NotaPushyMum.Com

My DD loves to dance although only 9 she has her heart set on bring a professional dancer in the future. But she only dances on a weekend. I know other children who dance every night. Is once a week enough? I would love to hear your opinions!

Thank you

I would say probably not. My 9 year old has 6 hours a week of conservatory training which will increase to 12 hours a week by the time she is 12 - and she doesn't even want to be a professional dancer!! She also does gymnastics which puts her at a huge advantage compared to some of her classmates as this has increased her flexibility and strength. I would be inclined to up the hours a bit, find a gymnastics class and see how she gets on. 9 year olds do have a habit of changing their minds on a regular basis

Jennifer1972 would you mind telling us more about what conservatory training is and what sort of classes your dd takes in the 6hrs. My dd does 3 hrs of dance and I was also thinking it's not enough and looking at how to increase it so any input would be much appreciated.

Age 9 I would say that dancing once a week is not really good enough and that you would need to look at increasing the number of classes she does. Every night at that age is definitely not necessary though - its probably too much. Quality is every bit as important as quantity. One of my DDs is actually a professional dancer. She danced locally until she was 16 and then successfully auditioned for vocational school. 3 years later and with the Trinity level 6 diploma acquired she graduated with her contract already signed for her first professional job. I don't think she ever did the hours the Jennifer is talking about and she did not do gymnastics, although I do agree that some gymnastics can be beneficial.

For ballet, my DD did RAD. For grades 2 & 3, that was 2 x45 mins classes each week. Grades 4-8, 2 or 3 45 mins classes a week plus she started on the vocational grades - interfoundation, intermediate etc and did 2 x 45 mins on her vocational grade also. She also did 1 hr non syllabus class and 1.5 hours of jazz weekly.

Her dance school was only small and due to our location we could not easily increase the hours. Age 14 & 15, she did the vocational grade below her own as well just to increase her hours. She also took summer schools, did workshops and was on a monthly associate scheme. I know however that her weekly hours of dance were well below those of many her peers who had increased hours until they were probably doing about 20 hours a week age 15/16.

So my advice would be to increase her hours by increasing the number of classes - and to look at summer schools, associate schemes and performance opportunities. The balletcoforum website, although primarily for those aiming to be classical ballet dancers, does contain a lot of information on such things, especially since for younger dancers summer schools etc are often more 'dance' than just ballet.

For what it's worth DD regrets not doing more dance and from a younger age. That said she has an offer and a reserve place to study MT which is her dream so it has all worked out. She started dance late at 13 and at a place which did not push her so she moved at 15. She has raced through grades in ballet and modern but bottom line she is not yet a trained dancer and it showed at audition (her words not mine). As others have said quality is key but so is quantity unless she is an exceptionally talented dancer. Build up over a period of time. Four of her friends who dance probably 12 hours a week and have done so for years have got places at more leading performing arts colleges than she has.

My DD is 14 and she does about 5-6 hours a week dance. When she was 9 years old she did around 2 hours. I would say to do more classes of different genres rather than many, many hours. On top of school work, to ask a 9 year child to do 6 hours dance a week I think is too much. My DD is a naturally good dancer and is already dancing in classes with 17/18 year olds because of her ability and has been offered a place at one of the performing arts colleges should she choose to go there when she's 16 or 18. Don't exhaust your DD

Perhaps you could ask your DD's dance teacher for advice, and to see whether there are any other suitable classes she might be able to join during the week?

I agree with everyone that once a week isn't really enough. If your DD's current school doesn't offer a student course then I would consider looking elsewhere but there seem to be a huge amount of new dance schools setting up recently, so I'd go with a recommendation for a school near you if you can and check their websites as they will list past pupils who have successfully gone on to train at vocational college along with any professional work. It can be a lot of hours, but I always prefered my kids doing something rather than watching TV and the friends they've made are lifelong friends with common interests and goals. If they change their minds later on it doesn't matter the skills they've learnt such as teamwork, commitment, punctuality etc will be invaluable in later life.

tikto wrote:Jennifer1972 would you mind telling us more about what conservatory training is and what sort of classes your dd takes in the 6hrs. My dd does 3 hrs of dance and I was also thinking it's not enough and looking at how to increase it so any input would be much appreciated.

We live in Spain and it's just the way they go about dancing over here. They have an audition to get in aged 8 with no dancing experience required and take those who they think show potential. I agree it is a lot of hours but no matter what sport you do over here it is always twice or three times a week. My motto is, there is always time for everything, and it teaches them to use their time properly, so they have time for homework and relaxing. Anyway, they have plenty of downtime in the 3 month long summer break

Just to put the cat amongst the pigeons, my DD didn't start singing or dancing until she was 15. She auditioned for colleges at 18 and got a number of offers and is just completing her first year at LSC. I'm sure at 9 there is plenty of time yet to get more experience

acsbj14 wrote:Just to put the cat amongst the pigeons, my DD didn't start singing or dancing until she was 15. She auditioned for colleges at 18 and got a number of offers and is just completing her first year at LSC. I'm sure at 9 there is plenty of time yet to get more experience

A useful reminder that in the final analysis there is probably no secret recipe for ensuring your child gets a place at performing arts college.

Dancing a few times per week from a young age is no guarantee of success. Your dd has time to start adding classes over the next couple of years to expand her dance skills if she is serious about dancing professionally.
My dd did lots of competitive gymnastics when she was younger but didn't start dancing at all until she was almost 12. Once she started she loved it and was soon dancing 4 days per week. She got offers from Laine, Urdang and Performers for when she was 16 so had been dancing less than 4 years when she auditioned. x

My daughter also did competitive gymnastics and only started ballet at age 11 and then only twice a wk but by 13 did lots more ! She is now at millennium and loving it . I will say though if u have aspirations to be a classical ballet dancer u need to norm start early ! At end of day with a young child anything can happen in future and best that they enjoy dancing but if it becomes more serious you need to get good training x

Just to add that our DD did a lot of gymnastics too. It made her strong and flexible with great balance. DS also did gymnastics. He's a very good football player and gymnasrics helped him in the same way. Bit of a recurring theme here .

And my DD was an elite gymnast til the age of 12 and then transferred to Diving til she was 15. She had developed the discipline of training hard from an early age and learnt to compete and control nerves which has stood her in good position when auditioning for performing arts colleges. As I said she only decided she wanted to go down the performing arts route at 15. TBH at the age of 9 she wanted to be a gymnast and compete for GB... not a dance lesson in sight until she was 15. Now she couldn't imagine doing anything thing else. She eats sleeps breathes performing arts. She is the performer she is down to her life experiences and having her time again I don't think we would have done it any differently.