That's because ballet has a reputation for being more about oestrogen than testosterone.
Three Southern lads hope to change that. Queenstown dancer Isaac Swain (9), and Invercargill dancers Dominic Burrows (13) and Blake Oudhoff (6) are like any other boys their age - they like to get dirty, they love to play sport, they enjoy teasing their sisters and they've energy to burn.
But when the lights go up, the music starts and they step on to the stage, they are suddenly filled with a calmness and grace that has the power to spellbind audiences.
Surprisingly, Dominic says he gets very little flak from his mates at school about being a ballet dancer. He says it is partly because he has always seen ballet as ''a sport'' rather than an art form.
It could also have something to do with the fact he is quite strong and flexible - he can do the splits among other awkward body manipulations for males - and he frequently gets told off at school for doing back flips off the playground equipment.
''I'm always getting told off at school for doing that.''
How cool is this kid? (Kids, we don't recommend you try that at home ... or school for that matter).
You can see why his friends like him.
And despite being only 13, Dominic has already decided he wants to dance as a profession, and he hopes to one day join the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
''I'd like to show that it's not just a girls' sport and that guys can do it - it is a blokey thing to do, '' Dominic said.
Of the more than 100 dancers from around the South Island at the Dunedin Performing Arts Competitions Society Ballet Festival in Mosgiel at the weekend, Isaac, Blake and Dominic were the only boys in the competition.
While Isaac and Dominic consider themselves lucky to be surrounded by swarms of ''beautiful girls'', young Blake does not.
''Girls? Yuck,'' was his simple response.
Give him a couple of years.
