Finding His Footing: Freshman crosses gender boundaries as a football player and an accomplished ballerina

Rushing to get home before 5:30 p.m. for pointe class, freshman Elliott Daggett threw on his football sweatshirt and packed his cleats and pads into his football bag. He changed out of his Nike Air Jordans into pointe shoes, tied the laces and stretched to get ready before heading to Kansas City Ballet for class.

Elliott is used to the routine of switching between football and ballet — despite being completely different, both have become key aspects in his life. Joining the football team allowed Elliott to find a new confidence in his accomplishments as a male ballerina.

“The person I am at school is definitely not the person I am in dance class,” Elliott said. “People portray me as a super tough, mean football player, and it’s almost the persona I play at school because it fits in, but that’s not really who I am as a person.”

Elliott describes himself as the friendly, sporty guy that doesn’t need to be defined by the sport he plays. He’s both a male ballerina and a football player, not one or the other. 

Elliot decided to join the football team after he skyrocketed from a 4’10” eighth grader to a 5’10” freshman, giving him the confidence and height he needed to tryout for the team. 

It gave him a way of fitting in. He was teased all throughout middle school for being a male ballerina, but he’s now part of the team those same bullies cheer for under the lights every Friday night. 

For Elliott, dance is a part of his life that he prefers to keep to himself. When asked the question, “What sport do you play?” he responds with football. He portrays himself as a football player even though he’s only played football for one season and danced for nine years.

“Elliott keeps the dancing to himself,” Elliott’s dad Mark Daggett said. “What he has is special and in some ways it sucks to be special and stand out in high school.”

Elliott’s parents were hesitant to have him join a new team during the pandemic because football itself can be prone to accidents and they saw it as danger upon danger. But Elliott was relentless. He promised to take the COVID-19 precautions seriously by wearing his mask through the entirety of practice and keeping his distance. He believed that this was how he’d prove himself as more than just a punching bag for middle school bullies.

He’s performed in many Kansas City ballet productions, was one of the youngest dancers in the live world premiere of “Wizard of Oz” directed by Hong Kong director Septime Webre and is now booking acting jobs with Nickelodeon. While select people knew about his dancing abilities in middle school, he chose to not bring up that he was starring in “The Nutcracker” since he knew it would lead to questions that could cause teasing.

Elliott began dancing when he was five and fell in love with not only the sport of dance, but also the act of performing. In his most recent role as Fritz for “The Nutcracker,” Elliott danced in ten shows in total alongside a cast of company dancers from the Kansas City Ballet. 

Whether it’s tackling an opponent on the field or getting a standing ovation from the 2,000 people at the Kauffman Center Elliott has a passion to perform for others. 

Elliott knows ballet and football can be seen as gender defining sports. Girls wear leotards to dance class and boys tackle other boys on the field. But whether it’s knowing the way the quarterback is going to throw the ball based on his footing, or knowing where the company dancer is going to land after her grande jeté, Elliott just gets it. His ability to react has let him succeed in both sports according to his dad. 

“I would consider Elliott a student of the game…he has this keen understanding of the moment,” Mark said.

Freshman football coach Shawn Hair explains that any previous ballet training can be seen on the field with good footwork, balance and coordination. 

It was mentally and physically hard for Elliott to go from football training to four plus hours up on pointe shoes preparing for his next performance. These hours of constant physical activity caused severe pain and tightening in his quads and joints. Just recently, Elliott started physical therapy and pilates to hopefully work out this pain before his ballet summer intensive training in Cincinnati he earned through a scholarship. 

“My main goal is to keep acting and try out for the football team next year,” Elliott said. “I kinda want to keep pursuing [both ballet and football] and not have people see me as one or the other, but have people see me as both.”