Peter Doll
Tell me a little bit about your interests before you started down the path of dance.
“Like any young kid I loved to play sports, play with my friends, and be outside in nature. I had a big imagination growing up. Then when I was a teenager, I got into skateboarding for a little while too. But unfortunately, that led to some injuries…I realized through that that I wasn't quite as talented with working with another object as I was working with my own body. I also, of course, really loved music and I think that is a passion that has sustained throughout my entire lifetime.”
How were you first introduced to ballet?
“My mother is a dance instructor and a choreographer and ran her own school for twenty plus years, so I was basically introduced to ballet when I was born. My mother has stories about doing chaînes across the studio with me in her arms or me being in a little bouncy seat over by the piano as she taught class..[Ballet] has just always been my life. So it basically started from the very beginning.”
It sounds like you had a lot of support within your home. Was that the same within your community or not?
“Yeah, for the most part, it really was. I also grew up in Ithaca, a very liberal arts town in upstate New York. We always had a fair number of boys or men in the ballet studio..there were at least eight to ten of us...varying in ages from high school all the way down to first or second grade…Then, of course, at home, my parents have always completely supported my choices and have been there for me my entire life backing me in this pursuit…when I got really serious about wanting to be a professional dancer when I was about twelve or thirteen…I decided that I really wanted to go to Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet full-time and to move away from home. And my dad sold our house and moved there with me. It was pretty major looking back on it—it's quite wonderful what they did.”
It seems like both your parents were major inspirations for your interest in ballet. Did you have any other male dancers that influenced you when you first started ballet, or was it not until later on when you moved to Pennsylvania?
“I was very lucky in my hometown…to have amazing teachers like Larry Brantley and Pina Bausch…We also had a class every Monday, and all of us boys were in there no matter what age we were…[so] even when I was eight and nine, I was taking class with the older boys. Then we also got very lucky early on to have this guest artist come in to do principal roles for the company. His name was Stephen Hyde, he had been a soloist at American Ballet Theater…I remember one performance where he was maybe not perfectly on balance and he did a double tour to the knee and it looked like he was going to fall over, but he somehow revolved around and saved it. I can still picture that moment—it took my breath away…He was a huge inspiration for me there.”
“By the time I got to Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, I had this plethora of dancers that were coming back from New York City Ballet or on the path to going there, including Alan Pfeifer, Grant DeLange, Adam Hendrickson, John Stafford…they were huge inspirations to me…I also had Richard Cook as my partnering teacher, he was just this magical teacher…It was really because of all of these role models that I was so lucky to cross paths with, that I wound up becoming a dancer and eventually an instructor.”
What role do you think these people played in keeping you engaged and motivated to continue with ballet?
“It was simply knowing that it was possible, first of all, to have a career in this...Seeing them on stage, hearing about their experiences—all of that was really key…it opened up that door in my mind that my dream was achievable.”
“There's also a competitiveness that kicks in. When you're around other talented people, it sparks this desire to be as good as them…to live up to the bar that they set…[and] achieve the same things they did…I wanted to dance on stage next to them.”
“There's a sense of camaraderie in the ballet community that grows over time. When you start dancing in a more professional environment, you instantly relate to all the other people that you're with because you all can bond over a common passion—ballet…It's a pretty niche thing that we're doing. It's not as common as football or sports in general, [so] you end up becoming really close with everyone you meet along the way.”
What point did you realize you wanted to pursue ballet as a career? Why did you choose dance?
“I had, of course, originally wanted to dance in New York because of the way choreographers, specifically George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, interpreted music and brought that out in their dancers. I really gravitated towards that. But, I ended up getting burnt out when I was fifteen and I stopped doing ballet for about three years. At that point in my life, I was lost…there was this really massive hole in my life that was left…I didn't have a lot of structure at that time in my life…so the structure of going in and taking a class everyday…was something that helped to draw me back in..[But] by the time I realized that, New York was not an option anymore…[However] I was able to get into Boston Ballet on a full scholarship, and Miami City Ballet as well, and then decided to pursue ballet there. Then once I was immersed in that environment again, that competitive drive came out…I just really wanted to live up to what the art form is. I wanted to live up to the excellence of it because it demands such...nuanced perfection--perfection that's unachievable, truly. But it's always fun having that challenge every day.”
You mentioned that you got really burned out in your teenage years, which caused you to end your pursuit of ballet for a period of time. In my experience, I’ve noticed that a great percentage of young male dancers drop out of ballet, whether it's after only a few months or a few years. What do you think is the main factor that plays into that?
“I think there are probably a multitude of reasons. One of them being the kind support they have at home for it. In a normal household, I wouldn't necessarily have had the kind of exposure to ballet that my mom gave me, and I could have easily drifted away from it or not have gotten into it at all.”
“There are all sorts of pressures that can weigh on you, especially as you continue to get older and older…and I think today, social media only adds to those pressures. Don't even get me started…there are just so many ways that you can get pulled.”
“[Due to] the tedious nature of ballet…the burnout rate can be really high…You have to be able to find something interesting in doing the same thing over and over, and learn to discover and uncover new things within that one thing that you're continuing to do. That's the challenge that you're having to work with…It really takes a very specific type of personality, I think, to really stick with [ballet].”
“It [also] depends if you have a certain perfectionistic mindset that kicks in and if you don't feel like you're achieving what you should be achieving as a result, that can also be a demotivating factor.”
“But also, as a young person, you don't have the benefit of being able to really see things long term necessarily. You can't anticipate how the work that you're doing now can pay off much further down the road.”
How has being a dancer allowed you to grow as a person beyond dance? What are some of the skill sets you acquired from dance that translated to other facets of your day-to-day life?
“Definitely tenacity, extreme focus to detail, a drive to be the best that you can possibly be, showing up in whatever way that is (whether that’s showing up for others or just for yourself) and the teamwork that you build with other people, all of those things translate outside of the studio and into other areas of your life, into your relationships and into your professional life as well…This art form also requires determination and drive. All of those things are instilled into what it means to be a dancer. You learn self-reliance, you learn how to figure things out on your own. That also requires creativity and problem-solving.”
“There are so many positive developmental effects that result from the intrinsic nature of ballet. There's a study that relates to your comprehension in reading and math…to your ability to tap a beat and keep that beat consistent…[Therefore] ballet and the connection it gives you to music allows young individuals to process things differently in their brains.”
You said that throughout your ballet career, both your community and your family were very supportive of your pursuit. But, did you ever have to deal with any prejudice, discrimination, or bullying in relation to your interest in ballet or was that not really an issue?
“Of course, you definitely deal with that when you're in the public school setting, specifically as a younger person. But as you get older, I think you just do have a thicker skin and you're able to deal with it better, especially if you're lucky enough to be in a community where you have a lot of support…But, yeah, everybody's going to deal with it at some point just because there's a lot of misunderstandings and misconceptions about what ballet truly is.”
What do you think is the biggest misconception about dance?
“There are too many. Because we live in a society that has very traditional ideas of gender roles, I would say there's a sense that dancing is feminine and easy…[but] in reality, the career of a male dancer is very challenging, and extremely physical.”
What do you say to those people who believe that ballet is a feminine pursuit or not a challenging athletic endeavor?
“The problem lies in them, not in us, but I don't know how much you can change people's minds other than just showing up, doing it, and being an advocate for others that don't have it as easy…The only other thing would be to ask them, ‘If you think it's easy or if you think it's like a feminine, then come in and try it out yourself. Good luck with that.’”
What would you say to boys currently facing these challenges as a result of pursuing dance?
“I would just say, ‘If you love this enough, you're going to stick with it and rely on the support of the community that you have. You end up forming unbreakable relationships that sustain throughout your whole career and life…so lean on those people…[and] ignore anybody that's ignorant. They're ignorant. It's not their fault. And if you can shift their mindset by living as an example, then great. But don't try to...You don't have to convince anybody that what you're doing is right or just. You can just be yourself, and that's enough.’”
If these young boys are struggling to deal with this issue themselves, what can parents do to help their kids that face these challenges?
"‘Be there. Listen to their kids. Listen to the challenges that they're facing. Be present with them. That's enough.’”
Is there anything you'd like to see improve about the dance industry in regards to boys and men in the United States? And how can we, as an industry and in the broader community, work to support them?
“It would be great to see in general…if people learned to reevaluate what success looks like to them. I wish that society could have a deeper appreciation for the arts, and I think that obviously just goes into education…and trying to shift people's mindset on what dance is, specifically ballet, and how valuable and wonderful it can be in American society…It used to be on television a lot more..you would see dancers from New York City Ballet and ABT in the '50s and '60s on the Ed Sullivan show and on main television programs, but that just hasn't really been a priority in the last 35 years of our culture, so I would love to see things like that return.”
“For the boys that we have recruited, I will say that it definitely takes investing in them, and being that guiding voice as somebody who's done it, somebody who understands, and has been through it themself…I still have the boys class that I teach weekly. It's not a business thing, it doesn't really make any money, and I often only have two students in there, but I've taught this class for my entire time that I've been [at Los Gatos Ballet]...You just have to have somebody that's willing to just show up and do it, even if it's not going to necessarily be lucrative, but just for the sake of showing up for these boys…I think most or most artists would do that. They're going to do that because it's important, and they believe in this art form enough that they want to continue it.”
Well, it's a great thing that you're doing. I'm happy that you're continuing it.
“Oh, yeah, for sure. I'm happy to…When you come back, come and say hi to the kids. You never know how impactful that could be to them because somebody who's older but closer in age still has a different impact than an instructor. It's almost more impactful in a way. It's impactful in a different way, I would say. And that alone can be the thing that on a bad day, keeps somebody walking through that door. We all have a piece in it.”
Based on your experiences as a teacher and your involvement with Los Gatos Ballet's Leaps & Bounds outreach program, what obstacles have you run into reaching young boys, recruiting them, and then keeping them year after year?
“Just getting boys in the door in the first place has been an obstacle in and of itself. But when I'm out there teaching these second-grade students, there's a lot of enthusiasm for what we are teaching, even from the boys…[But] parents tend to think their sons should be doing other types of sports, like basketball or soccer…[so] athletics just tend to win over ballet, specifically for young boys.”
