Ballet or gymnastics for DD (5)

[SealionsAndSand]

DD loves ballet and gymnastics, is super keen to do them both but can only do one or the other.

She can't decide, so I'll need to but I don't know which one she should do either 🤷

Any opinions?

I have two DDs. One did gymnastics and the other ballroom. I wouldn't recommend ballet. It's very hard on the body - gymnastics is too though to be honest.

My older DD shifted to ballroom at age 8 and it was much better. A much healthier form of exercise.

There's a lot of unhealthy body stuff going on in gym and ballet.

If it MUST be ballet or gym, then choose gym because it's an actual sport and builds strength and agility. It's better for more energetic kids.

Thanks FortunesFave, I would love for DD to do a different sport but she is only interested (and obsessed) with ballet and gymnastics.

I hope getting her into a class, seeing how it is, will help build her confidence to try other sports eventually.

Interestingly, I would have thought gymnastics was harder on the body than ballet.

i have read some worrying things about the intensity and body-shaming esp for girls in gymnastics, and i would guess ballet would be similar.
could you get her into a class that does a mixture of dance types, eg some modern free-form dance, more expressive less technically demanding, along with some ballet.

Can she do a trial class for gymnastics and ballet, they are usually free, and that might help her decide?

At home is she more into doing cartwheels or I dancing around? That should give you a clue on what would suit best.

At that age I don't think you need to worry about either one being hard on the body.

She can always chop and change once she's had ago at one of them x

It really depends on the teachers and how the lessons are run at that age. My DD does both and both are directed in what they do (girls can't just mess around), but are totally not into body shaming and work to the individual child's capabilities. I know other classes where they're sterner, and push for results over fun rather than results through fun.

Ballet though is at least as hard on the body as gymnastics, it's just less obvious at the beginning.

If I've understood your post correctly and she hasn't tried either yet, then definitely get her to do a trial class of each to see which she prefers. And see try a different dance class too.

DD found the reality of ballet a bit slow and boring, but she's a child who is never still. Other children love it.

I would do gym as you do need to start that young. Of it doesn't work out switch to dance and it will provide a good foundation.

There's a 4 year waiting list for our local gymnastics, ever as ballet is a time a dozen (but fucking expensive for what? A half hour session with a bunch of other kids?). Utter waste of time and money. Might as well stick then on youtube classes if it's ballet .

My DD does tap and ballet and loves it. The ballet school is lovely however. There is no body shaming it's very supportive. The wait list was very very long for gymnastics and by the time she got offered a place she had started cheer. The cheerleading is very team oriented and supportive. so the decision made be made for you initially if there are waiting lists in your area?

My DD does both and prefers gymnastics! At lot more movement and she isn't the biggest fan of sitting or standing still.

All my kids have done ballet and in my experience there is no body shaming when you’re just at a local dance class. Sure if your DD is amazing and begins to pursue dance as a career there will be, but my young DDs’ local dance classes in the bloody village hall definitely weren’t an environment rife with body shaming Nobody took it anywhere near that seriously.

Agree with the long wait for gymnastics - all my DDs wanted to do it but the waitlist was so long. We did put one DD down on the list and by the time they contacted us about a year later she’d fallen in love with ballet and didn’t want to go!

Neither ballet for a 5 year old or beginners gym will be very hard on the body. That comes later, I would say that over all gym is probably worse.

Gym is fun, but quite repetitive if you don’t get good at it quickly. My dds have done both. They’ve now both given up gym as they got bored with it. Both still doing ballet though.

The dds dance school is very inclusive. No pressure to look a certain way or be super skinny. Tbh their gym club was the same. There is another dance school in town though that is known for body shaming, so you need to be a bit careful. Dd1 looks like a dancer and takes it quite seriously. Dd2 is not a dancers build at all, she’s a bit on the chunky side. She feels confident to dance about in a leotard and has never been told she’s not the right shape, or anything like that. They both do other dance styles too and dd1 does several ballet classes a week as she also does the vocational grades. Dd2 gave those up as she’d rather just keep it fun and only does the normal RAD grades. Dd2 is also not very flexible, can’t do the splits or get herself into strange bendy positions and that’s fine. She just enjoys it for the social aspect and exercise. It’s something she’s always done and she loves it. I couldn’t say it’s been hard on her body at all. Dd1 takes it more seriously, she’s very flexible, but it’s taken work, it has been hard on her body, but she chose to work on her flexibility when she was old enough to make that choice. When she was 5 it wasn’t hard on her at all. Dds are now 16 and 13.

From a parents perspective dance shows are lovely to watch where as gym comps are dull!

My dd is obsessed with ballet so it's a thumbs up from me. To me gymnastic seems to be more body shaming but it depend on the teachers.

I agree with the poster who says that at that age, the important thing is the teacher and the overall setup of the class. Some teachers are just fabulous with young children. Go for a trial for each and see what you think. She can always change later if she wants to - you don't need to start at 5.

My DS 7 has done ballet (and tap) since the age 4, he really enjoys it as do the girls in his class. I also dance at the school as an adult and have helped out in some of the children's classes.

The first few years are very much focused on learning the basic steps as well as learning some lovely little dance routines and a bit of character acting. My DS has done a couple of exams and also some rosettes which reward his progress.

Given how little she is, I'd suggest she tries both styles, they are so different. I can only comment on ballet, but know some girls drop out when they are very young as they have an idea in their head about what ballet is. They dream of being a prima ballerina on the stage, but the majority of the class is exercise based for specific steps.

I did consider gymnastics for my DS, but found our local club very hardcore looking for children for their elite programme and the trainers were very gruff. Facilities were amazing, but we got a feel straight away from the place and it wasn't for us.

In contrast, our ballet principal has been working for 40+ years and she is loving yet strict with the teenagers and small handful of adults that dance with her. She is extremely nurturing and encouraging with the younger children, as are the other teachers at the school. Very different to the principal that used to make us cry and hit our legs in 1980s!

I'm in a different area to where I was brought up, so did specific research on the local ballet schools and the teachers qualifications/reputation. There are some schools that I wouldn't consider at all, so you need to be careful. Please feel free to DM me if you wanted any advice on what to look out for.

What is the reason she can't do both? In the ideal world I would say do both for a couple of years and then pick one when the number of sessions she needs to attend gets higher and there isn't time for both.

Ballet, but I am biased as my sister is a trained dancer.

Thanks everyone.

I'm going to book her in for ballet and in a few weeks looks at the gym classes in the area (it's ballet here that's hard to get into and we've got a place with a good day & time)

Tbh, I don't want her to do either seriously, so I'm not fussed about starting her at the 'right' age.

Thanks for all opinions, I'm not sure why I was overthinking this

Dts did ballet while waiting for a place at gym. They tolerated ballet but they LOVE gymnastics.

I think they would have been better off in a street dance class or something instead of ballet, they struggled with the strictness of ballet

@reefedsail

What is the reason she can't do both? In the ideal world I would say do both for a couple of years and then pick one when the number of sessions she needs to attend gets higher and there isn't time for both.

I have 2 DD and they both do swimming, dd1 also does piano and dd2 gets to pick another class.

I don't have time to add ballet AND gym class to our full schedule!

Tbh my preference was ballet, but I wanted to hear other opinions.

I have always though that is is ideal for kids under 8 to do swimming and gym, as they will then have a strong physical grounding to start any other land or water based sport at around 8 when most other junior sports kick in.

Didn't work out for us as DS was the child least suited to gym on the planet, however he much prefers water based sports anyway. He did swimming club until he was 9 (by which time he'd accidentally ended up doing 10hrs a week ) then shifted into something else for which the strength gained through swim training definitely helped.

My DSs did gymnastics for a couple of years before moving into karate.

Turns out that DS1 has dyspraxia, so the work on his gross motor skills has been particularly beneficial although not spectacular. He gained a lot more confidence at using playground equipment from it.

I'd choose ballet of the two straight away. Gymnastics is much harder on the body. In fact I'm fairly sure that with the extreme suppleness required of girls it has been known to regularly cause issues in puberty for periods. Ballet builds strength and suppleness as well as self-awareness, and lends itself easily to mastering any other system of dance and movement.

Apart from the lesser chance of injury from ballet, it's still also an area with fewer men involved. Which would definitely make me think twice about gymnastics.

@MayYouLiveInInterestingTimes

I'd choose ballet of the two straight away. Gymnastics is much harder on the body. In fact I'm fairly sure that with the extreme suppleness required of girls it has been known to regularly cause issues in puberty for periods. Ballet builds strength and suppleness as well as self-awareness, and lends itself easily to mastering any other system of dance and movement.

Have you ever seen a ballet dancer's feet??