Hairstyles for male ballet students ?

[Ballet4Boyz]

My DS is presently at vocational lower school. He's just announced that he'd quite like to grow the top layers of his hair longer and into a man bun, whilst keeping the sides & back short, therefore maintaining an overall neat & tidy appearance. I'm just wondering how this would be perceived especially when later auditioning for upper schools ? He presently has a very neat , short conventional hairstyle which he's a bit bored with. I'd just like to hear what opinions other people have as to whether this hairstyle would be deemed appropriate . My feeling is that as long as it's neat & off his face, giving a clean line to his neck, I can't see why it would be an issue - but I'm interested to hear what everyone else thinks ...... especially from those of you who have older dancing sons in upper schools & companies . Thanks very much.

i would hasten to add he plans to ask his 'head of dance'  her opinion too ! 😊

[meadowblythe]

How old is your DS at the moment?

[Ballet4Boyz]

Hi Meadowblythe ...He's thirteen going on 25 with an opinion to match sometimes 😆 !! and feels he wants to be a bit more individual but at the end of the day - he'll stick to being conventional if that's the 'done thing'.  I must admit I like his style as it is - but can also see that it would probably suit him !!

[CeliB]

This seems to be an acceptable hairstyle amongst DSs cohort - with length of the long hair being about mid neck e.g. an inch and a half to 2 inches above the shoulder...

Of course that's Russia so perhaps conventions are different here...

[LinMM]

I'm sure Nicholas Tsiskaridze had a man bun in the last interview I happened to see him give on YouTube! 

Though of course for students there may be stricter rules.

Im sure though that the tallest boy in your DS's class at Vaganova last year CeliB had quite longish hair I seem to remember.

 

I suppose best to ask the Head of Dance first but if she is okay with it why not

Actually I'd like to know that if a girl at one of the top vocational schools decided she wanted to have very short hair......so NO BUN ....would this be allowed?

 

[Fiz]

A girl at my dds school had her hair cut really short just before a major ballet exam. The ballet teacher was thunderstruck and then lost her temper. 

[Pups_mum]

An acquaintance of my DDs has very short hair and she wears a false bun for ballet performances. It's very realistic actually.....made me wonder why they don't all do it! The school she's at is more MT/general dance rather than specifically ballet though so maybe they are a bit more relaxed about that kind of thing?

[ArucariaBallerina]

One of my friends I met at an SS is  ballet minded (an RBS associate) and she had very short hair and wears a false bun too. They are so realistic! They look exactly like normal hair, and I'm sure many dancers have them without one realising!

[Harwel]

Man bun and short back and sides is very in vogue and lots of boys are choosing this style.  The problem at vocational school is the transition from short to long as gets very messy. 

[Ballet4Boyz]

Harwel - I was just thinking the same,  hmmm 🤔  Thanks everyone .......... it raises an interesting debate. If boys dance with a conventional short hairstyle ....... should girls be able to do the same ? Conversely from some of the comments - it seems that some male dancers sport longer hairstyles ie a man bun - perhaps without the same amount of angst from their teachers! Personally - I'm a bit of a traditionalist at heart, but recognise some students may feel differently. At my DS' school it stipulates no floppy fringes over the eyes &  hair length cut  above the collar . This can be achieved with a neat man bun at the crown with the sides & back cut to the required length. Will be interesting to see how his 'head of dance' will view it. Luckily DS is happy to follow whatever is suggested - he's just a bit bored with his style & fancies a change - without raising too many eyebrows 😆

[LinMM]

It seems ....for boys...even hair to base of neck is fine these days as long as the layers are kept well off the face in either a small pony tail or bun or man bun!! 

Its a style that is often practically worn by girls when growing hair from short.

as the fringe and sides gets longer but the back length is not long enough yet to put up into traditional pony tail you sort of make a pony tail with the ex fringe and sides instead or put a clip/slide in at least to hold away from face.

 

i have tried to grow my hair a few times over the years especially when younger .....but it really doesn't like being long! Hence my plea to not necessarily have to have a bun at all! And I don't particularly like them anyway ...especially not really tight ones....And certainly wouldn't want to wear a false bun for the sake of it if my hair looked perfectly tidy worn short...maybe for the odd performance only perhaps but certainly not for general class however realistic it looked!