Ballerinas (older kid topic)

[crimsonandclover]

This is about DD1 (5), but I'm wondering if some of you have personal experience.

DD1 wants to start ballet, and I think it could really be her thing. We checked out 2 schools. The first was taught by a really strict Eastern European (Russian, maybe?) lady - I think she's also the owner of the school. I'm sure DD1 would learn awesome ballet there, but I just got the vibe that she might also be pushed into an eating disorder or something else that would be bad for her. The second was recommended by a friend with DDs at similar ages, and it's much more relaxed. They do dancing with kind of ballet stuff with the little kids, but "real" ballet doesn't start until they're 8. I think we're going with that one.

Just curious, though - did any of you do ballet when you were younger? What were your schools like? Do you feel like there is/was pressure in terms of eating habits / body shapes?

[Lsquared]

I started when I was 4. I went to a much more relaxed studio that didn't even have a company until I was graduating high school. I never felt pressured to lose weight or look a certain way (other than follow dress code, hair in bun, etc). As far as I could tell none of my friends had those issues either. The director and teachers focused on learning dance and techniques. I loved it and miss it!

There are definitely schools out there that are more strict about things and if you're getting a bad vibe you can always switch after the first year?

[dizzycooks]

No experience as a child, but the studios I've seen for my dd1 seem like fun. what have you the eating disorder vibe?

[newmomma8]

My opinion, if you don't plan to do any sort of competition team or send her to college eventually for dance, then go with the more relaxed studio.

My reason is while a strict studio is good for the foundation, dance should be more for fun and social unless you want her to have the option to take it further than most which is usually around 8th grade and then they join the dance team in high school. At least that's how it was for me.

I went to a relaxed studio setting from age 2 until 13 (8th grade), then I went more towards rodeo in high school and eventually went back to dance and tried out for the high school dance team. I could have been more disciplined in the foundation, but it was for fun and temporary for me. I was on the competition team, traveling throughout Louisiana and competed in Las Vegas, performed at Disney World, etc. I was a mix, but in a relaxed setting, she can push as much as she wants to push, not the other way around.

T will be starting dance next year, we can't start until age 3 around here, but I want her to start young to get a good foundation and see how far she wants to take it. So I will put her in a between so to speak. This studio has a great competition team if she chooses to stay in dance for that long, or they can just teach the fundamentals to get her some structure and never get into competing. It'll be up to her.

If you see where she wants to really get into it, you can always send her to a more strict studio for advancing.

[crimsonandclover]

Jun 29, 2016 7:45:41 GMT -5 dizzycooks said:

No experience as a child, but the studios I've seen for my dd1 seem like fun. what have you the eating disorder vibe?

I guess it was the way the instructor talked to the 6 and 7 year olds in the class. She didn't say anything about body shape, but she was quick to criticize and her tone while doing it was very harsh. She picked out individual girls and criticized things they were doing, not really mocking them but making sure everyone knew they had done something wrong. She wasn't like that the whole time, but it was a 45 min class and there were probably 5 different examples of that kind of criticism. She just came across as someone who would look a girl up and down and say, "Well of course you can't do move X - you're too fat." That's probably a lot of prejudice on my part about intensive ballet culture, which is why I'm asking about people's experiences. I was into horseback riding (hunter/jumpers) very intensively and never had any experience with any sort of dance, so I don't know how much is just stereotypes I've heard and how much is real.

[Lsquared]

Like pp said I think it depends how much she wants to do it and how far she wants to take it. If she really takes to ballet she can advance her training later. For now Im sure it will be fun for her to just go to class and have fun and move around with other kids her age.

IME part of the dance culture is teachers correcting movements in front of the class. How far was she taking it?

[lucanjo14]

I started dance when I was 5 and went to an arts high school for dance and college as a dance major for a year. I say the second more relaxed studio. Especially at this age. If it is something she truly excels at and wants to pursue as she gets older you could always look into other studios. But as a starting point id say it's more important to develop a love for dance and keep it fun.

[tinydancer]

I danced from age 5 (and sometime still do), and I agree with others - it should just be fun at this point. She can always go to a more strict school if she really gets into it.

That being said, it is normal in dance classes to correct students in front of the whole class and I wouldn't think anything about that. I would also look for a school that elicits a certain amount of discipline from the dancers, even when they're young. I taught dance classes for kids for many years, and part of what young kids learn is how to line up, sit quietly, wait their turn, etc.

[crimsonandclover]

Jun 29, 2016 13:11:24 GMT -5 tinydancer said:

I danced from age 5 (and sometime still do), and I agree with others - it should just be fun at this point. She can always go to a more strict school if she really gets into it.

That being said, it is normal in dance classes to correct students in front of the whole class and I wouldn't think anything about that. I would also look for a school that elicits a certain amount of discipline from the dancers, even when they're young. I taught dance classes for kids for many years, and part of what young kids learn is how to line up, sit quietly, wait their turn, etc.

Yeah, it wasn't the fact that she corrected them in front of the class - during horse-riding lessons your instructor is yelling out what you're doing wrong the whole time (yelling because otherwise you usually can't hear her), so I'm used to that. It was the way she did it, and especially her tone. I also agree that the kids shouldn't be allowed to do whatever they want - they should learn discipline, but there's discipline based on authority and discipline based on fear and I felt she was using both with maybe too much of the latter for my taste.

[peaseblossom55]

I lurk. I was put into dance classes when I was two, I did ballet, tap, jazz, and pointe. It is my passion I love it. I don't dance as often anymore. I loved ballet & pointe the most, I studied briefly with some schools that feed into major ballet companies, in the NYC/NJ area, when I was young. I realized I never had the great feet to be a professional ballerina. I was always small and skinny, so I always got complimented on my perfect ballet body ( insert eye roll).

I shifted more in middle school and high school to the local dance companies, did jazz, ballet and tap stuff and did competitions. It was a more fun environment, but it was still rigorous and I got great training. Nothing was ever mentioned about body weight or asking anyone to loose weight as far I know. I think with the bigger places I studied with they had nutrition classes and nutritionist on hand, but I was under 10.

I would start with a more fun studio, less pressure she how she enjoys it. If she wants to become more focused on ballet and take it much more seriously the other studio is available. I always remember being the most scared of the Russian ballet teachers, they were harsh.