Contemporary dance for 9 year old?

DD started Ballet & Contemporary at the same age (yr9) she massive struggled with contemporary despite gaining grade 5 within 8 months of starting. She did it both at school for BTec Dance and within a specialist school (CAT) she has continued with is for the 5 yrs since.

This summer, after 2 yrs of vocational school she (at 18) says she is starting to see the merits/complexities of contemporary and studies Horton, Graham, Cunningham & is release another one? I get confused She says doing it younger was no advantage and actually made it harder to do properly; she feels even with the next 2 yrs at college she will still need regular lessons in Contemporary (& after dancing with a company this week it's something she is desperate to do)

However her Modern (& tap) she started about 4 months later than Ballet & contemporary) and she is now well on the way to being a qualified teacher

Lots of people 'do' or 'learn' "contemporary" but what that is, doing it well and understanding it are completely different.

And the be a tree style I've seen has mostly come from unqualified secondary school teachers.

Yes my dd has had lots of such teachers. Creative & technique.

DD started with ballet, then modern at a young age and only added many other expensive lessons contemporary in her teens. As others have said, there are different styles and she may have seen a specific style she likes.

There isn't any point exploring, interpreting and understanding dance as an art form until you have learned how to move in a controlled way. Then (and only then) can you use your imagination, become more individually expressive and 'break the rules', rather than following the ideas and teachings of others.

Which is why younger students generally begin with the 'Be a Tree' style (backed up with modern/lyrical), and only start learning 'proper' (ie: Graham, Cunningham etc) contemporary in their mid/late teens. Before that age, they won't have either the core strength, strong classical technique or physical and mental maturity to cope with it.

The good teachers are out there though - you just need to find them

If the "be a tree" teacher bases their teaching on Laban (which they usually do), then there teaching is based on dance theory, which ideally means they are teaching your child to explore, interpret and understand dance as an art form and to find movements within themselves and not just copy a teacher as closely as they can.

In order to become a dancer you need both, strong technique and an understanding of dance as an art form. You won't find a teacher who will teach your child both. At least I have not come across one yet and I have 30+ years dance experience and an M.A. in theatre/dance studies.

I would say 9 is quite young to do contemporary. It's quite a mature dance style and requires a lot of understanding.

I would try modern. The lower grades are quite easy, my 9 year old has recently started on Grade 2.

'be a tree style' yeah, I've seen 'contemporary' done like that as well!

Proper Contemporary is quite a mature style based on certain techniques/practitioners (Graham Cunningham etc). As previously mentioned you need a strong core etc. To completely confuse matters in the US they call this style Modern whereas UK modern is Modern Theatre Dance (jazz based etc)

You do often see dance called contemporary which is more what I call the 'be a tree' style. It's sort of interpretative/weird & you see it in secondary schools /more recreational schools where technique isn't strong.

Dd did start contemporary at age 10 but she was already doing ballet & modern & the teacher had trained at London Studio Centre.

ISTD Modern is excellent to develop technique & style & id reccomend that rather than contemporary at her age. At dds vocational school in years 7-9 they do some contemporary during Saturday class but have regular twice weekly modern classes alongside the daily ballet.

Moonlight, I think that it's the same everywhere except in the hothouse of the childrens' competition scene in the USA where it seems to verge more on angst-ridden acrobatics (IMHO, and only from having watched Dance Moms!!)

There are are a number of different styles of contemporary dance (Cunningham, Graham etc), and you may be taught only one style depending on where you train, and which the teacher prefers.

Oh gosh, what's contemporary in the UK? Contemporary in Canada and where I grew up (Europe) seems to be essentially the same thing, I hadn't thought it would be different in the UK!

Have replied.

Obeliskherder I've just read your OP again, and I'm wondering how your dd found out about contemporary dance, and does she actually know what it is?

This suddenly occurred to me, because I watched Dance Moms this evening, and what they call contemporary dance in the USA is definitely not the same as what is taught in the UK!

My ds is at a vocational ballet school and they do jazz until y9 when they do contemporary. I would be tempted to do the modern class, at 9 it would probably be better for her.

well why don't you say she should try modern and see what she thinks, it is more convenient and it is in the same place she does her other dancing so you know the standard of teaching and she knows the teachers and other dancers.

If she's already doing ballet then she will benefit a lot more from modern IMHO. Perhaps give modern a go and see how she likes it? Especially as it is a lot more convenient logistically for you, that option makes the most sense really.

do you know what board they study for modern?

I think there is a lot of difference between them. ISTD is Modern Theatre Dance, BTDA is Modern Jazz. IDTA I think is also Modern Jazz but I could be wrong on that. Whether they really do lean towards jazz more than ISTD I don't know, I am only going by the names - my daughters do ISTD.

Majority of their friends who dance prefer modern to ballet but there are some who don't want to do it.

As far as I understand it, to do contemporary dance properly you need considerable core strength, physical maturity and secure technique & placement. This is why you are finding it hard to find classes for her age group, and why dance schools tend to wait until students are 11+ (usually in their early teens) before introducing it.

Since your dd's dance teacher is recommending that she starts modern first, then I'm inclined to think that modern is probably the best idea at her age.

Contemporary technique is not easy if you haven't already got strong dance technique, and you can pick up bad habits - which you then have to unlearn and spend years correcting!

Modern is often linked to musical theatre but develops core strength and coordination. Jazz is usually from around 10 and Contemporary ballet based.