a note from Men-On-Pointe the company that I currently work for...
Men-on-Pointe is a offshoot of a genre of ballet called “male comedy ballet”
which continues a long tradition of men portraying women’s roles that began in ancient Greece,
and continued during the Roman Empire, in Elizabethan England, the Muronachi period in Japan,
and between the Renaissance and Baroque periods in France.
"Male comedy ballet" began when Larry Rae created the original Gloxinia Trocadero Ballet Company, where men dressed as ballerinas and performed parodies of ballets in small venues in New York City during the 1970’s.
Though male ballet students have been known to try pointe shoes for fun, or as an effort to strengthen the in-steps of their feet, the art of pointe work had been performed exclusively by women since the 19th century up until the creation of Gloxinia Trocadero Ballet Company.
Outside “male comedy ballet” there have been a few ballets created for conventional ballet companies where a man danced en pointe.
The current evolution of dance in the 21 Century has taken male dancing to its highest technical level. We are committed in maintaining these expectations by pushing the boundaries of male pointe technique while striving for excellence and quality. Free from the constraints of stereotypes, our dancers combine strength and lyricism, pointe work and virtuosity, creating a unique theatrical experience that has never been seen before. We seek to make an important impact in the dance community and raise the quality of male pointe technique in our goal to make it a valid and respectable art form.
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