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April 30th, 2009 | dance, Gymnastics, Rhythmic
Anthony Bryant is a Juilliard trained professional dancer.
He dabbles in Rhythmic gymnastics as well as acrobatics, tumbling and much more.
Click PLAY or watch ANTHONY BRYANT “~SoMeTHing DiFFerEnT~” on YouTube.
Entertaining.
I’m still waiting for a male Rhythmic performance where the traditional hoop, rope, clubs, ball, ribbon are used as weapons. Very macho.
That would be even MORE entertaining.
Anthony?
Men’s Rhythmic Gymnastics is not new. It’s been practiced as long as Women’s Rhythmic.
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19 comments ↓
pretty cool. kinda reminds me of a style like the traditional Hawaiian dancers with a bit of ballet worked in. very talented man.
Awesome. I actually preferred that to any rhythmic performances I’ve seen.
Rick, this is close isn’t it? It’s not “fighting” because it’s rehearsed. It is in a way a dance with weapons, a performance fight, with some acro thrown in.
Wrong. So very, very wrong.
Anon, why is this wrong?
Not very masculine is it? I’d take artistic any day.
Male gymnistists already have it hard enough proving strength and agility in the artistic stream.
Although I love the art of rhythmic gym, gymnastics has always been stereo typed as being a girls sport.
I think that men’s rhythmic would be twice as hard to convince your friends that your not gay.
I agree with anon, it just doesn’t look right.
A lot of things don’t look right depending on who is looking. Peole can be worried about what everybody else thinks or they can do what they want and let everybody else stay inside their comfy little boxes.
I agree Lisa. I’d take a male ballroom or ballet dancer ANY DAY over a Football or basketball player.
Man, that’s hard to watch. We don’t need men’s gymnastics associated with that.
Well I think he is amazing. His quality of movement is exceptional…completely undeniable! Being a male should not deny someone is displaying the best dance has to offer…regardless of what style it is.
“We don’t need men’s gymnastics associated with that.”
Coach S, why not? What is so wrong with that?
You’re amazingly sensitive to dance related issues Katrina. I think you’re not differentiating between what “should be” and what “is.”
It *should be* perfectly acceptable for a man to prance around and so forth. Indeed, had Bryant here performed this exact routine on a stage in a theater, it likely wouldn’t generate the same kind of giggles or upturned noses that it has. Is this right? Of course not. Gay or straight, it should be perfectly acceptable for men to want to dance, regardless of the environment that dance takes place.
However, as it is in our society, for any of a thousand reasons, most people are programmed to want to see men doing “manly” things, and women doing the “graceful” things. There’s good and bad in that. The bad is that Bryant here, while obviously being an exceptionally talented dancer and possessing what may be a genius-level ability to control his movements, just doesn’t appeal to young boys conditioned to want to punch/tackle/destroy things.
Coach S was probably alluding to the difficultly of getting young boys interested in gymnastics in the first place, let alone staying in programs for very long. Not but a few posts ago we saw MIT cutting its men’s program. There’s obviously a correlation there between the interest in the sport and the low numbers of participants. Guys throw footballs around in their front yards pretending to be the Mannings. Not a whole lot go outside and pretend to be the Hamms. That may be disconcerting to you, but you are lucky enough to have a very liberal and permissive perception about gender roles. Not everyone does.
Now, frankly, I find men’s floor routines a little silly as is. I’d much prefer them abandon the “floor” part of the routine and just use a strip. Tumble down, turn around, tumble back, repeat as necessary. I think it’s a little silly seeing them hitchkick and side-scale and prancey-hop to get into the corners. As is, it’s just a little too dancey for what I think they should be showing off. But that’s just my opinion.
Wow! I had no idea this would be so controversial. Why does this have to be anything other than a talented performer? Let the man dance, and enjoy it. Maybe he is gay? Maybe he’s not, but should we be discouraging him from dancing if he is or isn’t because people will think he is? That’s awful. HOMOPHOBIA is not an attractive element of any sport.
Re: floor routines in men’s gymnastics. I actually agree with JAO. I think it should be just tumbling. the other stuff doesn’t really fit if it’s not done to music. the transitions are rigid and awkward and never really flow like the women’s floor routines do.
JAO, maybe its because well, hum I’m a dancer? Yes I dance. Believe me, I know all about how hard it is to get boys into gymnastics AS WELL as dance. Good grief, I’d had so many issues with that one.
FYI JAO: “Both Men’s and Women’s Teams will be cut” not just men’s
Coach M. I couldn’t agree more. That’s my point. My other point is this whole gender sterotyping. I can not stand it. Why should girls only play with dolls, dress up, have immingations, do dance, etc. But when guys what to do it, it’s looked at like they’re sissys, wimps, what have you.
I don’t know about men’s floor routins. I think the side scales, as well as other strengh moves are good. It shows that not only do they have strength to tumble to to do flairs and other strength moves. I think some performers make it look less awarkard than others true but I think that at least demonstarting things like fairs should stay.
Flairs are fine. Balance things like mannas and planches and press holds, all fine. That’s pure strength, very cool. Hitchkicks and prance jumps just to get from 7/8ths of the way across the floor to 8/8ths across is silly. Just take a damn step and walk into the corner, then turn around. I don’t need a little flitter of “grace” because it’s supposed to be some choreographed component of the routine. It looks very silly, seeing as how there’s almost none of it anywhere else in the routine except for when they need two more feet to get to the corner for their next tumbling pass.
I’m well aware the MIT women’s team was cut. But that’s very well off topic. This thread was about men’s gymnastics and men’s rhythmic, not women’s.
And as far as imagination, I’ll pretend you didn’t just imply boys don’t make use of their imaginations. You know better than that. They just imagine different things of course.
And in hindsight, I wish I had done dance. Had I grown up the only boy in a ballet class, I can’t even imagine all of the hot girlfriends I would have had in high school, college, etc. (All of the ballerinas I have met in my life have tended to be, besides beautiful, smart and interesting people, and I wish that I had had dance in common with them.) You and I are not actually in disagreement about the value and beauty of dance at all, or any of this stuff. My only point to you was that I think you’re hyper-sensitive to other people’s perspectives. Not everyone has to love the idea of a man doing somewhat effeminate movements.
Case in point: In the other post, with the ballerina, Rick’s lead-in was “She’s no Shawn Johnson, but there’s some potential there…” And you found that offensive. Frankly, I think you missed his point entirely and got offended for no reason. What he was saying, or so I interpret, was that that girl, Semionova? was by FAR a better dancer than Shawn, unquestionably. And that’s the sarcasm, because he obviously didn’t mean to suggest Shawn was somehow superior to her as far as dance. But you took it to mean he was saying a ballerina isn’t an athlete. That’s hypersensitivity, defined.
Someone at our gym found the video and almost all the competitive boys saw it. They all agreed that this should not in any way be associated with men’s gymnastics. I think many were horrified that their friends might see this and think this is what gymnastics is all about.
As someone who tries to promote men’s gymnastics and get more boys into the sport, it’s tough enough as it is.
Oh, the horror!
Coach S. , your kids are cowards! What are they scared of? Being thought of as gay, or even worse, “girly”?
You people need to man up.
Seriously, that video really doesn’t have anything to do with men’s gymnastics.
That’s exactly what they’re scared of. It’s tough for some kids being a male gymnast in high-school. And that video certainly isn’t going to promote getting more of these kids into doing men’s gymnastics.
Anthony~DANCES From His HEART !
He’s been Mocked and scorned since age 3 .Because
he dances and flips ~ he studied the Olympics Rhythemic
Gymnastics at the age of 5 and Taught Himself his OWN STYLE of Just having FUN and Dancing From his HEART ~ ALWAYS SMILING ~ ALWAYS BRILLIANT ~
But with a Constant Stuggle of NARROW MINDED IGNORANT PEOPLE in SOCIETY WHO felt Like Nigel and
some on here and Others Voicing there Opinions Most
Yelling out You Faget or Are You Gay ???
Then The MAJORITY OF ANTHONY’S FANS ~ LOVE
HIM for HIS PERFORMANCE’S and THE LOVE HE JUST WANTS to GIVE to THEM ~ TO SEE THERE SMILES and
AMAZEMENT ~ HE SAYS “THE RESPONSE OF THE FANS
and AUDIANCE is ALL He NEEDS TO MAKE HIM HAPPY ! ! !
I THINK THE BRILLIANCE NIGEL SAID THAT WAS
MISSING ~ WAS FROM Nigel & SOCIETY TREATING ANTHONY THE
WAY THEY HAVE THUS FAR. NIGEL & SOCIETY KILLS
“THE BRILLIANCE” BY BELITTLEING THESE MEN & BOYS . “THERE SHOULD BE NO PREJUDICE IN DANCE”
Like STEPP STEWART & ANTHONY were saying in there interview regarding this same episode. Society Needs to Quit Judging People so much & “LET THEM LIVE” and “BE
FREE” in LIFE !
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