# en pointe male dancer

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/en-pointe-male-dancer/496632>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [May 16, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/en-pointe-male-dancer/496632 "2009-05-16T11:42:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![srbeck13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@srbeck13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/srbeck13)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/en-pointe-male-dancer/496632/1 "2009-05-16T11:42:12Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\
**Post date:** [May 16, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/en-pointe-male-dancer/496632/2 "2009-05-16T15:33:12Z")

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This is not realy a counter-example to what Cecil said in [his article](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/89/why-dont-male-ballet-dancers-dance-on-their-toes). 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.)