Reviewed by Lila Chafe
Review Source: Teaching for Change
Book Author: John Robert Allman
Written by John Robert Allman and illustrated by Luciano Lozano, Boys Dance! follows a class of young boys as they are immersed into the world of ballet. The playful and simple illustrations are matched by rhyming verses narrating the routine of ballet class. Multiracial classmates are pictured warming up, leaping across the studio, and gazing up at their older idols. The students in the dance class are unapologetic for their love of dance, and there is no mention of shame or bullying which shelters young readers in the authentic joy of dance. Allman incorporates the biographies of professional male ballet dancers into the book to highlight the career.
The focus on boys dancing minimizes the representation of dancers beyond the gender binary. In celebrating young boys and grown men in dance, the book neglects to showcase children and adults who identify as nonbinary or genderqueer and their relationship to the art form. Despite its shortcomings, Allman’s book is rare in children’s literature as there are few non-biographical books featuring dance as a sport that all children can engage in. It is important to showcase ballet and other styles of dance as a welcoming and genderfluid sport, and Boys Dance! is a first step to achieving this goal.
From its portrayal of formal ballet class to illustrations of children leaping on the basketball court, Boys Dance! celebrates children’s authenticity in doing what they love.
For more books featuring male dancers, see:
Jose! Born to Dance: The Story of Jose Limon
My Story, My Dance: Robert Battle’s Journey to Alvin Ailey
Lila Chafe was a volunteer with Teaching for Change in the 2020-2021 school year while studying education at Barnard College.
Boys Dance! (American Ballet Theatre) by John Robert Allman
Published by Random House Children's Books on September 22, 2020
Genres: Dance
Pages: 40
Reading Level: Grade K, Grades 1-2
ISBN: 9780593181164
Review Source: Teaching for Change
Publisher's Synopsis: A lively and encouraging picture book celebrating boys who love to dance, from the renowned American Ballet Theatre..
Boys who love to dance are center stage in this encouraging, positive, rhyming picture book about guys who love to pirouette, jeté, and plié. Created in partnership with the American Ballet Theatre and with the input of their company's male dancers, here is a book that shows ballet is for everyone.
Written by the acclaimed author of A Is for Audra: Broadway's Leading Ladies from A to Z, this book subtly seeks to address the prejudice toward boys and ballet by showing the skill, hard work, strength, and smarts is takes to be a dancer. Fun and buoyant illustrations show boys of a variety of ages and ethnicities, making this the ideal book for any boy who loves dance. An afterword with photos and interviews with some of ABT's male dancers completes this empowering and joyful picture book.
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