On my way into the Wang Theatre to see Boston Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty (in which Melissa Hough was particularly outstanding as Princess Aurora) I passed two small children, both about five years old.
This is the conversation I overheard:
Girl: “I don’t mind ballet, but I’m more into gymnastics.”
Boy: “I like ballet.”
Girl: “It’s girls in tights dancing. Of course you like it.”
This reminds me of the argument one of my female high school classmates gave an incoming class of freshmen for why they should join the theatre program: “You get to see us in our underwear during costume changes.”
They’ve both got a point, really. Why don’t more boys join performing arts programs if only for the gawking opportunities?
Obviously, Melissa Hough was wearing tights for her performance. Ergo, it was outstanding.
Meanwhile, five years old and aware of how gender and clothing interplay in physical attraction. When I was five, girls wore bustles (or some such). I learned about tights watching the June Taylor Dancers on the Jackie Gleason Show — and I learned my lessons well, studying carefully.