Anonymous wrote:Honestly, too late. Kids who are successful with this start way younger.

Not true. My daughter started comp dance at age 7 is doing very well, now at age 9.

I’ll bite. DAV (McLean and now Del Ray) has a wonderful “pre-professional” program that includes the option to audition for competition pieces. I don’t care whether dance is useful to DD for college or a career - she is passionate about dance, loves her dance friends, and enjoys the extra performance opportunities and training she gets at dance conventions.

It’s been a positive experience for our family as well - the teachers and owner/director are focused on helping the girls become good people as well as good dancers, and they are keenly aware of the risks of body image problems, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would check out competitive cheer. It seems like a better path, more athleticism and tumbling/gymnastics. More team work, less political drama with the soloists etc and they can be on the dance or cheer team in middle and high.

Ew.

+1000

Stay away from it.

-former dancer

NP here. I’m also interested in joining a dance team for my 7, almost 8yo. We live in NOVA. She has been doing dance since preschool and loves it.

Wow. You folks are not well informed individuals at all. It all boils down to the dance studio. Competing has nothing to do with their training. At our studio, there is a strong focus on ballet, they get at least 3 hours of ballet and additional technique and stretch and strength training on top of that each week. The focus is not on the routines. They do a few routines, but nothing like some competitive studios. The focus is solely on training and preparing the dancers (who want it) for the professional world.

Anonymous wrote:I would check out competitive cheer. It seems like a better path, more athleticism and tumbling/gymnastics. More team work, less political drama with the soloists etc and they can be on the dance or cheer team in middle and high.

Competitive cheer terrifies me with injury potential. I've seen such bad tumbling techniques in cheerleaders where kids are chucking a back handspring or back tick and their had is an inch from the ground. Or falling out of lifts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would check out competitive cheer. It seems like a better path, more athleticism and tumbling/gymnastics. More team work, less political drama with the soloists etc and they can be on the dance or cheer team in middle and high.

Ew.

what’s wrong with HS cheer?

Anonymous wrote:I would check out competitive cheer. It seems like a better path, more athleticism and tumbling/gymnastics. More team work, less political drama with the soloists etc and they can be on the dance or cheer team in middle and high.

Ew.

I would check out competitive cheer. It seems like a better path, more athleticism and tumbling/gymnastics. More team work, less political drama with the soloists etc and they can be on the dance or cheer team in middle and high.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Competitive dance is a road to nowhere. College programs avoid comp kids because their technical skills are usually terrible and they are injury prone. The professional world is openly hostile because they can only turn on one side, have odd convetion led quarks like the ridiculous shoulder rolls while entering the stage, and have no commercially useful movement skills. The top comp dancers end up on cruise ships or theme parks at best. Save your money for great training and college. Your kid and money will go alot farther.

Ugh. Yes to all of this. Poor technique when compared to students from serious studios that are focused on the art and discipline of dance. Plus all the weird faces they are trained to make on stage. And yes, road to no where and cruise ship work or Disney are where many end up

My daughter’s friend did cruise ships when she was 23 and she had a great experience. Saw snippets of the world.

Anonymous wrote:Competitive dance is a road to nowhere. College programs avoid comp kids because their technical skills are usually terrible and they are injury prone. The professional world is openly hostile because they can only turn on one side, have odd convetion led quarks like the ridiculous shoulder rolls while entering the stage, and have no commercially useful movement skills. The top comp dancers end up on cruise ships or theme parks at best. Save your money for great training and college. Your kid and money will go alot farther.

My kid does competition dance and I completely agree. If you have a dancer, join a studio but don’t go down the competition route.

For all those who love it, I wonder how long they’ve been at it? There is definitely a period of enchantment because of the wonderful group camaraderie. But burn out is real and so are injuries. My kid has neck and tailbone issues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Competitive dance is a road to nowhere. College programs avoid comp kids because their technical skills are usually terrible and they are injury prone. The professional world is openly hostile because they can only turn on one side, have odd convetion led quarks like the ridiculous shoulder rolls while entering the stage, and have no commercially useful movement skills. The top comp dancers end up on cruise ships or theme parks at best. Save your money for great training and college. Your kid and money will go alot farther.

You sound uninformed, imo.
Each studio is different.

None of them are properly trained in ballet. If someone wants a college degree in dance the auditions start with ballet.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, too late. Kids who are successful with this start way younger.

Trying to be funny?

Anonymous wrote:Competitive dance is a road to nowhere. College programs avoid comp kids because their technical skills are usually terrible and they are injury prone. The professional world is openly hostile because they can only turn on one side, have odd convetion led quarks like the ridiculous shoulder rolls while entering the stage, and have no commercially useful movement skills. The top comp dancers end up on cruise ships or theme parks at best. Save your money for great training and college. Your kid and money will go alot farther.

Ugh. Yes to all of this. Poor technique when compared to students from serious studios that are focused on the art and discipline of dance. Plus all the weird faces they are trained to make on stage. And yes, road to no where and cruise ship work or Disney are where many end up