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Old 10-17-2006, 10:11 PM   #14 (permalink)
steffib
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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I am by no means an expert in this - but I work with an (ATS) troupe that has a male dancer. I have a fairly straight-forward view on the issue, and within our parameters, things seems to be quite simple:

When it comes to our male troupe member as a dancer who is part of the troupe, I consider him a dancer, and I could not care less about gender - what matters is technique and teamwork. It seems only fair to expect him to perform all moves with the same precision as everybody else, some moves may come easier to him, others may not, but that happens to females, as well. He happens to be really smart, so he tends to have a prominent role when an anchor dancer is needed.

When it comes to the more free artistic expression, he is definitely different than I am as a female. At performances, we like to do duets, in part inspired by a great video I have seen of Tarik and Morocco. It is undeniable that we are a male and a female, which gives our performances a special energy and makes it a heck of a lot of fun to go with that flow (both of us are in a long-term relationship not with each other, and I am 10 years older). We don't try to be anything we are not, that is just what we both like to do.

In a recent performance, when he had a solo, he came around and flirted with us girls (we were seated on straw bales around the stage - and at least one of the group is 20 years older than he is!). Again, that was light-hearted, cheerful and somewhat humorous.

That's my personal, very positive experience with male dancing.
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