One small step for men, one giant leap for dance
Men from Minnesota dance teams pave the way for inclusion of future male dancers in the competition world.
By Anna Pearson and Talia Egge, reporters
Zachary Greenwald’s dad sat down at the Hopkins Royelles Dance Team information meeting to find out more about the sport his son wanted to join. Seventh-grade Zachary’s friends had been chattering nonstop about the team and tryouts — Zachary wanted in. Other parents introduced their children, how long they’d been dancing, what else they liked and why they were joining the team.
As soon as Zachary’s dad spoke the words, “My son,” the dance team coach stopped him mid-sentence. Thank you for the interest, the coaches said, but boys were not allowed on the dance team.
Male dancers date back to the 1600s, when ballet originated in the 15th century Italian Renaissance courts, brought to France by Catherine de’ Medici after marrying King Henry II. When ballet was developed as an art form under the reign of Louis XIV in the 17th century, only males were allowed to dance. Since then, passage of time and transformation of culture has made dance become stereotypically a “woman’s world.”
Minnesota dance teams are no different.
Since dance teams became a Minnesota State High School League sport in 1975, boys were not allowed to compete on teams and the MSHSL did not offer a boys’ sport equivalent.
During Greenwald’s sophomore year, his family found a Minneapolis Star Tribune article about Wisconsin dancer Kaiden Johnson pursuing a lawsuit against the MSHSL for gender discrimination when he was not allowed to dance in a Minnesota competition. However, the lawsuit was thrown out because Johnson was not a Minnesota resident.
“I would call it a small historical moment.” — Zachary Greenwald, Hopkins Royelles Dance Team alum
“The last paragraph [of the article] was like, ‘Pacific Legal would still like to pursue this lawsuit, but they need a plaintiff to represent,’” Greenwald said. “My dad and I both read it, and we thought, ‘This seems like a great opportunity.’”
On April 19, 2019, the MSHSL announced via Facebook that it agreed to a settlement that would allow boys to dance on Minnesota dance teams, beginning with the 2019–20 season. The reporters reached out to the MSHSL for more comment on this case, but did not get a response.
“I would call it a small historical moment,” said Greenwald, who was a junior at the time of the rule change, able to participate during his senior season in 2019–20.
The conversation of having a boy on the Royelles Dance Team was never specifically brought up by the coaches, but Greenwald knew that some teammates, parents and booster club members were not as supportive as he would’ve liked.
“At the time, that kind of stung, but I knew that what I was doing was more important than, let alone my personal experience, but much larger than the team,” Greenwald said. “I still wanted to join and I still had people that wanted me there.”
He is now studying politics, philosophy and economics at Northeastern University, a major he chose after the lawsuit against the MSHSL opened his eyes to a possible career in politics. While he doesn’t currently dance, he keeps up with the Royelles Dance Team and attends their competitions when he can.
“It pushed me towards wanting to create change and better outcomes for people through legislative and judicial decisions,” Greenwald said.
In November of 2019, Greenwald began his senior season on the dance team against other first-time male dance team members — Logan Miller on the Spring Lake Park Pantherettes and Logan Schommer on the Eastview Lightning Dance Team (LDT) — as well as all the girls.
Pantherettes Coach Jenny Whiteley had encouraged Miller to join the 2019–2020 team when the MSHSL broke the news, as he had held a position as student manager of the team for the previous two years. Just weeks before tryouts, Miller went for it, and ended up competing on the varsity jazz team for most of his senior season.
Although this was a win for the dancers, Miller initially felt like he stood out as a boy on the team. Not very many boys took the floor during the first year boys could compete, so coaches, teams and spectators were still adjusting to the change.
“People really looked at [boys being on the team] not in a bad light, but just like it was really new,” Miller said.
This self-consciousness went away when he did better than anticipated, winning solo awards.
With the recent rule and attitude changes in the state, men in dance has become an increasingly wider opportunity for anyone with a passion to dance, altering their lives in various ways, from growing their social circles to teaching them discipline and patience.
Matthew Greco had dreamed of being on the University of Minnesota Dance Team since his freshman year of high school. He is now a freshman at the University of Minnesota, and the first male to compete with the U of M Dance Team. He teaches private lessons and works with dance teams at both The Vibe Dance & Fitness and Dance Esteem.
Growing up in New Jersey, Greco tried just about every sport before dance at the age of eight.
“My mom threw me in a bunch of sports when I was younger, and my dad too — they were like ‘Oh, let’s put him in soccer, we’ll see how he does. If he likes it, he’ll stay, and if not we’ll switch to another sport.’”
Once he was put in dance, Greco fell in love with it — he’s found that dance is a way for him to process his emotions and express himself. The summer before his senior year, he visited Minnesota for the first time during a dance team clinic and fell in love with the atmosphere of college dance.
Coach Amanda Gaines wanted Greco on the team, keeping in contact with him throughout his college choice process and advising him along the way, getting to know him as a person past his dance abilities. Gaines scheduled an interview with Greco over Zoom, taking him to the next level of the recruitment process, only to skip the interview part and offer him a position on the team. Gaines made it clear that Greco would not be singled out because of his gender, and deserves to be treated like the rest of the team.
Greco faced gender clichés most of his life. The dances he participated in growing up were male-centered story-esque style dances — the boy was always the center of attention, or “got all the girls.”
“Getting backlash as a boy in the dance world is pretty common,” Greco said. Peers talked behind Greco’s back, saying boys in dance were lame, or making fun of him. At those times, he says he would press into his dance community even more. It was his safe space.
Additionally, Greco had to carefully craft his schedule and manage his time well. Greco’s life as a highschool dancer consisted of going to school and booking it to dance practice afterwards, leaving little room for a social life, homework and activities outside of dance.
Although Greco never faced MSHSL regulations growing up in New Jersey, he gets to see the fruition of the rule change from the boys he works with at Minnesota dance studios. He frequently hears from male dancers interested in joining college dance teams, as well as students — including a younger boy he recently choreographed a solo for.
“I’m not just making an impact because I’m the first male on the U of M dance team, I’m making an impact because I can show that guys can do this too.” — Matthew Greco, freshman U of M Dance Team member
“He walked into the room, eyes blazing. He was so excited,” Greco said. “I could just tell that my presence and me being able to choreograph his solo was making an impact on his dance career.”
These are the moments that propel Greco forward and remind him of the purpose behind his work.
“I’m not just making an impact because I’m the first male on the U of M dance team, I’m making an impact because I can show that guys can do this too,” Greco said.
Ty Feldewerd landed a double pirouette turn on the floor of the Target Center while the song “New Love” by Silk City blared over the loudspeakers. The Timberwolves Dance Team was taking the floor during the second timeout of the game Dec. 7 against the Indiana Pacers, their first performance of the night under the low purple and blue lights.
Feldewerd originally auditioned for the Timberwolves Dance Team for fun, after a friend sent him an Instagram post the day before auditions. To his surprise, he ended up making callbacks, later accepting the job offer on the team.
Feldewerd was enrolled at the University of Arizona as a dance major in the fall of 2020, before deciding the tuition was not worth paying for dance experience that he could find elsewhere. After dropping out, he was still able to find a career in dance as the first male dancer for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Feldewerd began dancing around first grade after watching his sister perform in a recreational Just For Kix dance program. He fell in love with the sport, and hasn’t stopped dancing since. He grew up dancing at Summit Dance Shoppe and Larkin Dance Studio.
Post performance, he lingers in the Target Center, interacting with Timberwolves fans and his fellow dancers, even stopping to make a TikTok dancing video with a young boy and two other dancers.
Feldewerd says dance has helped him develop a tough work ethic and discipline, as well as presenting him with opportunities while dancing for the Timberwolves that he never would’ve imagined. He hopes this position could be a gateway to future professional dancing jobs, but has loved taking it one day at a time while on the team.
“When I’m dancing, nothing else matters than the present moment,” Feldewerd said. “I don’t have to think about things that happen before I walk through the door.”
Logan Miller sat down in the bleachers of dance competitions his sophomore and junior years of high school as a manager for the Spring Lake Park Pantherettes Dance Team, taking videos of performances for the team to review. A year later, Miller would be able to join the team competing on Minnesota dance teams after the MSHSL rule change.
He competed at Arabesque School of Dance from second grade until middle school, then took up a position as Pantherettes’ team manager when he was not presented with further opportunities to dance.
Through this job, Miller not only continued his involvement in dance, but was able to stay close with friends on the team, and get a glimpse behind the curtain into the world of high school dance teams before having the opportunity to join.
“I think the community around it is what makes me keep coming back to dancing. I really enjoy the people,” Miller said.
He has learned discipline as well as the art of pushing himself to excellence in dance, putting in hours of practice to attempt to be perfect.
“There’s something about working really hard at one thing and then only having one chance to do it right,” Miller said.
Like any sport, athletes must be able to perform under pressure, but for dance, one performance gives dancers less than five minutes to show off their skills and abilities. While dancers move in unison during routines, dancing as one, Miller found it was easy to fall into the game of comparison.
“The scary part of dance is even when it’s a team sport, it can sometimes feel very individual. You’re always comparing yourself to other dancers,” he said.
Miller’s dance studio limited the roles of how men should dance, making him feel restricted in creativity and expression, and putting him into a box. Formations were often based on gender and not on ability.
Additionally, the female Pantherettes would practice in their locker rooms before competitions, something that Miller missed out on while having a separate dressing room. This did not hinder his dance abilities, but it made things a bit more difficult at competitions. He sometimes felt behind from the rest of the team.
Logan Schommer grew up watching “So You Think You Can Dance” with his grandma, looking up to the male dancers on the show and fiending for the competitive aspect of it. After the MSHSL rule change, he was able to compete on Eastview’s Lightning Dance Team (LDT) for two years, and is now a sophomore at the University of Minnesota, studying architecture.
“I feel like that experience as a whole was the moment that people realized guys could actually dance and be seen as equals.” — Logan Schommer, Eastview Lightning Dance Team alum
He imitated his sister’s dance moves at her recitals from the age of 2 years old, so his parents decided to enroll him in a local studio. While competing with LDT, Schommer was the first male to compete in the Minnesota Dance Team High Kick State competition. He was able to be a part of the U of M Premiere Dance Team his freshman year of college, but has since become too busy with school and work to continue dance.
When LDT walked onto the state floor his senior year of high school, Schommer may have stood out as a 6’2” boy, but his costume perfectly blended in with the female dancers’ bodysuits donned by the rest of his team. The pressure for Eastview to continue their standing record of three consecutive state champion titles from 2016–2018 loomed over him. Despite the doubts, Schommer found support in his teammates and the pressure to prove them wrong.
“I feel like that experience as a whole was the moment that people realized guys could actually dance and be seen as equals,” Schommer said.
After experiencing the intense competitiveness of a back to back state champion team, Schommer learned how to listen, be in the moment and enjoy what he has, because our bodies grow old, and dance doesn’t last forever.
“I don’t think I’ll ever work as hard as I did in those practices,” he said.
Athletes taking part in traditionally male sports such as football or baseball may brush over dance as an option — it’s perceived as not masculine, or not even seen as a sport. The physical benefits of dance, specifically ballet, can be beneficial for skills that translate into other sports, including focus, flexibility, balance and endurance.
Websites such as Balletbarresonline.com encourage male athletes to buy their portable ballet barres to practice at home if they’re embarrassed enrolling in dance, because the benefits outweigh the embarrassment.
“It looks really easy, but it’s really really hard,” Schommer said. Dancers exert difficult physical activity while performing, while at the same time keeping up a smile and facing the audience proudly without a hair out of place.
Schommer experienced mockery — as his team at Eastview High School practiced in the main gym, students running around the track above the fieldhouse pointed and laughed. He had to learn to ignore them.
“I’ve used dance throughout my whole life as an outlet for all of my emotions, just moving and getting all of that anger and sadness or whatever is going on in my life at that point in time,” Schommer said. “Being able to exude that energy and put it into something that’s meaningful and beautiful, I think is really amazing.”
Future opportunities for men in dance continue to expand. In the 2022–23 MSHSL dance team season, boys can be seen in multiple routines across different teams at competitions, including the Osseo Dance Team and the Brainerd Kixsters.
After the MSHSL rule change, boys in dance remain a hot topic of debate in the public eye. For Greco, Feldewerd, Miller, Schommer and Greenwald, dance was never about what other people thought.
Dance takes up a lot of time — but the passion you develop for it makes it hard to exit the dance world once you’re engulfed in it. For each of the men, they want to continue pursuing dance in some way, whether that’s coaching or teaching, attending dance competitions, or staying in the sport.
No matter the involvement, they all hope to see more boys expanding their horizons and joining dance. The men emphasize to put yourself out there and not let others prevent you from doing what you love.
“Going through the lawsuit, I did it to give other boys the opportunity to dance,” Greenwald said. “Now I hope they can go into this experience without having to think about a legacy of future boys dancing, and just enjoy it and do it for themselves.”
About Zachary Greenwald
Currently up to: Earning politics, philosophy, and economics degree at Northeastern University
Graduated from: Hopkins High School in 2020
Favorite style of dance: Contemporary
What age he started dance: 7th grade
Extra fact: Worked on Capitol Hill for Amy Klobuchar for an internship, and wants to be a legislative assistant to a representative or senator in the future!
About Logan Schommer
Currently up to: Earning architecture degree at University of Minnesota
Graduated from: Eastview High School in 2021
Favorite style of dance: Contemporary or lyrical
What age he started dance: At age 2
Extra fact: Enjoys many facets of art — dance, painting, and drawing!
About Logan Miller
Currently up to: Earning political science and economics degree with a dance minor at the University of Nebraska Lincoln
Graduated from: Spring Lake Park High School in 2020
Favorite style of dance: Anything along the lines of contemporary and jazz
What age he started dance: Second grade
Extra fact: Would love to coach a Minnesota dance team in addition to his future career job someday!
About Matthew Greco
Currently up to: Earning economics degree at the University of Minnesota
Graduated from: River Dell Regional High School in 2022
Favorite style of dance: Contemporary
What age he started dance: At age 8
Extra fact: The U of M Dance Team has 2 practices a day starting Dec. 27 while preparing for UDA College Nationals, from Jan. 13–15 at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida!
About Ty Feldewerd
Currently up to: Dancing for the Timberwolves, hoping for future professional dance jobs
Graduated from: Melrose High School in 2020
Favorite style of dance: Jazz
What age he started dance: First grade
Extra fact: Lived over an hour away from the dance studio he grew up going to!
