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Question: How much ballet at what age!?
My 7 year old daughter is taking dance at L'Ecole De Ballet!. Like many girls her age there, she has been dancing since she was three!. I'm concerned that they are pushing the girls too hard, and even though they love the fast pace of it now, they may burn out or hurt themselves!. The girls my daughter's age take four classes a week: 45 minutes of jazz, 45 minutes of ballet, half an hour of tap and an intensive 45 minute ballet technique class to work on specific skills!. The classes are very fast paced and intense!. I took her over to another excellent school to try it out and they were horrified!. The class second graders take there is very slow and basic!. They can't even take more than one class a week until they are nine!. They told me that even in other countries where ballet is huge girls aren't started at all until 7 and boys as late as 9, because there just isn't a point in making them do all that so young: it won't make them any better when they are older!. Anyone have experience with this!? Should we be running away from L'Ecole!? My daughter LOVES it there, but who knows in a couple years!.!.!.
http://www!.lecoledeballet!.citymax!.com/pa!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
The program at your daughter's home studio sounds fine!. My daughter started out about the same as your daughter and she's now a professional dancer, having just graduated in May with her BFA in dance!. But I'm saying that just so you know that I have some perspective and experience, not that you should view your daughter as necessarily headed towards being a professional dancer!.
In fact, I think it's really good to always be on the lookout that your daughter may be over-doing it with her dancing - not just in terms of burn out or potential injuries, but also in terms of her developing self-image!. Dance can be a wonderful passion to have and extremely enriching in a young person's life, but as a profession, it is probably one of the hardest in many ways!. From where I sit, good parents don't encourage their children to prepare for a hard life!. Good parents only support their child's passion for dance if that is what they really, really want to do!. Your daughter must always know that her choice to involve herself so much in dance is hers alone and that you will support her just as much if she wants to do something else!. In fact, you must make sure that your daughter has a chance to experience many other interests over the next 10 or so years!. Your job is to keep asking, "What else would you like to do!?"
I'm not crazy about the idea of kids under 10 years old taking jazz, but I was pleased to see that this program is not a competition studio!. Such programs invariably sexualize little girls with their competition jazz routines and the costumes they put them in!. My daughter had two ballet classes and one tap class at age 7 and had to wait until she was 10 to take jazz at her studio!. I see your school has a summer program!. If it's just for a week of intensive classes at this age, then that's fine!. But I had my daughter enroll in totally different things for the summer: gymnastics, crafts, swimming!.!.!. even a little taste of horseback riding!. Then every fall, she opted for the most dance classes she could get!. It was always her choice to keep coming back for more and more dance!. By her junior year of high school, our town couldn't provide enough dance classes at her level, even by attending six different programs!. So she left the following year to start college a year early!.
The other studio you visited has a valid point, but only when it comes to preparing students to be classical ballet dancers!. It could also be that the ballet training that they offer is better, so it's worth keeping that program open as an option!. My daughter's original ballet teacher failed to notice that my daughter was not turning out her feet correctly, which eventually led to her developing painful patellar femoral syndrome in her knees!. The best orthopedic specialists in our area didn't think anything could be done about it!. It was only later, when my daughter attended a special summer dance intensive, that she learned what she had been doing wrong!.
Although my daughter didn't start out with the best ballet training, it was the best we could find in our area, and she doesn't regret at all that she pursued a diverse training program in order to become a well-rounded dancer!. My daughter is finding immediate success at her auditions for a wide range of dance jobs when her classical-ballet (female) friends are finding the job market to be brutally competitive!. She is currently dancing with a contemporary ballet company where her jazz training was a key factor in her getting hired!.
So let your daughter be your guide while also scoping out what options are available to you down the road!. Since you seem to be doing that, you're doing a good job!. You may also want to start educating yourself further by reading dance magazines!.
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Yeah, that school seems much more professional!. The credentials of the faculty are much more impressive!. I also noted that Action School of Ballet can boast of former students who are currently dancing professionally, while L'Ecole de Ballet can only say that they're seeing the children of former students enrolling in their classes!. There are also other things going for this program as well, beginning with it's broad and diverse offerings!.
If I were you, I'd keep this program in front of your daughter as an option by taking her to their performances!. I agree that in a couple of years she might come to appreciate rigor over a fast pace!. I know that I'm envious that we didn't have this kind of studio in our area!. Thank you for sharing the link!.Www@QuestionHome@Com