Need advice re: competitive dance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You guys drank the Kool Aid, you get that, right?

Perpetuating this idea that this is SERIOUS. and you CANNOT BACK OUT. is how these dance studios make $$$$$$$$$$$$$

It's not OMG THE FORMATIONS and gee whiz OUR TEAMMATE LEFT US. The studio convinces you of this because they enjoy money.

Do what is best for you family, for God's sake.

Agree. Competitive dance is a huge racket filled with mediocre dancers they extort. Back out with zero guilt. No one is depending on your daughter. The dance will be just fine with 20 girls instead of 21.

Yup.
I'm a Girl Scout leader. We have one girl in my troop who I adore, but she does competitive dance. She has missed SO many cool things this year. And I would understand if she were missing them because of an actual competition, but she'll miss once a year Scout activities for her weekly dance rehearsals. Evidently literally everything else in the world - including family finances - are less important than dance practice several times per week 10 months of the year.

[Anonymous]

First time I am hearing of competitive dance. What kind of dance is it. Where do you do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First time I am hearing of competitive dance. What kind of dance is it. Where do you do it.

You must not be from the US

[Anonymous]

Competitive Dance reminds me of the B and C Travel teams for Soccer and Baseball and maybe other sports. The Teams that are built so that most of the kids who try out can be on a travel team but only the top team is really competitive. They are all activities that are made to make a company or organization money while making parents and some kids feel special because they are/their kid is playing a travel sport or competing in dance.

But this push to be on travel teams in ES to improve the chance of making the better teams in MS and the HS team and maybe a college scholarship is crazy. And competitive dance Feels the same way. There is a team for everyone, competitions for everyone, and it is a money suck.

Drop your kid if she is not enjoying it. Give the team as much time to adjust their routine and walk away. Save the money. If your daughter wants to tumble then look at a gymnastics program (not a team but classes that meet once or twice a week.) If she wants to dance, look for dance classes that offer different styles and not just ballet. Look for things that meet once or twice a week for an hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First time I am hearing of competitive dance. What kind of dance is it. Where do you do it.

Most dance studios have a competition team (except studios that only do ballet). They can compete in jazz, tap, lyrical, ballet and/or hip hop. My daughter is on a team and her age group has 3 competitions a year. At each, they enter into 3 categories but some groups do more or less. Plus kids can enter a solo, if they want (which means a buying a set of private lessons so one of the dance teachers can choreograph and coach them through a solo).
The competitions themselves are a total racket, as people have pointed out. Anyone who pays can compete, judges give out meaningless awards that they practically make up, tons of hardware awarded. I was never a dancer but somehow I gave birth to one. She LOVES the competitions and ultimately I think they're good for her. She's pushing herself, handling stress, feeling accomplishment. The exercise is good, she's found a sport and friends she loves, she's getting better through each competition. She'll probably keep dancing through high school and this is part of the process.
I totally get the hate for these things. But they have good sides, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First time I am hearing of competitive dance. What kind of dance is it. Where do you do it.

Most dance studios have a competition team (except studios that only do ballet). They can compete in jazz, tap, lyrical, ballet and/or hip hop. My daughter is on a team and her age group has 3 competitions a year. At each, they enter into 3 categories but some groups do more or less. Plus kids can enter a solo, if they want (which means a buying a set of private lessons so one of the dance teachers can choreograph and coach them through a solo).
The competitions themselves are a total racket, as people have pointed out. Anyone who pays can compete, judges give out meaningless awards that they practically make up, tons of hardware awarded. I was never a dancer but somehow I gave birth to one. She LOVES the competitions and ultimately I think they're good for her. She's pushing herself, handling stress, feeling accomplishment. The exercise is good, she's found a sport and friends she loves, she's getting better through each competition. She'll probably keep dancing through high school and this is part of the process.
I totally get the hate for these things. But they have good sides, too.

Everyone I know in competitive dance bailed around 7-8th grade. They want to become more a part of their high schools social scene and sports- but it becomes slightly hard bc they aren’t good enough at any sport to play at a competitive high school level since they spent so much time on dance teams. Most end up doing cheer. Please encourage your child to do other sports besides dance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First time I am hearing of competitive dance. What kind of dance is it. Where do you do it.

Most dance studios have a competition team (except studios that only do ballet). They can compete in jazz, tap, lyrical, ballet and/or hip hop. My daughter is on a team and her age group has 3 competitions a year. At each, they enter into 3 categories but some groups do more or less. Plus kids can enter a solo, if they want (which means a buying a set of private lessons so one of the dance teachers can choreograph and coach them through a solo).
The competitions themselves are a total racket, as people have pointed out. Anyone who pays can compete, judges give out meaningless awards that they practically make up, tons of hardware awarded. I was never a dancer but somehow I gave birth to one. She LOVES the competitions and ultimately I think they're good for her. She's pushing herself, handling stress, feeling accomplishment. The exercise is good, she's found a sport and friends she loves, she's getting better through each competition. She'll probably keep dancing through high school and this is part of the process.
I totally get the hate for these things. But they have good sides, too.

Everyone I know in competitive dance bailed around 7-8th grade. They want to become more a part of their high schools social scene and sports- but it becomes slightly hard bc they aren’t good enough at any sport to play at a competitive high school level since they spent so much time on dance teams. Most end up doing cheer. Please encourage your child to do other sports besides dance

Why? She’s definitely not going to play a high school sport. She’s very small, not particularly fast and not very aggressive. Dance is great for her. She tried lots of sports when she was younger, can swim and play tennis. Some girls will stick with this dance team through high school (and not cheer) and that’s more than fine with me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Competitive Dance reminds me of the B and C Travel teams for Soccer and Baseball and maybe other sports. The Teams that are built so that most of the kids who try out can be on a travel team but only the top team is really competitive. They are all activities that are made to make a company or organization money while making parents and some kids feel special because they are/their kid is playing a travel sport or competing in dance.

But this push to be on travel teams in ES to improve the chance of making the better teams in MS and the HS team and maybe a college scholarship is crazy. And competitive dance Feels the same way. There is a team for everyone, competitions for everyone, and it is a money suck.

Drop your kid if she is not enjoying it. Give the team as much time to adjust their routine and walk away. Save the money. If your daughter wants to tumble then look at a gymnastics program (not a team but classes that meet once or twice a week.) If she wants to dance, look for dance classes that offer different styles and not just ballet. Look for things that meet once or twice a week for an hour.

This is how I felt about gymnastics. Those of us with the mediocre students were funding the facilities and the coaches who spent all of their time focuses on the top 3-4 students and mostly ignoring our kids. I didn't like feeling like a cash cow and thankfully my child was fine quitting.