DancingtoDance

I don't know that I have a lot of advice I can give, however I'd say that as someone who has never trained full time in dance but has taken dance recreationally, I would definitely not be happy with the music shortage, at least not on a long-term basis especially if anything at all could have been done about it. I know that there might be some who disagree, but I am not comfortable with unreasonable favouritism in dance whether recreational or vocational - most parents or students are paying for dance training, and even if one has got a full scholarship for dance what is the point of a school giving a scholarship to a student if the teachers are just going to ignore the student in class? I know it is possible some teachers might require more of a student than others because they seem to be capable of doing more, but to me that is different to just completely ignoring a certain student just because they seem to not be as capable as some (also, I feel that anybody who has got into a vocational dance upper school must have quite a high proficency and aptitude in dance just to get in). Personally I have a sibling who is more academic (ability-wise) than me, and in my opinion since your dancing teenager's sister is not her and may have abilities in different areas to your older child, it may be of limited value for your dancing child to base her goals on her sister (though I do believe one should try hard in everything they do including academics). If I was in your child's position, I would want to keep up with my academic schooling if feasible just to keep my options more open if nothing else, however in my opinion there are also meaningful (not necessarily high-paying) jobs which do not necessarily require the length of training need for dance that do not require a university degree. I do not think cramped accommodation in educational settings is limited to vocational dance or art schools. If the accommodation is literally unsafe or unhygienic for your child though, then I definitely think it may be wise to find other accommodation. Personally there was a time I wanted to eventually dance professionally, but looking back I obviously didn't want it enough or I'd have made an effort to get into more full-time dance training. The point am trying to make is for me personally, fortunately it really wasn't dance teachers' treatment of me (mostly quite positive) that put me off a dance career. There was one dance studio I went to where the classes I attended felt less 'soft' (I'm not saying this is wrong) but mostly not what would put me off training for a dance career. While your post did not explicity mention abusive behaviour from teachers, a poster in this thread mentioned emotionally abusive behaviour from a teacher directed at the poster's child. I may be wrong, but unfortunately I think emotional abuse is far less likely to be recognised (both by parents/students and as a legal case) than physical or sexual abuse and possibly neglect. I have to wonder, 1. Why would teachers even choose to teach or to continue to teach if their intention is to abuse students, 2. Would teachers who have abused students have wanted their own teachers to abuse them, and 3. How did they even come up with the idea to mistreat students? Ignorance is not an excuse for abuse and it is even worse when teachers who know that what they are doing can damage a young person actually does that toa young person. As for attitudes about questionable behaviour "preparing students for the dance world" (that I have read for example on this forum), how does mistreating students prepare students for the dance world at all? Yes one of the vocational dance school's aims is to prepare students for a potential dance career, and to say that abusing students is preparing them to me is like saying children may possibly starve to near death in the future therefore we should let children starve to near dearh, or that children may possibly be deliberately physically injuted to the extent of needing hospitalisation therefore we should deliberately injured children to that extent. Does that make any sense at all? Of course it doesn't. Besides, I don't know that it is even true that abuse is the norm at dance companies (but I have no firsthand knowledge), and hypothetically even if it is, it absolutely doesn't have to be. I definitely do not think questionable teaching methods have been limited to dance unfortunately, and frankly I think that as long as humans have the capability of doing evil things there can be no 100% guarantee a student would definitely be safe in an educator's hands. Abuse is never excusable, and there is always time for dance teachers (at least those who have not been abusive) to either maintain or change their teaching methods for the good of their students. (Your post did not explicitly mention abuse so I don't know whether or not your child has been instructed responsibly, besides the favouritism, but I wanted to bring this up because I feel strongly that teachers have a duty to instruct students in a responsible manner). Personally I do not think it is a given that a student at a vocational dance school absolutely has to definitely want to dance in a professional dance company, though if there are only a few graduating students finding work in a professional dance company this probably points to the statistical unlikelihood of obtaining work in a dance company (unless as unlikely as it probably is, the students chose to turn down dance contracts). So, I don't know whether or not your child should stay at the dance school and perhaps since I have limited knowledge about and no firsthand experience related to training at UK vocational dance schools, I have almost no idea which vocational dance school this is. The most troubling things to me in your post that stand out, besides the favouritism, are the often changing timetable and lack of music in dance class, which would make me reconsider attending even a recreational or non-vocational dance class on a regular basis.

Sorry, I have just sent the message again; I apologise for how long it is.

"Motomum", I have sent you a private message, hope you don't mind.

Is there a way to find private messages you have sent (I have sent a private message but can't seem to find a copy of it)?

No, this is not for an official survey nor for any official project or any official academic study; I was just interested to understand how and why others became interested in dance, their backgrounds, other areas of interest they may have and whether or not they intend to pursue dance as a career. Personally, though I once dreamed of pursuing dance professionally I am now planning to pursue another career field.

Questions for people interested in dance: -If you have ever danced professionally, why did you have the desire to dance professionally, and (if former professional dancer) what was your second job? -If you are a young person who is currently training in dance or has ever trained in dance (recreationally or vocationally), what career are you planning to pursue, and are your parent(s)/guardian(s) supportive of your (recreational or vocational) pursuit in dance and potential career choice? -Do you have other areas of interest besides dance? If you are working and not a professional dancer, what is your occupation? -If you left (recreational or vocational) dance training, why?

When I mentioned confusing left and right I was not describing this person but just curious about dancers with dyslexia. I do not really feel comfortable specifying exactly what this person's disability is but they have a mild developmental/neurological disorder and a manageable mental illness. I am talking about a dancer who is currently in Year 11.

Also, just out of curiosity, is dancers filling health forms generalisable (so do all ballet/dance companies around the world have a health form to fill)?

Regarding the health form, do questions about disability HAVE to be answered? Because Moomin said you're only under obligation to disclose if it's a health and safety risk. How exactly do you define that and how would companies define that? Do you think given the information provided, the situation I mentioned would be a health and safety risk. I do know the name of a ballet dancer in the US who kept their disability a secret (I am asking for information relevant to the UK though).

I do agree it all depends on the degree to which an individual is affected, however this could vary between dancing and non-dancing hours. For example, a dancer who can focus during class and rehearsal but has difficulty focusing otherwise.

Thank you Lisa O' Brien for your answer, it is greatly appreciated. But what are your opinions on waiting if and until you got offered the contract to disclose in a ballet company situation (I had come to the conclusion that it would be safer to wait until you get offered the contract)?

Thank you for all your answers/advice; I have come to the conclusion that if a dancer chooses to disclose their disability it would be safer to disclose at contract time (if the dancer gets a contract) instead of before. I wonder what do others think about this? I know Moomin said s/he thinks you could wait if and until you get offered the job.

Concert Contemporary is used in professional dance and I think basically what I described/quoted as 'Contemporary' earlier in the thread, so without any technique of it's own.

So in what exactly does 'contemporary' refer to - is it 'modern' or what I think of as 'contemporary' and is it different in competitions??? What do you call what is called Concert Contemporary in the US?

So if 'Contemporary' refers to what is Modern in the US and 'Modern' refers to 'Modern Theatre Dance'... what do you call what they call Concert Contemporary in the US?

Well actually as I wasn't getting many answers here at first, I asked this, and I had also asked similar question about what style a dance was which turned out to be contemporary, somewhere else and someone (a former professional ballet dancer from the US so this would be the US explanation) said contemporary dance has no rules, can be danced to music, noise, silence or spoken words, can be emotional or completely devoid of all emotion and just be line and movement, and that the technique used for contemporary dance is rooted in both ballet and codified modern dance technique but movements can range from very balletic to simple and pedestrian (the explanation is hers except I took out some words like 'it', but it is her explanation). She also said that the term contemporary dance is often misused in recital and competition schools. That explanation was also what I had in mind when thinking about 'contemporary' dance. According to her answer (not word-for-word), and also what I had in mind 'lyrical' means based on the lyrics of a song or it can be spoken words, but the difference between that and contemporary is that in lyrical dance it is literally reflecting the words. I don't know if that is what 'lyrical' means in the UK though. By now I think definitions are super confusing!!!

OK, thank you.

Actually I think even in the UK people call that modern or at least not contemporary???

But I would refer to that as modern - perhaps a variation across countries???

Well all I can say now is that I am REALLY confused Do you think there is a variation of the definition 'lyrical' across countries?

Annaliesey - But as I understand contemporary has no technique of it's own??? Not for a competition, just want to know about the meaning

Does anyone know???

I was wondering is lyrical ALWAYS based on the lyrics of a song? Like can it be based on spoken words, a poem etc? And if it CAN be based on spoken words etc how do you tell the difference between lyrical and contemporary? Any answers will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you Lilac, hope your DD does well. I was also wondering if it doesn't really help why do ballet/dance schools insist on students doing GCSE and BTEC or A level dance? I would also like to know is BTEC useful and the differences between BTEC and A level dance, and what to consider if you have to choose between the two.

I was just wondering how useful is A level dance for a career in dance (or is it even useful at all)? What about dance teaching? And how useful is GCSE dance? Does this depend on the school you are at? How big is the jump from GCSE to A level dance, both practically and academically?