In the Kultur DVD of Frederick Ashton’s 1964 ballet The Dream, based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bottom dances en pointe when Puck turns him into an ass.
This is not realy a counter-example to what Cecil said in his article. Cecils’s claim that. “basically …no choreographer ever wrote a ballet calling for male toe-dancers” doesn’t apply to Bottom after he is transformed.
Huh? Bottom is certainly a male dancer, however, Puck turns him into an ass. The character is no longer a male human. One way we know that is how he looks, and the other is how he acts. So he acts in a way no male human character does, in a stupid and foolish manner – he dances like a girl.
(BTW, it’s usually a good idea to include a link to the article in your post starting a thread on the subject. Just cut and paste from your browser address bar. It keeps everyone on the same page. No biggie.)