At The University of Memphis, four men are dancing around people who say that boys shouldn't wear tights.
As the music bounced and the instructor counted one and two and three and four Wednesday afternoon, the students of ballet II danced the choreographed steps the teacher seemed to make up each time she showed them what she wanted them to do.
They warm up for an hour before practicing a choreographed dance in studio A (room 124 in the College of Communications and Fine Arts building).
Going against the male stereotypes in the South, John Thomas Appling, Al Bonner, Chris McCollum and Kevin Murphy are members of the class.
Angie Hollis, the teacher of the class and the assistant to the dean of the communications department, said this class has more men than she has ever had before.
"In the past four years, I have not had this many guys," she said. "I feel so lucky."
Bonner, a junior dance education major, said he enjoys the class and the challenge it presents.
"I love ballet," he said. "The class is great. I love pushing myself by doing leaps and turns."
Bonner said he plans to become a member of a ballet dance company after he graduates.
Brandi Caruthers, another member of the class and a senior dance education and expressive movement therapy major, said having more men in the class makes the dynamic more interesting.
"It's good because guys are naturally stronger," she said. "And it allows me to work harder because it makes it more challenging."
During the class Wednesday, the music floated into the hallway of the CCFA building.
The studio was filled with 13 dancers - 10 women and 3 men (one was out sick) - the instructor and the pianist.
The pianist Adam Levine, a graduate student in music, said he enjoys playing for the class.
"They allow me to play whatever I want as long as I stay on the beat," he said. "I've been playing for this class for six years, and there have been this many guys before, but never as dedicated and as talented as these guys are."
Among the men, Kevin Murphy - dressed in blue pajamas - looked like he did not want to be in class. Hollis said he was sick and went to class dressed that way to avoid practice.
"But I made him go to the bar at least," she said. "It is hard to get the students realize that I am working so hard on their techniques in order to help them later."
The other two men present were dressed in black tights and white wife-beaters. Everyone was wearing some sort of ballet shoes.
"I can't go without something on my feet because they get torn up," Caruthers said.
The music fit every warm-up the students do. They worked on footwork during quick-tempo jazzy beats that allow them to bounce from one movement to the next or a slow melodic piece allowing for long, flowing movements.
Hollis used interesting teaching methods, saying many times through the class, "We'll let the music lead us through the steps."
She used humor to get them to think about their technique in presenting the movements.
"Don't smell your armpit when you lift your arm - you want to lift your head away from it as if you don't want to smell it," she laughs. "Which is probably why this is from France - they never wear deodorant."
Groans rang out when she announced, "Leg on the bar!"
The dancers managed to put a serious, graceful look on their faces as they lifted their legs to the bars as the music strained to an even slower melody to allow for a freer style of dance in which the dancers took liberties according to how far they could push their bodies.
The men seemed to excel in this area. Hollis walked around helping people find that spot that every dancer has that allows them to stretch further than most human bounds.
Hollis said she is proud of this semester's ballet II class.
"It means a lot to have so many devoted students," she said.
