Which dance style?

[gazelle]

My DD is in Year 9 at school and has been attending ballet classes since she was 3. She has also been to street dance and freestyle classes for the past 4 1/2  years, which have helped her to develop her flexibility, confidence and ability to pick up routines quickly.

 

For a variety of reasons, she has decided (and I fully support her in this) to give up her street dance, but would like to do some other form of dance instead.

 

She is passionate about her ballet and would love to be able to pursue it as a career but, although she has been fortunate enough to be accepted onto 3 different associate programmes over the years and was offered a place at Tring for Year 9 (which she couldn't take up due to lack of funding), I feel that it is unlikely that she will ever become a professional classical dancer. Although she has been blessed with long legs and lovely feet, she is tall and, although not in any sense overweight, will never have the classic ballerina physique.

 

With the above in mind, I am trying to think about other options and was wondering about which new dance form she should try now (in addition to her ballet) - she says she doesn't mind what she does, as long as she can do more dancing! Her ballet teacher suggested contemporary, but she does already do this at her weekly associates class  (although would be happy to do more). As far as I can see, the other options are modern, jazz (not sure of the difference), tap or possibly ballroom. At her current dance school, they only offer ballet, so whatever we chose we would need to go elsewhere for a non-ballet class, but her teacher is happy for her to do so.

 

I would welcome any opinions about which dance style might be the most useful for her.

[Balletgirlsplease]

Why doesn't she try a few styles out and see what she likes best?

[Picturesinthefirelight]

My dd's ambitions lie in Musical theatre. She does modern & tap alongside ballet. Modern is excellent for her technique. She also does non syllabus jazz at Stagecoach which seems to help with picking up different styles and picking up dances quickly at auditions.

[Tulip]

Listen to her teacher ballet and contempory goes together, would your daughter like a career in contempory?

[All4dancers]

I think modern is a good addition to ballet and contemporary.

[amber21]

Hi gazelle my DD also does a mix of styles similar to your DD including mod and tap, one of these styles is also ballroom and she has found that everything in ballroom is opposite to ballet, she is always saying that she has to adjust her brain and body to accommodate the difference in posture and feet. Fortunately she doesnt do enough of it per week for it to affect her ballet posture.  I would just probably let her try a few classes of each and see what she thinks. 

Ax

[All4dancers]

my dd started Latin when she was four and did it right up until she started ballet at aged nine.  Her ballet teacher then advised that it would perhaps be wise to stop Latin as she found it really hard to keep her hips still in ballet, so perhaps Latin is one to keep away from? 

[Anna C]

I think it depends upon whether she wants to try and have a career in dance. If so, I'd suggest Modern/Jazz or Contemporary.

 

It's always good to have some tap under your belt, especially if Musical Theatre could be on the cards (can she sing?). Contemporary and Ballet are very complimentary to each other.

 

If however she has no ambition to dance for a living, then I'd let her try anything she fancies! :-)

[taxi4ballet]

What type of music does she like?

[gazelle]

Many thanks for all your  helpful replies. I was particularly interested in the comments about ballroom/latin dancing and think we would be best to avoid these.

 

Spanner - yes, my DD would love to have a career in dance. Her first choice would be ballet, but as I think her physique is not ideal for this, we are trying to think about which other dance form(s) might be the most useful to her.

 

She has only been doing contemporary at her associates class since September, but enjoys it very much. However, the only reasonably local contemporary class that I can find at the moment unfortunately clashes with her Intermediate ballet class.

 

Taxi - your question about what type of music she likes gave me food for thought! Basically, I think she has very varied tastes, although she is very into the music from some of the West End shows at the moment. Unfortunately singing is not her forte, otherwise musical theatre would have been a good option for her.

 

I think we will do some more research into what is available and then see if we can try out a few different styles, as Eloise_please suggests.

[taximom]

Where abouts are you? Have a look at the CAT's - Centre for Advanced Training. A number of centres throughout the country mostly aiming to develop contemporary dance.  If you are near London you could consider the Saturday classess at the place perhaps.  There may well be a youth dance company within your county which is likely to be contemporary based.

[gazelle]

We are in the Midlands and I know that there is a contemporary CAT scheme in Nottingham. However, this would mean  giving up her Associates place and I don't think she would want to do this at this stage, but could be an option  for the future e.g. if she wasn't lucky enough to retain her Associates place for next year.

 

Her ballet teacher has suggested a modern class which fits in well with our timetable, so she is going to give that a go and see if she likes it.

 

Many thanks for everyone's suggestions.

[Anna C]

That sounds like a great idea. Modern is a lovely genre, great for flexibility and there's lots of variation between lyrical, sharp, jazzy and energetic. My ballet obsessed dd loves her Modern classes.

[2dancersmum]

I echo the support for modern.  My DD has always enjoyed it and it helped with her flexibility as she reached the higher grades.  Looking way ahead, if she auditions for dance colleges at 16, it will be good preparation for her auditions.

[taxi4ballet]

I asked my dd and she said that she likes modern and contemporary, and finds jazz the most fun.