Role of sexes getting mixed up

By Olivene Godfrey

A number of years ago in the waiting room of a doctor's office, I overheard a small boy ask his father, " Daddy, if you call a lady ballet dancer a ballerina, what do you call a man ballet
dancer?"  The father thought for a few minutes, a puzzled expression on his face and, and answered, " Well, I don't really know".  The youngster persisted, " Do you call the man a balleter or a balleteer?"

The father laughed and replied he didn't think so.  I smiled listening to the conversation, thinking of the hundreds of questions son Barry asked when he was a child that I couldn't answer.  Then, I thought, "Well, what do you call a male ballet dancer? This was before the personal computer and Internet  so I looked up "ballet in World Book encyclopedia and found no simple answer.

"Ballerina",female ballet dancer, and "Prima Ballerina, the principal dancer of a ballet terms were listed,but no mention of a male ballet dancer. Out of curiosity recently, I asked Barry to do some research on the web about ballet terms. According to this information, Italy and France, have various terms for male ballet dancers. But, in the English speaking world, boys or men who dance classical ballet are referred to as male ballet dancers.

Speaking of World Book, Barry who has since childhood had a thirst for knowledge, was about eight years old  when we bought the encyclopedia. And, he spent that summer reading all the volumes.  To this day, if I ask him a question, no matter the subject, he usually knows the answer or he will look it up right away.  I call him my Mister Encyclopedia.

See you next time.