joyofdance

Hi Janet. I would like to look at the thread as suggested by TUtugirl but I cant work out how to find it. Could you send me the link and or explain how I search for threads. Thank you

Thank you Tutugirl Ive messaged you

Thank you janet.

Thanks everyone. I will look in to all the ones that you have mentioned and let you know how we get on with finding something.

It looks great petalviolet. It is quite expensive so I am not sure we could quite afford that amount. I know these summer schools offer amazing opportunities etc but it does sadden me that family's like mine on lower incomes cant give our children these kind of amazing experiences. It does always seem that only the financially well off can attend. Actually in terms of dance that would be quite a good topic for discussion.

Thank you. I will have a look.

Hi. I have been looking for a summer dance course for my 12 yr old. I have left it very late so all of the main well known schools are full. We live in the midlands and whilst a residential course is not out of the question we would prefer one that she could get to on a daily basis. She would like to attend one that does a range of dance styles and maybe even some musical theatre but would concider one that is just dedicated to ballet. One of the issues is dates, we need the workshop to be pref mid to late august because of our own holidays. It would be great if any of you experienced parents could recommend a good quality summer course. There are various local ones but to be honest whilst I am sure they are fun they are run by small dance schools and as lovely as they are the standard of teaching isnt great. my daughter wants to have fun but she also wants to be challenged and learn/improve her dance skills. Thanks in advance.

Sounds interesting. Have a great weekend.

Oh of course, I know of ENB but have never heard of CAT.Is it a regular weekend class?

I would enjoy reading that but wouldnt be able to contribute much as we can only get old episodes on our TV. We dont have the packages with millions of channels. I have never seen the English one but hear it is nearly as bad.

Lol I dont think we actually have our own lives. my Dd is auditioning for a theatre production tomorrow, Ballet associates and tap associates on Sunday. Whats ENB and Cat scheme?

Some of the girls in my old dance school did it and a few in the current one. I havent seen the teachers tell them to do this but equally I havent seen them tell them not to. A lot of the parents think its cute. I also think that about them Annaliesey but when I see it I also I think " irresponsible parent"

Have just had a quick read of that article Annaliesey. I must try to find that series on catch up. I suspect I will recognise the type from my old dance school.

Ha ha, that walk makes me cringe. I would jump on stage and drag my daughter off if she ever did that. Fortunately we laugh about it and do parody's of it. She has it off to a tee in a very exaggerated way (not that you could exaggerate it more Lol)

Ha ha. Its the way the kids on the American Dance Moms walk on to stage before their dance and then exit the stage after. Its difficult to describe but I always think it looks like they have some problems with their hips lol. I have a feeling its meant to be sexy which is very scary as its done by children. I have noticed kids doing it at dance festivals and its really distasteful.

Agreed, my concern is that so many dance schools, particularly the ones that get involved with comps are viewing the dance moms stuff as positive and trying to emulate the style of dancing. At a recent comp I saw several girls leaving the stage after their dance doing that awful dance moms walk off. I have told my daughter that she will never be allowed to do that. Fortunately she also thinks its a ridiculous way to exit or enter the stage Lol.

Definitely Annaliesey. I have absolutely no back ground in dance and had had no previous experience of any other dance environment so was told this often. My experience was that the parents that said it also had little or no dance experience so they had been groomed in to thinking this way. Interestingly the case against Grant Davies seems to suggest that the culture of fear within the school gave him easy access to children that he could abuse because parents were too frightened to challenge unacceptable practice. Its frightening to think that there parents thinking this way are at risk of failing to recognise grooming and abusive behaviour. The dance moms popularity has only increased this idea that ritual humiliation and abusive behaviour towards children in the dance sector is acceptable and will make children better dancers. Awful, and as you say, very sad.

In terms of what constitutes abuse of a child, being called names is definitely abuse. There is absolutely no need to call a child names in order to teach them how to do something. The only purpose of name calling is to ridicule and belittle and possibly terrify a child therefor it is abuse. It may be true to some extent that ballet and or any dance teaching hasn't yet caught up however we now know enough about the affects of emotional, psychological and physical abuse on children to know that it is damaging and affects the health and welfare of children. This is why we have laws against it and guidelines and safeguarding policies in place. I personally would not use "ballet being old" as an excuse to allow what is effectively abusive behaviour. I am not suggesting you are doing that Dancingtodance but sadly I have seen parents do this a lot. I withdrew my DD from a dance school because she and most of the other children were spoken to like this regularly. The parents themselves often stated things like " well, that's what the dance world is like, they have to get used to it" . Unfortunately I put up with it for a while, which I bitterly regret, but eventually I couldnt stand it or collude with it any longer. My daughter was ridiculed a few times but I witnessed some poor children being targets and be constantly berated. One of the dance teachers (and owner of the school) favourite game was to openly favour certain children and tell the others that they needed to be more like him or her or as dedicated as him or her etc. The way this was done was not only nasty but also created a really unhealthy level of competitiveness amongst the children as well as send a message to the children that this behaviour was acceptable, consequently there were a few girls in the school that became very nasty and underhand towards others thus creating a bullying culture amongst teachers and children within the school. Having had some time away and seeing that not all schools operate like this it has made me realise that to some extent the school principle has managed to groom parents in to thinking that this is acceptable behaviour. It is also well known in the school that if a parent disagrees with the principle that their child will be targeted, treated less favourably etc. This type of culture, which I believe is widespread, is definitely abusive and dangerous and disguises itself as a disciplined school.

That is really funny as my daughter had a similar experience in P.E. I don't know how long she lasted but she out planked the rest of the class. All of this over emphasis on flexibility is buying in to the whole flips and tricks thing around dance particularly at the festivals. I would much sooner see a dance with musicality and passion than over splits and back flips.

This is an interesting subject and one that I am currently discussing with my daughter. She is naturally flexible but still growing and developing at age 11. I encourage her to stretch properly but very much discourage her from over stretching and wont let her have all the stretching implements that her friends have. Unfortunately her previous dance school had a big thing about flexibility and encouraged the children to twist and bend their bodies in a way that I had concerns about. In one ballet lesson I observed the teacher practically wrenching at the girls legs to get them higher during a barre exercise. The girls with banana feet and hypermobility were seen as being the best dancers whereas I often thought that some of them lacked musicality and presence and spent too much time showing how flexible they were which wasn't always pleasurable to watch. She dances at festivals and I have noticed that more and more the dancing is becoming more about gymnastics and less about dance which I feel is a shame. Quite frankly I get bored by that type of dancing. I try to encourage my daughter to develop her core strength which is her weakest area rather than pushing her legs etc to extremes, unfortunately a lot of her dancing friends are of the mind set that the more bendy you are the better dancer you are and this is further encouraged via pictures on social media etc of girls looking like contortionists.

Thank you, this does appear to be what I am coming up against. In some ways I don't really mind if it isn't graded its just that some of the non graded classes that I have come across have been a lower standard than she needs. Its more important for us to find a modern class with a very good teacher at that time and in Birmingham.

Hi Does anyone know of a good grade 5 ISTD class in Birmingham, preferably central, that is on a Saturday anytime after 2.30pm. My daughter attends various dance classes in Birmingham but we are unable to find her a grade 5 modern class that doesn't clash with her ballet and Tap. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Thank you everybody for your help. I will start looking in to your suggestions.

Hi I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice please. My daughter wants to enter a festival independently. She has private ballet lessons at the minute and isnt attached to a dance school. Her ballet teacher has agreed to set a dance but has never done it before so between us we are muddling through. Can anyone advise, how do we go about choosing a piece of music, is there a way of finding a suitable two minute piece without having to cut and chop (if you know what I mean) Can anyone suggest a nice piece for an 11 yr old. She is grade 4 and not on pointe yet. Sorry if this is too many questions but I really dont know where to begin.

Thanks I will look in to it more. We are obviously too late for this years yr 7 intake so have some time to consider the pro's and cons.