ScottishDancerMum

We had a meeting today with E's teacher, and picked "Kindome Dance" from Tangled for her ballet number, and "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" for her tap number.  Teacher's happy, child is happy, mum is happy

Thank you all for your fantastic suggestions!  I'll be saving this thread for the next time I need to search! 

All the ballet ideas were shot down as being too slow and not lively enough. Help!

I heard a lovely piece of music on the radio on my way into work this morning. It is by Leroy Anderson and called (I think) Forgotten Dreams. I have seen it use at festivals but not by loads of people and it's not so well known that people will be bored of hearing it! Look it up on youtube or something and have a listen - I think it would be lovely for a little dancer's first ballet solo.

That's pretty - I've not heard it before!  I'll put it on my futures list

So, here's our short list so far.  I listened to all the options I'd found with E last night, and she culled a bunch of them... said they were too boring.  Sometimes I wish I was better at dance so I could do this myself, but alas, I can't make her dance to songs she hates!

1)  Love Them from Star Wars, "Across the Stars"  ** E's favourite, as she's a SW junkie at the ripe age of 7.  I'm just afraid it's a bit dour.

2)  Improvised Piano Version of Albioni’s Adagio (from movie “Fame”)

I watched this last week with my daughter, and could envision all sorts of little girls going en pointe wearing their boots and school shoes!  But anything that helps inspire a love of dance has its' benefits.

Okay, I installed Audacity, and am now picking through the instructions.  An online friend told me she used to use this in high school to make ring tones.... I guess I need to find a talented 14 year old to pick through this for me!

I'm looking forward to learning how to do it myself - it would save a lot of time and frustration in asking someone else to put what's in my head onto the track!

 

She's 7, PupsMum. I'm grateful for the help! I have a pretty broad music collection but I don't have the familiarity with ballet applications.

I've also considered the theme to the movie Cocoon, and Saving Mr Banks. I also adore David Foster's Piano Concerto in G (the movement starting at 0.22 sec).  

Plus Canon in D, but I think that would also be on the “overused” list.

Also, does anyone know about editing software?  I don't really have a clue about such things, or where to start.  

Thanks Sarah x. That's exactly what I needed to know.

Our teacher is not familiar with the current competition scene... She thought we should use something from the Nutcracker.

I'm thinking of using the theme from The American President instead, but I need Teacher's blessing first

In trying to pick solo music for E's first competition, I've run across an old favourite.  I first saw it in a figure skating competition many years ago but have always loved it.  Although it's been used in a Frederick Ashton piece (Rhapsody) and I was wondering if it was too well-known for a competition piece (she would not be doing pas de deux so the choreography would be very different)?

I was told here to avoid "typical" ballet pieces, but is this a typical piece?

Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini

Here with Baryshnikov/Collier

and here with Polunin/Ryzhkova
 

Many thanks for reading x

Many of us in the UK don't have that much choice either Cara.  We're in Central Scotland and have access to 2 shops in Edinburgh and 1 in Glasgow who stock Pointe Shoes, the one in Glasgow I would never take DD to for a fitting.  The 2 in Edinburgh have a very limited choice of makes and styles - one tried to sell us Gaynors which DD hated and the other fitted her with Grishko's which at the time didn't work for her at all, she's fine with them now as a spare pair but that's after 18 months working with them.  We rely purely on mobile fitters who have been a godsend to date.

 

Whilst DD was auditioning in London earlier this month we managed to get time to visit both Freed and Bloch for her to get a fitting at both.  It turns out the Bloch style she's been wearing for the last 2 years is exactly the same as they would have fitted her with in the shop - great news.  And at Freed they were able to find a style which suited her and she finds really comfortable - so we bought these.  She's always worn Freed soft blocks but couldn't find a Freed shoe she liked from the mobile fitters - so we're hopeful that if this one works out that she has a choice of shoe to wear.  It's a customised one that they had in the store that someone had failed to collect and we were just really fortunate that it fitted DD perfectly.  Personally I've no ideal what the customisation is, but if it works then I'm happy.

I'm another Central Scotland mum who'd love to know some mobile fitters, if you might be able to pass names on?

Good luck, Anon!

Thanks for asking this - I was just wondering how to do this!  

I hope this isn't going too off track but I'm having the appropriate dilemma with DS who wants to enter a singing festival.

 

He will be 13 but is very small so the audience will look at him & assume he's about 8/10 years old (adjudicator will know age).

I ran across this web article about song choices - it had some good ideas!

https://hobbylark.com/performing-arts/Awesome-Talent-Show-Songs

What age group (and grade) are you thinking of in particular? 

She's 7, and would be dancing novice Juvenile.

That's all great advice - thank you!  I didn't get to stay to listen to all the ballet performances at the comp we went to a few weeks ago - I should have taken notes!

This is just to offer to our teacher in case she picks something well-known ballet.  I know she knows best, but still....

I have a huge collection of instrumentals (I was a soundtrack junkie in the 80s and 90s), but will keep in mind that sometimes the themes aren't really right for children.  There's a few I love, but wouldn't be right at all.  Will keep pondering



Would love themes from movies be considered inappropriate for this age group?  

I have another competition question, if you'll forgive me yet again...

For the ballet divisions of competitions/festivals, is the music typically classical?  Are non-classical pieces allowed?  Does anyone dance to pieces with lyrics, or is that reserved for lyrical divisions?  

Any pieces to avoid?  (i.e., ones that the judges hear and think "oh heavens, not this again!"


I understand it will be her teacher's decision, but she's not been to a ballet competition in a decade or two, so it's all in the preparation!  

That is brilliant!  Congratulations to your girl, you all must be so proud!

Got it  I can get the bun high, but not flat yet!

New to this...

Why would the buns need to be flat for classes?   

6 more sleeps in this household until my DD takes part in the local dance festival, spread over 4 days. Eek. 

 

School kindly/politely 'informed' of her absence. Given up with asking. 

 

Excited, apprehensive, nervous and that's just me! 

 

Good Luck to anyone with upcoming exams, auditions and festivals 

Good luck, Wee Bean!

I don't believe (hope) the British festival scene is like this but I found this interesting read when culling the links today:

 

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/article112397897.html

That article seemed very sad, with all the intense pressure and early injuries.  That 11 year old who wanted to quit because she didn't win?  She was a lovely dancer, yet somehow something has gone wrong there.  Winning can't be the only thing.

There has to be a happy medium somehow.  We recently visited friends in Wisconsin, USA, and they were telling me the pressure about getting 4 and 5 year olds into local "travel teams".... for dance, football, gymnastics, soccer, whathaveyou.  Trips every month, with the cost of buses, hotel stays, comp fees... not seeing the rest of your family several days a month.  My friend said it was hard to find a dance class for her daughter that didn't have these kinds of expectations.  She wanted a basic intro ballet education for a 6 year old, not a "Dance Moms" lifestyle.  She's still looking for a better fit. 

I was hoping that this might give my daughter a chance to perform, and to work on something other than her dance class material.  She sees the other girls competing in Highland, getting trophies and going to events on the weekend, but she's limited to dancing group numbers every 18 months in the school recital.  She wants to try harder things, and if we go into this with an open mind and no illusions about winning, I think it could be a good experience.  

I've been looking at costumes all afternoon and am still very torn.  I'm trying to keep to the budget of £30-45 for her tutu, and while I'm not scared of embellishing a plain outfit (I'm a nail tech... usually there's no such thing as too much glitter!), I'm just nervous about how much is too much.  

I PM'd Flit and Float as she's from the same area and may have some idea about local expectation.  

 

One of the missing posts mentioned being discouraged from using too much sparkle on the tutu (I'm paraphrasing, sorry).  We were also told to keep it simple in that way, and no arm cuffs or tiaras. 

How much is too much?  The one she likes has sparkle, but I didn't think it was OTT...  

http://ids.co.uk/dulcet-sequin-tutu.html

Hi, Just a thought, if your DD is considering song and dance, double check with the organisers in advance. Some provide ear/face microphones, some don't. For warned is for armed. Also practice if possible with your DD wearing one. It can be quite daunting for the first time performer. 

 

Good Luck

Thanks for the heads up.  I don't think we are planning on S&D, for a while anyway.  We're just going to start with ballet and tap.  But I'm grateful for the advice if she changes her mind    (we watched the Senior S&D on Sunday, and she didn't realise the dancers would need to sing too!  She's not a bad singer, but she's much shyer with her singing than her dancing)

Tutu does not make the dancer in my opinion and I think I paid £20 for my dd's first competition tutu.  It was second hand from a child who had outgrown it at her dance school.  It's often easy to alter seams etc if you can get a nice tutu second hand, providing you have some basic seamstress skills or know someone who does.  

 

Sometimes it's good to stand out as the adjudicator/judge will remember the routine better if she has a tied place so difference is often a good thing.

 

My dd did competitions for 10 years, and still does group dance comps and I never paid more than £50 for a tutu.  My mum made a lot of her character and song & dance costumes so we didn't do too badly until it came to modern lyrical costumes which came from America and cost a fortune.  

 

Just remember to stay away from the scary dance mums who live their lives through their child's dancing and it can be a fun and enjoyable experience.  I always found that it assisted my DD's performance element, and we both made friends from other dance schools that we saw regularly on the circuit.   Key things to remember is that it's only a dance competition, no one will die if they don't get a medal, when 22 children compete then no matter how good they are not everyone can get placed.  I always told my daughter to do her best and be happy for those children who got medals and trophies.  She stuck to this and I have had many complements from parents and other dance teachers about her positive attitude at comps.  It did help that she won a lot though 

I think this is wonderful advice - if we go with this, we should both have a better experience than making it all "do or die".  It's supposed to be fun!

I'm so glad I landed here... I feel like I'm in very good hands

We seemed to lose a bunch of posts here after the shutdown last night....  I'll thank everyone again as I did get to read them all beforehand!

Yes you do!

 

I’m no adjudicator, but I have sat through a fair few dance competitions over the years. I sometimes think very expensive tutus on under 10s are used to distract from the lack of technique. Similarly, routines with excessive use of props. Get the feet and port de bras right, smile and enjoy

 

I like the tutu your daughter likes ScottishDanceMum, and the one Cara suggested looks very like my daughter’s first tutu (when she was 8). 

 

On a related point - ballet shoes should be fairly snug for comps so that the shape of the feet can be seen. And if you’ve not done ribbons on shoes before I’d practise in advance of your first comp day! 

 

Good luck

Thank you, BlueLou... you are right on that point!  I'd want the adjudicator to see my daughter and say, "hey... nicely done!" and not "nice tutu... too bad about the feet!"

And thanks for the point about the ribbons.  She normally wears Bloch leather ballet shoes for class, but I saw a few girls wearing satin ballet shoes instead.  And she's never worn ribbons yet.

I make structured tutu's, they have approx 40-50 hours work in them, that's why they are expensive. Obviously you are getting a fully fitted costume for this number of hours and hopefully an individual design. I earn around minimum wage at the most for a skilled job and am never really able to charge for the 'real' number of hours I put in. 

 

Taxi is right, Irish dresses take even longer as often do National costumes.

I completely understand the artistry and hard work involved in these beautiful costumes... I'm grateful people like you still practice the craft, despite not being paid what you deserve!  In reading about them this weekend, I saw that one 10-layer tutu can take 120 yards of tulle and net.  That's a LOT of tulle, and a lot of tiny pleats and tacking and teensy-tiny stitches.  They are works of art.

My concern is the underlying "requirement" that a very young dancer would need one just to compete in the Juvenile level.  It's like getting to drive a Ferrari when you've just gotten your learner's permit.

Please keep up your hard work  It makes me wish I'd learned more about sewing.