competitive dance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the endgame with competitive dance for kids? Keeping it up through HS to get a scholarship? Julliard? Why would anyone go this route vs studying at a studio and doing non-competitive performances once in a while? So many questions because I am not a "dance mom." With youth travel sports the endgame is recruitment.

Competitive dancers are typically unemployable by casting agents due to lack of technical skill and odd facial expressions fostered in the comp scene. A few will land jobs in the lesser cruielines. A couple might go on to college admission in the terrible no audition dance programs like UMD. Still will not get a job in dance so do not waste you $ on a dance major at UMD. In fact, don't send your kids to a school that has teachers from there. It's a sign of a weak program and they don't know what they don't know.

A performance based program with solid technical training will get a student much farther.

They could become competitive dance coaches though, I suppose? What technical skills are competitive dancers typically lacking in and how hard would it be to gain those skills through traditional dance instruction? What aspects of a performance do competitive dance judges consider the most important if not technical skills? Again, I'm not a dance mom so I genuinely am curious about this world.

Their ballet technique is non existent. This foundation is necessary for technique in other areas of dance. They don’t really dance as much as do a lot of acro or tricks all merged together.

Put a professionally trained ballet dancer next to a competition dance and you can automatically tell which is which.

My DD does competitive dance through a studio that ALSO has a strong ballet program. No, it's not on the level of a full time ballet program, but it's still pretty strong. No every competition team forgoes ballet training.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it. That is my best advice.

+1
They lure you in with the claim of no experience necessary—and they select accordingly. But the next thing you know they are yelling at the kids and making them cry! And be forewarned that it won’t be long before they pressure you into adding 2-3 more classes….. an additional class for ballet fundamentals, another class for conditioning and strength, another for stretch and flexibility……in addition to the team practice she already goes to twice a week. They’ll remind you that you signed on to a “competitive team” and your daughter needs to demonstrate her commitment and develop her skills so she can catch up and stay on the squad.

Dance moms, do I have that right?

Dance mom here and the bolded has absolutely not been my experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the endgame with competitive dance for kids? Keeping it up through HS to get a scholarship? Julliard? Why would anyone go this route vs studying at a studio and doing non-competitive performances once in a while? So many questions because I am not a "dance mom." With youth travel sports the endgame is recruitment.

Competitive dancers are typically unemployable by casting agents due to lack of technical skill and odd facial expressions fostered in the comp scene. A few will land jobs in the lesser cruielines. A couple might go on to college admission in the terrible no audition dance programs like UMD. Still will not get a job in dance so do not waste you $ on a dance major at UMD. In fact, don't send your kids to a school that has teachers from there. It's a sign of a weak program and they don't know what they don't know.

A performance based program with solid technical training will get a student much farther.

They could become competitive dance coaches though, I suppose? What technical skills are competitive dancers typically lacking in and how hard would it be to gain those skills through traditional dance instruction? What aspects of a performance do competitive dance judges consider the most important if not technical skills? Again, I'm not a dance mom so I genuinely am curious about this world.

Their ballet technique is non existent. This foundation is necessary for technique in other areas of dance. They don’t really dance as much as do a lot of acro or tricks all merged together.

Put a professionally trained ballet dancer next to a competition dance and you can automatically tell which is which.

Is the notion of ballet being the foundation of dance universal or just a European cultural norm? Non-European cultures around the world have very complex dances that obviously were not informed by ballet.

European and American. Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham, Bob Fosse, Merce Cunningham, Lester Horton. These Americans choreographers have developed styles that are still used today.

Lester Horton a modern dancer and choreographer developed a set of techniques with some inspiration from Native American dances. He also created the first integrated dance company in the 40’s.

I don’t know if they teach these techniques at competition schools but these give the dancer a foundation and strength in creating lines and ability to hold them.

[Anonymous]

Competitive dance is a farce. There is no real competition; everyone wins first place gold or first place platinum elite or some nonsense. Everyone makes it to nationals (which are by no means “National” - there are dozens of national competitions that should be called regional). The same groups of girls perform multiple dances over and over again but in different outfits that range in price from $100 to $200 or so. After each performance they have a mad rush to the dressing room to change for the next performance with much drama. Going from a ponytail to a bun can be quite stressful if you haven’t tried it. How about just picking one hairstyle? And one color of tights? And sometimes there are tears and tantrums with the stress of changing outfits and hair accessories. Your time is not your own. If your kid is bffs with the other kid and you love spending time with these girls and their parents for hours on end every weekend, maybe it is worth your time. But if not, run… or if you don’t want to spend your weekends waiting around for hours backstage or in an auditorium… don’t even start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Competitive dance is a farce. There is no real competition; everyone wins first place gold or first place platinum elite or some nonsense. Everyone makes it to nationals (which are by no means “National” - there are dozens of national competitions that should be called regional). The same groups of girls perform multiple dances over and over again but in different outfits that range in price from $100 to $200 or so. After each performance they have a mad rush to the dressing room to change for the next performance with much drama. Going from a ponytail to a bun can be quite stressful if you haven’t tried it. How about just picking one hairstyle? And one color of tights? And sometimes there are tears and tantrums with the stress of changing outfits and hair accessories. Your time is not your own. If your kid is bffs with the other kid and you love spending time with these girls and their parents for hours on end every weekend, maybe it is worth your time. But if not, run… or if you don’t want to spend your weekends waiting around for hours backstage or in an auditorium… don’t even start.

Very true. They have these tiny categories. If all the 7-8 year olds are competing in the mini category then the categories are like 'best mini solo for musical dance" which has 3 kids competing

However the same is true for most travel sports They have huge tournaments with tiny categories so that everyone can do reasonably well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dance mom here, and I'll just say this. You have to shop for the right studio. Ours does competitions but we do not have a max rehearsal absence policy, the director and instructors are working on technique but also confidence/teamwork/etc. The "end game" for my girls is not scholarships or professional careers, but exploring their love of dance with their friends. The dance comp factory schools exist for sure, but you absolutely can find the studios with the right vibe. So shop around, take some trial classes and if you don't get the warm and fuzzy feeling, keep moving.

What studio are you with? This sounds like what we are looking for (we are currently in our 6th competition season with our current studio and are looking to change)

[Anonymous]

Comp dance is a scam.

[Anonymous]

Can you tell us about some of the better studios?

Anonymous wrote:Auditions at our studio is to determine placement in routines.

I agree with picking one close if possible. We were there 5-6 days a week last month and it was exhausting and we aren’t even that far away.

Make sure you go to a studio that emphasizes technique over rehearsing dances to death. Competition dance can be toxic if you end up at the wrong studio. Chat with parents in competition dance if possible. They will be able to give you the jist on each studio. There’s some in our area that are amazingly talented, but we’d never go there because the environment is so toxic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dance mom here, and I'll just say this. You have to shop for the right studio. Ours does competitions but we do not have a max rehearsal absence policy, the director and instructors are working on technique but also confidence/teamwork/etc. The "end game" for my girls is not scholarships or professional careers, but exploring their love of dance with their friends. The dance comp factory schools exist for sure, but you absolutely can find the studios with the right vibe. So shop around, take some trial classes and if you don't get the warm and fuzzy feeling, keep moving.

What studio are you with? This sounds like what we are looking for (we are currently in our 6th competition season with our current studio and are looking to change)

Can you all be more specific on which studios? Very interested to know as we’re looking

[Anonymous]

What about cheerleading? Or is that out of fashion.

[Anonymous]

Dance mom here, and our experience w/ our studio and competitions has been wonderful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What about cheerleading? Or is that out of fashion.

Probably in the south it is big still. But I don’t see it as a big draw around here.