questions I wonder while I’m dancing, or while I’m watching videos.
Even while I’m performing, I wonder about those questions while I’m giving my all on the dance floor in front of people, but now I realize, dancing is overlooked as a hobby or a career meant for girls, and that’s fine. Hip-Hop Dance also has boys, but it’s rare to see them performing in public with the equal number of girls in the crew.
Sure, there’s barely any boys, but it’s better performing with a bit of boys than performing as a boy with all girls, which is what I have to deal with now in dance class, but at least it’s better than nothing, and I’m glad that I get a chance to dance without any sort of backlash from anyone.
