An incredibly difficult SPORT that most people do not believe is a sport.
Ballet requires a great level of dedication and discipline. When
ballet dancers reach a certain level of advancement, the begin to dance
en pointe, or on
pointe shoes, which are shoes with a very
stiff toe so the dancer can be supported when standing on her/his toes. Ballet is known to the majority of people as a "sissy" thing, something that only girly-girls and gay men do. Lots of rude and misinformed people mock ballet dancers by prancing around and pretending to wear a
tutu. In fact, it has been proven that ballet boosts coordination and even IQ. It is actually much harder that football. There are a great many steps and technicalities to each move; you have to maintain a
turnout and pointed feet. Boys/men often do lots of lifting, but they also dance, too. In very professional companies there is the corphee who is the leader of the corps de ballet (they ensemble dancers) and there is the
prima ballerina who is the highest dancer there is in a company. All professional dancers must have huge amounts of strength, flexibility, and poise. The key to being a successful
ballerina (in addition to have memorized all the steps, being flexible and strong, being dedicated, etc.) is to be able to mask your HUGE effort and make it look easy.
Example:
Football Player: You are so gay, you take
ballet and you are a boy and you wear tights! Sissy! *imitates ballet badly*
Male
Ballet Dancer:...well... It's actually pretty hard...
Ballet Teacher: *appears* Ok, let's have 25 grand battements on each side and then eight plie-double-pirouettes at the
barre, then
adagio at the center with promenade-plie-lift-to-attitude-plie-bring-to-passe-balance...
Football Player: *runs away*
Male Ballet dancer &
Ballerinas: *do combination perfectly*
I am not saying that all football players act that way, I'm just stating that that is a common sterotype.