Revisiting the Dangerous Agenda

I  attended a (significant) birthday celebration for a ballet buddy of mine this weekend and was talking with one of the other guests, who is retired professional dancer, RBS Upper School graduate and a respected teacher.

We were chatting as you do  at such things and how I came to know the Birthday Girl came up  and  then that progressed into a bit about me, my dancing history and my story ...

The Dangerous Agenda came up in discussion, specifically how I had fallen out  quite vocally with  someone on an internet forum  about  whether  young  lads of  11/12/13 years old who have been taking class  thus far with their female peers should  when it comes to Intermediate Foundation and Intermediate VGEs, also  continue to take to class with them and  both  male and female students cover  both the  schemes of work  for development purposes even if they  intend to  take  one or other of the gendered assessments for this award.

  
The teacher I was talking to agreed that this was actually pretty sensible and would develop  the dancers,  and  putting the lads on pointe  would strengthen their feet and ankles  as well as give them  a better appreciation of how,  should they progress further , their partners would be dancing ... and that the girls should be encouraged to develop and strengthen  as dancers with the 'male' grand allegro ...  

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