Ballet Beefcake and Bulges

Although actors are increasingly likely to be shirtless on tv and in movies, their bulges are carefully hidden from view, sometimes literally taped back.

Ballet is the only art form where bulges are commonly visible.

Everyone knows it, but no one talks about it.  Spandex tights are necessary to allow the dancer a full range of movement, and your eyes are supposed to be trained onto the dance, not the beneath the belt gifts.

But really, who can look at anything else?

Sometimes there are shirtless shots that add to the aesthetic display.  But you still can't take your eyes off the ballet bulge.

You can see bulges at some of the most famous opera houses in the world.  This is Mathias Heymann of the Opera national de Paris.

But down home works just as well, as Ronnie Underwood of the Oklahoma City Ballet demonstrates.

Ballet dancers start at a very young age.  The Latvian ballet star Timofej Andrijashenko began performing professionally while still in his teens.

I couldn't resist a more recent photo.

The Prix de Lausanne is an annual competition for dancers aged 15 to 18 who are not yet professionals.  Oscar Frame won in 2015.

But they rarely perform for more than a decade.  Roberto Bolle, age 41, has had an extraordinary long career.