>>>>>I left a message on July 7th, but it seems it wasn't posted.  "Old John" also left a later message which I thought was very good. I hope he re-posts it.

In short, tall and muscular works well in dance classes!  There may be specific needs you have do to your size (e.g. adapting technique(s)), but a good teacher should help that.  Your classmates will assuredly be "smaller," but you need not be too concerned.  How do you get along in classes at school? At 13-years-old, about 7th or 8th grade, you must be the largest person in class, 'cause less than 5% of boys age 13 are six foot or taller.

If there's been a problem in your regular school classes, you may need to discuss this with your parents and your family physician.  But, as a physician I can tell you there are other 13-year-old boys out there who are your size, so don't be too concerned about it.  Everybody is different.

About ballet classes: talk to the kids in your classes.  You can start with the basic "hellos," ask about their previous training, etc.  Ballet class can be very friendly, if you work at it.

I'd also suggest you log onto danceart.com, they have a board for teenage guys who dance.  Also, balletalert.com has a good, monitored site for questions about dance.

Your biggest problem may be getting dancewear and ballet slippers to fit. Try a website like nydancewear.com or Patterson's Back Bay dancewear in Boston.  There are also sites you can get to by "links." Balletalert.com has many good links; also try cyberdance.com's links section.  Men's ballet slippers normally go to size 14, which fit a men's size 12.  Be careful, because sizing in ballet slippers does not match shoe-size.  You can try Freed of London, in NYC (212-489-1055). They've custom made men's ballet slippers for me in the past.

Good Luck! Post another message if you have any more questions.