No, I’m not comfortable taking my shirt off. Never have been.

It may seem like a generic ‘guy thing’ to do, especially for a male dancer, but for me it is intensely uncomfortable.

I have a somewhat complicated relationship with my body.

On the one hand I love it dearly and am immensely grateful. I have been blessed with a body that is healthy, strong, flexible, coordinated, it learns quickly, and as a full time professional ballroom teacher and choreographer it plays an integral part in how I make my living. I take care of it, keep it limbered and stretched, I’m constantly trying to make proper use of the skills and advantages it offers me, and though my fashion tastes may lean towards the quirky I am known for dressing it well, if uniquely at times.

On the other hand, I don’t look at myself in mirrors unless I have clothes on, I avoid using shared change rooms unless I’m able to maintain an undershirt, I only go swimming when wearing a fully opaque swimming top, my home shower curtains are always opaque behind which I never linger, and I close my bedroom door to change my shirt even if the house is empty. In an odd twist I don’t care all that much if someone sees me without pants on, I don’t know that I would even be all that bothered being seen without underwear. It’s the shirt, or the prospective lack thereof, that does it. I don’t think others…