THOSE LATE TO CLASS... BALLET CLASS by Dane Youssef Being tardy to take up ballet is no crime or sin. Most males get into the "most feminine of art forms" late in life. A boy under 17 having anything at all to do with ballet--that can be hazardous to one's health. So any and all boys even so much as trying it... better know how to keep it under wraps. Keep your slippers, dance belt and "man-tights" under your mattress. The deepest, darkest secret... It's true, the art and form of ballet is extremely dainty and feminine. And boys doing anything ever at all like that can get one killed in the course of one recess. But... things are changing. It's a different time, it's a whole new world. Look once upon a time, only men were allowed to dance ballet--back in the dark ages, the 1500's back when it first came out. Back when ballet wasn't really ballet, but it was really more like "ballroom dancing with heavy, clunky costumes." Over time, ballet really evolved--becoming more acrobatic and gymnastic. More of a marvel, a superhuman impossibility. So of course, now the ladies are just better equipped to "do the ballet"--period. There's no speculation about it. One of the things women were just naturally meant to shine in... above all. Anyone out there know the actor Jeff Fahey? At the age of twenty-five, he started taking ballet class. Hell, he even received a full scholarship to dance with the Joffrey. ABT soloist Misty Copeland was thirteen when she took it up. Those hard-core, 48-karat ballet-aficionados--the authorities themselves on the craft will be the first tell you... you can be ANY AT ALL AGE TO DO BALLET! If you wish to try and make a living at it--well yeah, it best to start pre-pubescent. But... if you just want to do it... you can do it. Just do it. But well... talk to your doctor. No, really... like taking a prescription drug. You do have to be in decent health to do something as strenuous as ballet, the hardest, most difficult... the most damning of all exercises, all sports. All endeavors. If you can flourish in ballet, literally anything else will seem ridiculously easy after that. Believe you me... So... long rant short (though it may be too late for that now), if you want to... just dance. It's what life's all about. --My Sincerity (and to all the late bloomers), Dane Youssef