He Wants to Be a Ballerina. He Has Taken the First Steps.

[Demovictory9]

For the first time in modern ballet history, a male dancer is performing as part of the female ensemble at an international ballet company, signaling an important moment in an art form that often celebrates a particular ideal of femininity. Or, as the great choreographer George Balanchine said, “ballet is woman.”

But in a world with a heightened awareness of gender fluidity, and with transgender people increasingly accepted in a variety of professions, including acting and modeling, ballet is taking its own brave leap.

“I want to be seen as a ballerina,” said Mr. Johnsey, an American, who identifies as gender fluid but uses male pronouns. “My hair is up, I wear makeup, female attire. I am able to do female roles and look the part, so that is artistically what I do.”

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Mr. Johnsey is not appearing on point in “Sleeping Beauty,” but in what are known as character, or soft-shoe, dances, with costumes less revealing than those for point-work roles. His path even to these appearances has been arduous. Since beginning work at English National Ballet, he has lost 20 pounds, with the help of a nutritionist, and worked with both a physical trainer and a company ballet mistress, Loipa Araújo, to retrain and reshape his body.

“I am a small, petite guy, but I am a man,” Mr. Johnsey, who is 5 feet 5, said. “My shoulders are wider, my calves are bigger, the textures of my muscles are different.” He added, “I had to cannibalize my body, make it run on energy from muscles and figure out how to lose muscle mass without losing strength.”

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Mr. Johnsey, center, in a scene from the English National Ballet’s “The Sleeping Beauty.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/08/arts/dance/the-first-man-dancing-in-a-female-corps-de-ballet.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

[lunatica]

1. Kicking down doors and shattering glass ceilings!!

And taking no prisoners!

What’s not to love?! ❤️❣️👍

[Demovictory9]

2. yep

[Initech]

3. Yes! More of this please!

[monmouth4]

6. And, a beautiful face..n/t

[PJMcK]

4. Not sure about this

Could this be considered a situation where a man is going to take a job away from a woman?

[joshcryer]

5. I think he's a rare once a generation thing, look at his performance:

I don't see this becoming a "thing" where men rush to become leading ballerinas. It's not easy to pull this stuff off with such elegance especially for a man.

[chowder66]

7. Wonderful performance! Wow.

And are the tights on the partner made of liquid?