Can you be a competitive dancer without being good at gymnastics?

[Anonymous]

I have a 7 year old daughter who loves dance and cheer. She seems to have good rhythm and enjoys dancing. She cannot do a split and didn’t do well in her tumbling class. Some girls seemed fearless doing cartwheels and handstands while DD was doing log rolls.

Can you join a dance team without being able to do gymnastics?

Dd doesn’t seem interested in gymnastics and has declined signing up again for tumbling.

I have zero experience in dance or gymnastics.

[Anonymous]

Would she try Rhythmic Gymnastics? It seems to be more of a helper sport than regular gymnastics for competitive dance.

[Anonymous]

Flexibility is needed for dancing and gym.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flexibility is needed for dancing and gym.

Flexibility can greatly improve with exercise, classes and time.

[Anonymous]

Why you trying to turn a 7 year old all competitive can't she just enjoy dancing

[Anonymous]

I couldn’t do the splits at 7 but developed the flexibility years later while doing competitive dance. Don’t worry about whether she will be good at it, just let her do whatever she wants! Let her explore! You never know what skills a kid can learn over time, and if you don’t let them try, they’ll never find out either

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flexibility is needed for dancing and gym.

Flexibility can greatly improve with exercise, classes and time.

+1, and it's actually better to develop flexibility over time while also developing strength, as it will prevent injury in kids. I used to teach dance and you actually have to be cautious with the kids who are naturally flexible from a young age -- often they have hyper mobility that makes them injury prone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flexibility is needed for dancing and gym.

Flexibility can greatly improve with exercise, classes and time.

+1, and it's actually better to develop flexibility over time while also developing strength, as it will prevent injury in kids. I used to teach dance and you actually have to be cautious with the kids who are naturally flexible from a young age -- often they have hyper mobility that makes them injury prone.

True boo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why you trying to turn a 7 year old all competitive can't she just enjoy dancing

+1

[Anonymous]

There is a lot of talk right now in the dance world about the role of acro in competitive dance. I side with the people and choreographers/judges who argue that acro is used as cheap filler in routines, is rarely connected to choreography, and is disproportionately valued in the competitive dance world while adding little actual dance value. If you want, you can go down an internet rabbit hole on this topic.

The reality is that few studios are going to teach acro safely. So if your child wants to eventually learn acro in a dance context, don't let her do it in some little dance studio on a panel mat with sketchy spotting and poor technique. Find a solid, high quality studio that emphasizes actual dance technique over putting 5 year olds in a "company". And find a solid, quality gymnastics gym that offers tumbling-only classes. Both of these things exist, but they aren't going to be pushing the kinds of flashy videos featuring 7 year olds doing crazy tricks with hastags like #tinydancer #thisis7 #futurestar that infiltrate your instagram feed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flexibility is needed for dancing and gym.

Flexibility can greatly improve with exercise, classes and time.

+1, and it's actually better to develop flexibility over time while also developing strength, as it will prevent injury in kids. I used to teach dance and you actually have to be cautious with the kids who are naturally flexible from a young age -- often they have hyper mobility that makes them injury prone.

Be careful of the unscrupulous places that will take advantage of kids with hypermobility because for some reason dance competitions love when dancers contort their bodies.

I have pain in my thumb areas because of hypermobility in the thumbs. It’s can be very painful, my arm has come out of the socket, same reason. I wish someone had helped me with the issue when I was younger

Ballet classes are the best way to begin dance. It helps develop posture, a strong core, a good base technique foundation to go on to other forms of dance if wanted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of talk right now in the dance world about the role of acro in competitive dance. I side with the people and choreographers/judges who argue that acro is used as cheap filler in routines, is rarely connected to choreography, and is disproportionately valued in the competitive dance world while adding little actual dance value. If you want, you can go down an internet rabbit hole on this topic.

The reality is that few studios are going to teach acro safely. So if your child wants to eventually learn acro in a dance context, don't let her do it in some little dance studio on a panel mat with sketchy spotting and poor technique. Find a solid, high quality studio that emphasizes actual dance technique over putting 5 year olds in a "company". And find a solid, quality gymnastics gym that offers tumbling-only classes. Both of these things exist, but they aren't going to be pushing the kinds of flashy videos featuring 7 year olds doing crazy tricks with hastags like #tinydancer #thisis7 #futurestar that infiltrate your instagram feed.

This is your answer op. I will caution you to stay away from competitive dance. If you simply must go that route, studio blue and Urbana are your only ethical local options. You may be safe at dawn crofton,but, they are old, really old school and hyper competitive, not a great example for kids in my opinion. I live and work in dance and would never send my kids to a competitive studio.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a 7 year old daughter who loves dance and cheer. She seems to have good rhythm and enjoys dancing. She cannot do a split and didn’t do well in her tumbling class. Some girls seemed fearless doing cartwheels and handstands while DD was doing log rolls.

Can you join a dance team without being able to do gymnastics?

Dd doesn’t seem interested in gymnastics and has declined signing up again for tumbling.

I have zero experience in dance or gymnastics.

Acro is not gymnastics. The base and approach are different. Acro is great and supplements technique when done well. Find a good studio, read Trash the Trophies, and go from there. There are a couple nearby studios that I would recommend for this...District Dance is not one of them.

[Anonymous]

It doesn’t seem like there’s anything good about competitive dance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t seem like there’s anything good about competitive dance.

It's basically kid pageants with some dance skill thrown in. Horrible culture. I danced from age 6 to age 26, my DD dances. If you love dance, just go to a dance studio where you get to dance. One or two recitals a year for family and friends. Older, more serious students get opportunities to perform in a more professional way, a reward for years of dedication and love of dance, not a cheap trophy for doing a 2 minute routine in a convention center in front of a bunch of other competitive dance teams.