Boys will be Boys

Posted on October 28, 2021

Running until November 27 at Poole’s Lighthouse, a new exhibition, Boys will be Boys: Masculinity on Pointe, features portraits of more than 40 male ballet dancers by photographer Jayne Jackson. The project documents the different interests and identities of the teen and pre-teen boys to explore male identity in a poignant and positive series.

Jackson explained: “A large and varied group of skaters, footballers, musicians, tennis and basketball players are united by their love for ballet, challenging the toxic notion that boys’ interests should be limited to stereotypically male norms and behaviours, which is harmful to men and society as a whole.”

The images are on show in the Top Floor Gallery at Lighthouse, Poole, initially to coincide with National Boys Dance Day on October 24, and will remain on display until November 27. For more information, click here. 

Pictured: Images from the Boys will be Boys exhibition. Photographs by Jayne Jackson.

Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray is editor of Dancing Times. He studied at The Royal Ballet School, Leicester Polytechnic, and Wimbledon School of Art where he graduated with a BA Hons in Theatre Design. For 16 years he was a member of the curatorial department of the Theatre Museum, London, assisting on a number of dance-related exhibitions, and helping with the recreation of original designs for a number of The Royal Ballet’s productions including Danses concertantes, Daphnis and Chloë, and The Sleeping Beauty. He has also contributed to the Financial Times, written programme articles for The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, and is co-author of the book Unleashing Britain: Theatre gets real 1955-64, published in 2005.