why don't men dance on pointe?

Question

Is it because they are too heavy? I know all ballet dancers were once men, and soon after women came onto the scene pointe shoes were introduced. So why haven't men ever danced that way?

Answer 1

The original reason for pointe shoes was to achieve the image of a floating or flying ballerina. This is the same reason the man lifts the woman during a pas de deux. The illusion of flight wasn't necessary for men.

Answer 2

My boyfriend is a professional dancer and he told me that it's a combination of men being too heavy, and the aesthetic image of a delicate, dainty female dancer en pointe is preferred.
There are some roles where male dancers will dance en pointe, and there is also a company called Ballet Trockadero, where the men dance en pointe (they are a kind of ballet drag company and they are all dressed as female impersonators!). But these are the exception rather than the rule.

http://www.trockadero.org/

Answer 3

Some men do dance en pointe, but this is usually a special situation, such as dancing in Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (men dressing as women).

And, interestingly enough, pointe shoes weren't really "introduced." At first, women were suspended by cables and wires and such and stuffed their flat shoes to make them look less substantial. (Pointe shoes as we know them today were eventually invented, slowly but surely) That may be the real reason why men don't dance en pointe. Men are, ideally, strong and forceful, definitely not delicate as the illusion of dancing en pointe entails.

I hope this helps!

Answer 4

Some men do dance on pointe, actually, but only on rare occasions. Why men don't normally is basically because no choreographer ever wrote a ballet calling for male toe-dancers. From a physical standpoint males are perfectly capable of the maneuver. It is normally the women in pointe because They want to portray women as beautiful elegance, not a romping hippopotamus! The men who do dance on pointe usually do it to strengthen their feet and arch.

Answer 5

Actually sometimes men do dance on pointe. I know in one ballet there is a guy who is supposed to be a donkey or something and he dances on pointe to give the illusion of hoofs (I want to say it is A Midsummer Nights Dream, but am not 100% sure though).

Answer 6

The whole point :) to dancing on pointe is to extend the leg into a more graceful, thinner, and more delicately feminine physique. It definitely does this, and that is why men generally do not do it.

I think in Dance of the Swans, in Nutcracker Suite, the guy does pointe a little bit while leaping and does some tiptoeing around the girl, but they are supposed to be swans doing a courtship dance of birds. If you don't remember this, or the costumes are not birdlike, it looks bad.

Answer 7

Sometimes men DO dance on pointe! But usually in a company that features it.

Check out the link.

Answer 8

I think it looks way too feminine to dance on pointe, that's why.

When I think of a male dancer, I picture him doing powerful leaps across the stage. Not exactly a pointe charachter.

Answer 9

some men do some just know when to do the move some r just lost in the source

Answer 10

because we aint stupid