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[quote=Anonymous][quote]Yes, they are. DD and her cousins have a strong ballet focus, but study other techniques as well (except my nephew who does only ballet). [b]What are the benefits of doing a competitive program vs a pre professional program?[/b][/quote]

There are many similar benefits to both types of programs, such as discipline, commitment, pushing oneself over months and years to become your best with little reward, etc. but there are differences.  I think both types of programs are wonderfully different in their own ways and can benefit kids in different ways.

[b]Competitive dance programs are fun[/b].  That is probably the biggest draw.

Many of the students involved in competitive dance truly enjoy the flash and rush of putting it all on the line for 2-3 minutes of glory.  I am guessing that many of the competitive students, particularly the younger ones, would be bored with a conservatory approach.

Competitive programs move much faster on things like turns, leaps, etc., and girls get to do the cool moves that ballet programs usually reserve exclusively for male dancers.

On the flip side to this, often times the competitive programs do a wonderful job of keeping these kids interested in dance over soccer, etc, until they mature enough for more serious traditional training like your daughters are involved in or even more serious training within the competitive studio.

There is a focus on teamwork, improving through competition and adjudication, and doing your best to make the group do its best, where a conservatory program is more about individual improvement and little baby steps and building blocks in a classroom setting.

Competitive students usually are much more effective and strong entertainers than conservatory students, especially at the younger age.  There is a great deal of time and training spent on being expressive, emoting and entertaining whatever audience you are performing for.

If the dancer is into hip hop or tap, competitive programs are usually much, much stronger than what you would find at a studio that specializes in ballet.

There are more frequent serious performing opportunities at competitive studios, where a 5-12 year old conservatory student would probably have at most a Nutcracker and a spring performance, and maybe something at the end of the summer intensive.

Competitive dancers usually study more genres, which can be good or bad depending on how you look at it.  The good competitive studios actually require several hours of ballet, stretch, strength, toning, jazz, pilates, leaps and turns, etc each week, in addition to the routine rehearsals and extra technique classes for things like tap, hip hop, jazz, contemporary and acro.  Where a conservatory student might spend 5-12 hours per week exclusively on ballet, plus Nutcracker rehearsals, a serious comp dancer would spend that same time at the studio, with about half of that time ballet, the other half technique classes in other disciplines, plus rehearsal time for routines.

Strong competitive studios (like Strictly Rhythm or Studio Blue in VA) produce wonderful, well-rounded dancers with strong commercial dance appeal and skills that translate very well into professional dance opportunities.  Where a conservatory might be working towards training dancers who go into ballet companies or artistic dance companies, a competitive studio will often try to prepare dancers who will work in music videos, concert tours, cruise ships, Vegas shows, college dance teams, and professional NFL cheerleaders.  Many of the dancers on So You Think You Can Dance are actually from competitive dance studios, and because of the styles and showmanship they have developed through competiting they usually beat the handful of ballet dancers that come through the door.

Those are just some of the ways in which a competitive program would be different from a conservatory program.

Of course, in the competitive world you have more variation as to the quality of training from studio to studio, but the high quality comp programs serve an important need in the dance world just as a conservatory program does.[/quote]

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