Ballerino?

Ballet, the graceful, beautiful, technical style of dance that serves as the fundamentals of the way in which we see artists perform, is not just a girl sport. First, let's establish that it is indeed a sport, with sport's definition described as "an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others." Ballerinas go through excruciating pains in order to perform. They dance against hundreds of other dancers in order to be casted for that one spot: the lead role. This long-standing debate of whether dance is classified as a sport may be the driving force to the misinterpretations of the people who actually take part in this art.

The ideologies that are associated with the "aesthletes" (aesthetic athletes) who do ballet are that they are typically thin, attractive females. Any male ballerina, or ballerino as I like to call it, is assumed to be homosexual, or is simply not as easily accepted in society. Why is that? He is a male, typically built, doing a sport just like society wants him to. It's because he is a part of a sport that is not accepted as a "sport" from the rest of society. The physical contact is a touch or a lift, rather than a tackle or a kick. The delicate part of the art correlates into femininity, and is viewed as only that. Men who take part in this "delicate," but just as difficult (if not more) aspect are considered feminine, and therefore gay by the rest of the people in this culture.

We may not have realized how far gender roles and ideologies have affected our culture, spreading out to our recreational activities. People don't realize that even the toughest football players are required to take ballet classes for strengthening. Apparently football isn't a manly enough sport to do that on its own? Generalizing ballet inhibits one of knowing what exactly ballet does for a dancer.