Dance festival / comp ideas for littlies

[drdance]

Hi everyone! After many many years out, some of my pupils (or parents!) have expressed an interest in festivals and I'm stuck for ideas for little ones in terms of duets and trios. Give me a solo and I'm good, but I'm drawing a blank when it comes to what to do for duets/trios. What's considered old fashioned? What are over-popular choices? What is appropriate?

Many thanks!

Edited June 7, 2023 by drdance
typo

[Pixiewoo]

I love to see 'old fashioned' age appropriate duets for little ones, rather than some 'all singing all dancing blinged to the eyeballs' routines!

 

Going to the seaside, playing and/or falling out with friends!, fairies. I saw several duets/trios from Mary Poppins/Chitty/Oliver/Annie and the like. Lots of disney themed too -- pinochio/jiminy cricket, peterpan and tink, mermaids, frozen, etc! 

 

have fun!

[BalletGirlAndBoy]

How 'little' are you talking? Pre-Junior or older? I agree with Pixiewoo - cute, age appropriate duets and trios go down well. I have seen fairytales (3 little pigs), Alice in Wonderland (Tweedledum and Tweeldedee), two little birds catching worms, bunnies playing, chidren playing with friends, playing sports etc. 

[Pups_mum]

I agree that "old fashioned" is good at the younger age group. Fairy tales, well known children's book or film characters, animal characters etc are all good. I have a particular bugbear about miserable character dances in general, but particularly for little children who, in my humble opinion, should always do happy dances! One of my favourite ever dances my DD did was a character duet  with an older student to the folk song Dance to Your Daddy which was really fun.

And definitely no death. I have sometimes sat through some sections in festivals where almost every dance includes death or some kind of disaster and I think it's horrible. 

[Millicent]

I've seen some really funny duets/trios for little ones based on things like Dennis the Menace and that song "I don't like broccoli". Always good to have something slightly different that the adjudicator hasn't seen a thousand times before. 

[Pixiewoo]

5 hours ago, Pups_mum said:

 

And definitely no death. I have sometimes sat through some sections in festivals where almost every dance includes death or some kind of disaster and I think it's horrible. 

 

That is F section ( 16 yrs and older ) Character territory !!! Occasionally you get a happy or funny character dance at that age, but usually there is death of some form or the other! We call it the 'doom & gloom' section !!! 😆

[Pixiewoo]

54 minutes ago, Millicent said:

I've seen some really funny duets/trios for little ones based on things like Dennis the Menace and that song "I don't like broccoli". Always good to have something slightly different that the adjudicator hasn't seen a thousand times before. 

 

I remember seeing one to the song 'My brother' ! I cried laughing!

[dancefanatic]

10 hours ago, Pixiewoo said:

 

That is F section ( 16 yrs and older ) Character territory !!! Occasionally you get a happy or funny character dance at that age, but usually there is death of some form or the other! We call it the 'doom & gloom' section !!! 😆

Last Festival I went to (April) the death character stuff has been brought into the 11&12 year old solos and 14&Under duets/trios.  Wildly inappropriate for the age I felt and when our school were presenting age-appropriate items such as a day out at the lake etc, and then the death & politically motivated pieces scoring very highly.  Yes, danced well, but seriously uncomfortable to sit through.  Highlight (not!) for me was one girl being the 'fruit swinging from the poplar tree' at the end.  Really not for me but the adjudicator on the day seemed to love it.  

[Pups_mum]

Yes, I have also seen death in sections younger than E or F. I remember seeing a Titanic piece  that had children who can't have been more than 7 or 8 in it. It was very good technically but I didn't enjoy it at all. And that was at least 15 years ago, so not just a recent thing. I've also seen various duets that portray some kind of parent/child related tragedy that have included a very young dancer, and themes like Chernobyl used for dances that leave me uncomfortable. I know the ability to portray negative emotions is important, it's not all about being smiley, but I think some themes are inappropriate for entertainment or at least not until the oldest age groups.

I possible am just getting a bit old and miserable but I like to see little ones in pretty dresses or animal costumes, not skimpy leotards or portraying horror characters. There's a school near us that has a long standing Baby or Pre Baby troupe of kittens that makes me smile every single time no matter how many times I see it. That's my kind of thing, even if it is old fashioned!

[drdance]

Thank you! That's really helpful. Yes I hate all the misery - it's a lot harder for older students especially to portray funny / happy / quirky characters but when done well its excellent to see.