Ballet Man

The Eastern European drill sergeant threw a seven-year-old boy out in the first ten minutes.

Welcome to ballet class.

It was Ezra’s first day of ballet and it was a whole new culture.  I figured it would be.  I just didn’t count on it being like this.

This man, ballet man, had just come from Hungary, where he taught in the state-sponsored boarding academy for ballet.  Ballet man was not going to tolerate the shenanigans of a badly behaved American child.

When the child was talking, ballet man yelled, “NO interruptions.”

When the child was making funny faces to get the other students in the all-boy class to laugh, ballet man yelled, “Stop IMMEDIATELY.”

When the child sat on the floor after being asked to get in line, ballet man threw the child out of the class.

I nearly stood up and cheered.

Why do people put up with so much crap from boys?  I of all people know that raising men is a process, and that you can’t expect them to be grown when they are not grown. But we can, I think, expect them to stand when told to do so by a teacher.

I wasn’t sure how Ezra would react to having his comrade ejected.  (Ha – you thought the miscreant was Ez, didn’t you?)  But he didn’t seem phased.  I think that’s because ballet man was more than just strict; he was warm and encouraging.  As he was telling the boys to keep their arms up for an uncomfortably long time, he said, “You must get strong arms because one day you are going to have to hold women in the air, and even throw them this way and that way.”  Then, with a twinkle in his eye, he added, “Not too hard of course.”

Ezra came out smiling and said, “I’m gonna come back to this class, mom.”

Although Ezra loves to dance, I had worried that he wouldn’t stay with the class because Zach keeps laughing and asking if Ezra has to wear a tutu.  But ballet man won him over, and my baby worked his tail off for fifty minutes doing something he’s not particularly good at, without stepping out of line or making potty noises or talking out of turn even once.

Go ballet man, go.