In mid-July, Queensland Ballet launched The Ballet Boys Project, to address a downward trend of male ballet enrolments which is a potential sustainability issue for the artform.

As the first initiative of the project, Queensland Ballet is offering free weekly classes to boys aged 11 – 14, at the centres of Queensland Ballet (West End) and Queensland Ballet Academy (Kelvin Grove).

The classes have already been well received, reaching families from Coffs Harbour, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts and Yeppoon. Leading professional male teachers are mentoring the boys and delivering male-specific ballet technique coaching. Classes are fully subsidised, with no uniform requirements and no auditions.

The Ballet Boys Project. Photo © David Kelly

Company Artist Callum Mackie notes, “There is that stigma still around men in dance. Not just classical ballet, but just men in dance in general.”

The Ballet Boys Project aims to change this narrative and build a safe support network of likeminded boys who can be encouraged by male dancers pursuing their love of ballet.

Director of Queensland Ballet Academy Christian Tàtchev observed that the decline of male dancers was not only unique to their own...