Men en pointe: ballet dancers kick against gender stereotypes

Performing on the tips of the toes is part of the mystique of a female ballerina but male dancers devoted to the pointe technique want to be taken more seriously

I was always attracted to pointe shoes. They were like magic! I wondered: Why can only girls use them?" Ivan Felix is a 24-year-old ballet dancer from Mexico who has been dancing en pointe for three years. I think that many people look down on the men who dance in pointe shoes because they think it is very easy, or we do it because we cannot dance as a man in a traditional way," adds Felix who dances for Les Ballets Eloelle in New York, a company in which all the roles - often comic - are played by men.

Since the art of pointe work was popularised in 1823 by Amalia Brugnoli, the form has become part of the mystique of the female ballerina, while men use floorwork and execute incredible jumps and athletic movements. When male dancers have performed en pointe in the past, it has traditionally been for comedic effect, not to showcase skill. For example, men who portray Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream have to pair a giant donkey's head with hoof-like movements in pointe shoes. Now, male ballet dancers en pointe want to be taken more seriously.