mumstheword Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 My 9 year old DD is in need of a new national dance for festivals. She has been doing Swedish but desperately needs a new one that is not too young, but not too old! Any ideas??? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loulabelle Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 My dd did Hungarian at 9/10yrs and did very well with it (took it to All England Finals). It was just that little bit different to many of the others in her age group. She never competed against another 'Hungarian' though I have seen a few in older she groups. Costume is very pretty too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taximom Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Tarantella?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumstheword Posted January 27, 2013 Author Share Posted January 27, 2013 Thank you Loulabelle, haven't seen Hungarian before, cue visit to YouTube! Do like ones with pretty costumes too! Thanks too taxi mom, but seem to have lots of tarantellas on our festival circuit at the minute! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akh Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Thank you Loulabelle, haven't seen Hungarian before, cue visit to YouTube! Do like ones with pretty costumes too! Thanks too taxi mom, but seem to have lots of tarantellas on our festival circuit at the minute! Many years ago my daughter did a Turkish one with finger cymbals, I may still have the costume but wouldn't remember the dance. She was about 10 and did well with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieW Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 I've got a costume for a Basque Stick Dance for a 12 ish year old if anyone's interested ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belleballerina Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 The last couple of festivals we have been to the adjudicator has been VERY particular that the costumes are correct and in keeping with the country espcially shoes styles. One even had photos to show the dancers! The country the dance is from now has to be announced along with the title if there is one at the beginning and she has even asked the girls questions about the country their dance is from! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliepops Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 DD had a scottish highland dance that was always well received. We never came across another one at festivals and it was very easy to get a complete authentic outfit and shoes. J x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Picturesinthefirelight Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 That's why I don't like festivals. It should be all about the quality of the dancing not who can afford the most authentic costume. Dd loves character dance in ballet which I guess us similar to national. She has dive Hungarian & another I can't remember. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legseleven Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Russian? The character dances for RAD Grades 3&4 are Russian and would therefore be suitable for a 9 year old, as most children would probably be 9 or 10 when they take those grades (my daughter was 9 when she took Grade 3 and 10 when she took Grade 4). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lifeafterballet? Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Belle ballerina - think we may have had the same adjudicator as you last year. She wasn't content with the right country - she wanted the region!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pups_mum Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 That's why I don't like festivals. It should be all about the quality of the dancing not who can afford the most authentic costume. Dd loves character dance in ballet which I guess us similar to national. She has dive Hungarian & another I can't remember. I can see where you are coming from, and some adjudicators can be overly picky, especially to younger children, most of whom have very little say in what they are wearing or their choreography. But, national dances at festivals are meant to be theatrical presentations of traditional dances, and wearing the correct style of clothing, and particularly the right footwear does help the dancer understand the nature of the dance and therefore should enhance the quality. For instance, if you are doing one of the Russian dances that would traditionally be done in hard soled boots but are wearing suede soled character shoes you won't get the right "heavy" feel to the footwork and wearing the traditional slippers in some types of greek dances really enhances the footwork too. Some of the Balkan states have traditional costumes which are very heavy and that contributes to the dancers carrying themselves and moving very differently to say mexican dancers dancing barefoot in lighter dresses etc etc My DD's teacher expects her to do some of her own research when she's learning a new national dance. Learning something about the costume, culture and even climate of the country that they are representing does help dancers really "get into" their dance and perform it better I think. It's true that some people do spend ridiculous amounts of money on festival costumes but they don't have to be outrageously expensive, and there are quite a few traditional dances that are done barefoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 (edited) DD did Irish dance for a few months - you should see how much their costumes cost!!! Anything between £500 and £1,000 is considered the norm - staggering, especially as nobody wants to be 'seen' in a second-hand one... I was relieved when dd decided Irish wasn't for her! Edited for spelling Edited January 29, 2013 by taxi4ballet 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belleballerina Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 It isn't necessary to spend mad amounts of money on costumes - although my dd has never been interested in doing National as a festival dance genree we do watch a lot of these sections when at festivals. Some adjudicators are picky but to get through to National Finals they are in every genree. DD's dance school has just entered a National Group for the first time ever (Hungarian I think) and it will be very interesting to see how it does. Luckily there are some very handy with the sewing machine mums who have made beautiful costumes just based on a normal RAD character skirt - but the dancers have had to purchase red hungarian boots from somewhere? They all look amazing. The best dance I ever saw was a mexican dance. She just had a very very full fluid white dress with a bit of brading and bare feet but so good she won the section. I have often said that at festivals it doesn't matter if the dancer was wearing a black bin bag - if they danced well enough and were good enough they would do well! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
primrose Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 We used to sell the costumes to each other as the dance was passed on to the next dancer. The costumes I believe do need to be authentic, but its very silly when parents pay vast amounts of money for them. Most schools have parents who dress make or have contacts that do. We used to get given a photograph of a National costume and told to have it made. We then payed one of the parents to make it for us. I never paid above 30 pounds for any costume other than a tutu, and at that time my dd was doing 12 different dances, solos, duets, trios and groups. The teacher at the time was one of the examining bodies of ISTD and she was highly regarded for her National dances often winning the Grandison Clark national competitions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BankruptMum Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 My DD is an ex-Irish dancer - never moaned about the cost of a dance costume since, the wig used to cost around £100 - that's another thread! Was useful for National sections though! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumstheword Posted January 31, 2013 Author Share Posted January 31, 2013 Thanks everyone, DD's teacher is deciding between Hungarian and Lithuanian? Then it's time to get out the sewing machine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taxi4ballet Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 Lithuanian? Haven't heard of that one. With any luck the adjudicators won't know anything about Lithuania!! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StageDancer Posted June 6, 2013 Share Posted June 6, 2013 Hi. Do you still have the Swedish costume and if so is it in good condition and are you selling it? Thanks, Marthe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzpaws Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 My eldest daughter did a Portuguese national dance, quite a few years ago now. That was very nice, she carried a basket of grapes. I made the costume from this brilliant book : Folk Costumes of the World: Amazon.co.uk: Robert Harrold, Phyllida Legg I improvised and painted the embroidered flowers on the sleeves with fabric paint - it looked really lovely and now using somewhere like Fabricland could be made for around £30 by my reckoning - a bargain! Perhaps I should start making them and selling them! It was a real pleasure to make 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumstheword Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 Hi stagedancer I still have the costume and would be happy to sell on I will find a photo and some measurements for you! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loulabelle Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 My dd did a Hungarian dance at 8 and 9 years old, she did very well with it (went to All England finals) and we never saw another one in her age group over those two years. I made her costume, it cost me the earth so I would never part with it, but happy to send you a picture if you'd like to see it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dramascientist Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 I used to do a Slovakian dance which was an old ISTD dance. I never saw anyone else doing one, Bulgarian is very good too, no turning out and energetic if you have a "bouncy" dc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StageDancer Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 My daughter is doing a Swedish national this time. I don't have much say in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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