hellogoodbye

DD is 8 and quite similar. She adores dancing - it's all she ever does at home, from waking to sleeping - but when things get 'hard' she loses confidence and doesn't like doing it. It drives me nuts, as I tell her if it was easy there'd be no point in doing the class! ETA: I wouldn't know what to suggest to you as I don't really know what to do about it myself. It's a tough one.

Just received the dance schools timetable for next term. We have decided we will do the following: SATURDAY: Dance Fusion (not sure what this is - modern?), Leaps and Turns, Contemporary, Grade 2 Ballet, Grade 3 Ballet. SUNDAY: Ballet Associates (hopefully... she'll audition in October), Musical Theatre School. And if I can pursuade my husband to give in to another day, we'll get in a modern jazz class in during the week. I've no doubt you're all right about contemporary being an odd choice for an 8-year-old, but it fits in with the timetable against both grades of ballet, so I see no reason to drop it right now when she loves it. I really value everyones help and advice very much. You all have very lucky DC's whose parents take such an active interest in their dance. And some very very busy DC's as well!!! If DD is still as keen in a year or so as she is now, I hope we'll be able to add more in the week and hopefully get her there.

Thank you all, you've been very very informative. Wow balletmum, that's great. That's exactly where DD would like to be. Thank you spannerandpony. Currently in the week she does: 1 hour ballet, 1 hour "contemporary", 1 hour modern, 3 hours musical theatre (2 of these are dance), private singing and an after-school dance class that I'm not sure counts!! I think I will keep the contemporary because there's little point in dropping it (she'd still have to do the journey, as she does modern in the same place straight afterwards). And I will look into the ballet associates. I just wish - and have always wished - there was a (local) dance-school where she could do ballet, modern, tap all back-to-back on the same evening. They all seem to timetable all the ballet grades one evening, then modern a different evening. It makes things so difficult as we can't logistically get her places on multiple evenings. That's why she's doing the contemporary - it just fits because its scheduled with modern!

Thank you very much - I really appreciate all this information. I've looked into associates - from what I've read, it's just for ballet? It seems very interesting, though I think DD is more of a fierce/sharp MT dancer than a light/graceful ballerina. But maybe that's exactly why she should do it. I'm keen to look into it... does anyone know of any associate classes than run in London on Sundays? That's when she does MT from 12.30 - 5. Perhaps I've done the wrong thing with the contemporary . She does enjoy it though. Here's where the headache begins again.... do I let her just do what she enjoys because she enjoys it and is good at it... or do I make a more serious decision based on a feeling she'll want dance in her future? And why aren't there enough hours in the day?!! Can I ask, how much were people heres DC's doing at 8-years-old, and what are they doing now? Thank you again x

I'm afriad I can't - I've no idea!! All I know is the class is called 'Contemporary for 8+'. She was doing modern and tap for a while but the dance school wasn't very good (I think they got to make up their own dances almost every lesson... I'd constantly walk in and find them leap-frogging!). So we've just joined this new dance school and DD was keen to do contemporary because of 'Dance Moms'!! She also does modern there straight afterwards. No grades though. And then she does the ballet elsewhere. She's always picked out for her dancing based on the fact she's quite fierce and really performs - now it's just getting her technique up to the same level that's the headache for me, because I don't know what/where is best. She loves singing and acting too, but dance seems to be her strongest and something I can see her taking seriously in future as well. What are associate classes? The musical theatre side of things I know quite well, but the more technical dance side is all new to me - hence why I chose this forum. Yes, it's only 25 minutes on the train, but still a bit of a haul and I wouldn't be able to do it more than once a week for classes.

Thank you for all the info. I know it's not a good idea to set your hopes on one role, but DD can't seem to help it! There are quite a number of kids at her musical theatre school who have been in Matilda, so she looks up to them and is dying to do the same. Getting so close last time has only increased her ambition of course. It does say they should be grade 4 to audition for ensemble, but one little girl in DD's class got cast without any dance grades. She really is a fantastic dancer though - it didn't surprise any of us. So I agree grades aren't the most important thing, and maybe we'll put DD forward in a year or so - with or without grades -and see if she gets called. I think she's probably at the wrong dance school because it doesn't extend to 2 classes at grade3 or grad4 either (at least I can't see that it does from the timetable). But after lots of research there doesn't seem to be any 'serious' dance schools in the area - and she's happy at this one. We travel to London every week for musical theatre so I'm not prepared to travel for other classes as well. As long as she's not missing out and doing less than what's required, that's fine. The rest is up to her as far as I'm concerned.

Hello there, I just have a few questions and have been directed here - hopefully somebody can advise. DD is 8-years-old. She currently attends a musical theatre school, as well as a ballet and a contemporary class during the week. We've been advised that she has talent and that she should be doing more classes. Her dream is to be in Matilda the Musical and after getting to the final few for the main role, she was asked back next time and is now too tall... so she's determined to get to grade 4 dance so she can go for the ensemble. She'd love to get to grade 4 by the time she's nine or ten. Her ballet school only has the one Grade 2 class a week. So how could she be doing more dance? I've heard of many children who do multiple classes a week. When people do this, are they generally doing grade 2 classes in several different schools? Or are they doing a grade 2 and a grade 3 class? Or is DD right by doing a ballet class and a contemporary class? Is it too early to be doing several ballet classes a week? I suppose my question is, if she wanted to do more ballet - how would she do this with the school only providing one grade 2 class? Another question - the school where she does contemporary want to put her forward for a solo. They're charging extra for her to do a solo, as she'll need solo rehearsal time. I presume this is normal but thought it worth asking... as it seems pretty mean if there were talented children who couldn't afford to do solos? But that's life I suppose? Help appreciated - I'm a bit of a novice as you can see!