For years now we have a boy in the studio. Great yeah, but he doesn't want to dance. His mom wants him to dance.
And he has absolutely no talent. 'Even' for a recreational dancer he is bad.

We have told mom that he is not interested, not motivated, doesn't want to dance. But she is in big denial about that: "He LOVES to dance! He really wants this!"

She even had him do audition for a vocational school. Thankfully they didn't accept him, but they didn't have the guts to tell his mom about his lack of talent. They said: "He is not a classical dancer, but maybe jazz ...." So now she put him on ballet PLUS jazz and keeps telling everybody: "Next year we will audition for a jazz-vocational school!"

I have talked to the boy, he is 11. So did his other teachers (now and from the past).
We asked him what HE wanted to do. Where his interest is. Told him that we would not mind to tell his mom that he wants to do something else. We told him this several times.
But he is just lifting his shoulders and refuses to say what he really wants. He also lifts his shoulders when we ask him: "Do you like dance, is this what you want?"

For us is clear he doesn't want to dance, but also does not want to disappoint his mother. Just a sweet boy.

I would not be here and ask you for help if he ever said: "I don't want to dance" or "I would like to play soccer". That would be very simple for me. I would stand behind him and refuse to accept him for another year. I can handle that.
But he is not saying what he wants. I asked him: "Would you like me to tell you mother you want to do something else? I don't mind telling her. It's no problem for me to do so." But he only lifted his shoulders again.

How do I know what the right decision is now? If he wants to do dance, just to please his mother, I don't think I have the right to push him away from dance class. If his motivation is to please his mother, I have to respect that also.
He is (since he is on ADHD-medication) not a problem in class. He is not disturbing class or other students. But he is also not working to make any progress. He is just sitting his time out here.

In class he is absolutely not motivated. That is clear. When we had parents observation class he gave a HUGE demonstration of "I don't want to do this". But his mom is so blind, and only asked me if he needed new dancepants because he was playing with them during class constantly.
I told her: "No, he does not need new dancepants. He was playing with them because he is bored. He is not interested in dance."
She only smiled (she is very nice, by the way) and said: "So he doesn't need new dancepants? Okay. Bye."

O, and I am the SO.

I had a boy like this in dance class before... and I think finally one day during class I looked at him and said, if you don't want to be here and dance, don't. He went and sat down.

This was followed by a long conversation with his mom.

Mom kept on pushing him to go to class. I stopped wasting my breath on giving him corrections, which he never took anyways.

OHHHH! I had a male dancer like this for Years and it was the exact same scenario you are describing. I believe it is a combination of things one being what you suggested- that he doesn't want to disappoint his mom but truthfully he sounds very much like my own son, who I put in dance class for a brief time. I was trying to get him involved in an activity that would give him the confidence boost I felt he needed since he was completely apathetic as it sounds like this young man is. No desire for sports, hobbies or anything and couldn't seem to verbalize his desires or any emotion whatsoever. I feel for you and this challenge but my heart goes out to that Mom who I know may be completely in denial but may also be struggling to help her child seek out an identity for himself. What I did was continue to teach the son of the woman who insisted he dance, I gave him limited partner work so he had a chance to shine and when he was about 14 he told his mom "I'm done with this" and found a nitch for himself on his own. The other thought I had was the medication while it can make the child calm can also have the effect of taking the life out of the child and this comes from experience when I allowed my own son to be medicated for a time so he would be subdued in school. Not worth watching my son become a zombie.

Its the same with a bunch of girls. Maybe he stands out more because he is a boy. There are so many children that are in a sport or art because of their parent. Just keep teaching him and trying to encourage him and his love of the art of dance.

Are there any other boys in the class?

I have experienced this with a male student before. He wanted to dance, but didn't act like it when he was at the studio. However he returned year after year. Once the kids at school found out, they were teasing him and he up and quit 2 months before recital. Peer acceptance is so major with that age group.

The boys I have now are really into dance. I think this is due to them not being the only male in the class. They feel more free to get into it when they know they aren't the only guy. I have two classes with 2 boys and the rest girls. On days when one boy is absent and the other is there, you can just tell they are extremely uncomfortable and don't want to do it alone.

Maybe this is part of what he is experiencing. He wants to dance. But isn't sure how accepted it will be.