Athletic Men In Tights

by Caitlin Duffy

The movie, Centerstage, played a key role in educating today's teens about what it really takes to be a ballet dancer. It exhibited many aspects of the world of ballet, including the incredible athleticism required of the male ballet dancer. The high leaps, turns, jumps and lifts that male dancers have to perform and perfect require incredible athleticism, a good attitude and a passion for dance.

Ballet is something that Sascha Rudetsky and Angel Correla of the American Ballet Theater understand very well. Many will know Rudetsky as Charlie from the movie Centerstage. Angel Correla is a principle dancer in the ABT and is well known in the dance world. Both men helped to inform TeenSpeak of the world of the male ballet dancer.

At a rehearsal of the ABT, TeenSpeak got better than front row seats just in front of the mirrors where we witnessed first hand how much athleticism ballet takes. In one corner of the studio, a male dancer was doing pushups, sit-ups, chin-ups and other strengthening exercises. Center-studio, Angel was lifting a ballerina way up over his head. She was maintaining what is called a "passe pose." It appeared as if he were carrying her in the palm of his hand. Breathless, we saw the muscles of both female and male dancers visibly. "Ballet is definitely physical activity," Rudetsky told us later in an interview, and from what we saw in the rehearsal rooms that afternoon, his answer is well justified.

Rudetsky describes ballet as a sport that requires its participants to be well equipped with the following abilities. "You need talent, huge natural ability, good training, and a good body. You have to be smart, have to be able to learn quickly, you have to be strong, and you have to be able to jump and turn. You need infectious energy when you are on stage probably first and foremost. You have to have a huge presence on stage." He commented that some people think of male ballet dancers as "Not men or something – sissies. But that is not the case."

Angel Correla in the Pied Piper

Pictured left to right, Rachel Stockman, Caitlin Duffy, Sasha Rudetsky and Neda Jafar