S/O Is dance (non-ballet) a good EC for top colleges?

[Anonymous]

So the overall consensus on the ballet thread is that most top colleges would appreciate the rigor and dedication that taking ballet 6 days a week shows. Can the same be said for other styles of dance? Let's say kid has been taking dance since the age of 4 at the neighborhood dance studio. Kid dances 6 days a week, but does hip-hop, jazz, tap, 2 days of ballet. Kid's performance experiences are limited to the yearly recital and maybe being a member of the high school dance team. Would top colleges still be impressed by the rigor of taking dance 6 days a week, or will they only be impressed if kid is dancing at a serious ballet studio?

[Anonymous]

Well I think you know the answer to this question already. Ballet is a very rigorous training. What you are describing is casual dance classes, which many kids take for fun. Its not really comparable.

[Anonymous]

It's a nice extracurricular. Won't get child in, but shows a range of interest. Probably counts the same as ballet for the kid whose childhood was misspent on mom's dream of a ballet star.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well I think you know the answer to this question already. Ballet is a very rigorous training. What you are describing is casual dance classes, which many kids take for fun. Its not really comparable.

But if both kids are taking classes 6 days a week, why would ballet classes be considered more impressive than hip hop, jazz and tap? Is it mainly just the snooty factor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well I think you know the answer to this question already. Ballet is a very rigorous training. What you are describing is casual dance classes, which many kids take for fun. Its not really comparable.

But if both kids are taking classes 6 days a week, why would ballet classes be considered more impressive than hip hop, jazz and tap? Is it mainly just the snooty factor?

Its about the physical demands of the ballet being far greater than the physical demands of hip hop or jazz or tap. If you don't know this, you have no business discussing dance.

[Anonymous]

Is the kid in the dance team at school? Some of the Poms at DCs school went to top schools. Being a team captain is a plus. DC goes to a top state flagship with a dance team. They are D1 athletes and are recruited. So dance can certainly be an asset.

[Anonymous]

In our experience with top schools, sports and all other physical and musical extracurriculars only make a difference if you are being recruited. Otherwise, they will not get you in or tip any scales, and it makes no sense to choose one over the other based on anything other that the kid's genuine interest.

[Anonymous]

It's a nice extracurricular. Won't get child in, but shows a range of interest. Probably counts the same as ballet for the kid whose childhood was misspent on mom's dream of a ballet star.

Wow, this is super catty. What do you have against ballet? And what makes you think it's the mom's interest, not the child's?

[Anonymous]

Well, my very serious non-ballet dancing niece just got rejected from her top college choice today and dance was her hook. She didn't really have the grades or scores for the school but thought dance would help her. It didn't. The school has a good dance dept. and she met with the head and some students, etc. but who knows, maybe it will help her at other schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, my very serious non-ballet dancing niece just got rejected from her top college choice today and dance was her hook. She didn't really have the grades or scores for the school but thought dance would help her. It didn't. The school has a good dance dept. and she met with the head and some students, etc. but who knows, maybe it will help her at other schools.

Honestly, a hook is only one when everything else is in the right place too. I hope she finds somewhere that is a fit.

I know Emory has an amazing dance dept.

[Anonymous]

6 days per week of dance vs 6 days a week on multiple soccer teams doesn't make a difference to admission if the coach or dance leader isn't pulling for you. When the coach wants you---that's the HOOK.

[Anonymous]

I have an idea — if you can afford it, let your kid who loves to dance dance. It’s great discipline, it’s great exercise, and it will serve him/her well in LIFE regardless of where s/he goes to college.

Everything is not about getting in. Sometimes you do things because you love them. I know that’s shocking for the DCUM crowd, but going to Yale is kind of pointless if you’re unhappy isn’t it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an idea — if you can afford it, let your kid who loves to dance dance. It’s great discipline, it’s great exercise, and it will serve him/her well in LIFE regardless of where s/he goes to college.

Everything is not about getting in. Sometimes you do things because you love them. I know that’s shocking for the DCUM crowd, but going to Yale is kind of pointless if you’re unhappy isn’t it?

+1,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well I think you know the answer to this question already. Ballet is a very rigorous training. What you are describing is casual dance classes, which many kids take for fun. Its not really comparable.

But if both kids are taking classes 6 days a week, why would ballet classes be considered more impressive than hip hop, jazz and tap? Is it mainly just the snooty factor?

Its about the physical demands of the ballet being far greater than the physical demands of hip hop or jazz or tap. If you don't know this, you have no business discussing dance.

I have a MA in dance and I completely disagree. You can half ass ballet at a local studio with crappy teachers just as easily as you can half-ass other types of
Dance with crappy teachers at a local studio. There are thousands and thousands of crappy ballet teachers, you don’t even get a pass if they are Russian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well I think you know the answer to this question already. Ballet is a very rigorous training. What you are describing is casual dance classes, which many kids take for fun. Its not really comparable.

But if both kids are taking classes 6 days a week, why would ballet classes be considered more impressive than hip hop, jazz and tap? Is it mainly just the snooty factor?

Its about the physical demands of the ballet being far greater than the physical demands of hip hop or jazz or tap. If you don't know this, you have no business discussing dance.

You do not know much about the other forms of dance.