To think you can't learn to street dance at 15?

[echend4]

Hi my daughter is 15 and wants to do street dance and that is fine if that's what she wants but she has her heart set on becoming really good and shows me videos of dance groups and she says one day she would like to be as good as them. I don't want to upset her but is street dance something you can really get good at especially at 15?? I thought it was a bit like singing, you either have the natural talent for it or don't

Of course she can if she wants to.

What a shame for her.

You can also learn to sing.

Street dance or any dance is cool to learn at any age. Look at 'Strictly' fgs. Encourage don't put up barriers.

My mum told me I was too old to start ballet at 14. I am now doing beginner classes (in my late 20s). I wish she had encouraged me to do this.

Oh god I wouldn't discourage her by any means I'm just thinking to myself really

I would encourage her if she were mine. You never know what might happen!

Of course she can. Especially with a dance like street dance. Does she have talent? Any other dance training?

Never done dance before and I wouldn't say she has a 'talent' for it. I think she just watched these groups on YouTube and fancied it

How do you know she doesn’t have natural talent if she hasn’t tried it?

Of course she can if she has rhythm. I started Latin when in early 20s and was teaching within a few years. If she is committed, she can do it. The
problem is that at 15 your usual teen has an attention span of 3 seconds:)

Let her have a go.

Of course she can do it. It’s the type of dance that traditionally teenagers/young adults would do, so not necessarily something they’d do from a young age.

My DD is 11 and never had any dance lessons. She’s worried about starting out in case she’ll be with all the young ones, but I’ve contacted a dance class and they said they’d start her at grade 3, so no need to start from scratch.

She watches loads of videos too and has learned a lot by just practicing at home. I’m sure some proper lessons will help her get into good habits and teach her new tricks, but if your DD is already reasonably fit and flexible there’s no reason she won’t pick it up quickly.

YABVU

You can learn street at any age. It’s one of the most accessible dance forms.

I went to an Ice Skating recently. The oldest performer was 74. There were lots of adults performing who started skating when they were double or triple your daughter’s age.

Street dance is a piece of piss compared to figure skating (I’ve taught street and skated to a decent level).

At 15 she’s not too old to learn ANYTHING as a hobby. Let her have a go and have some fun!

Definitely not too late to get really good.

Unless she’s done other dancing before it likely is a bit late if she has any ideas about a career as, say, a professional back-up dancer dancing for Beyoncé or someone, but on an amateur level it’s not an issue.

Don’t piss on her parade op! Let her have a go! She’ll have fun, get fit etc
It’s unlikely to be a career option!

Let her try, you might be pleasantly surprised.

15 is absolutely not too young! I used to tell myself I was too old for all sorts of stuff, looking back now I want to kick myself, I so wasn't.

Doh, too old, I mean. Bloody wine.

Psychologically speaking you're much more likely to succeed at something if you think you can improve through effort rather than needing innate talent. So I would be encouraging her to go and give it her best, of course she can learn to street dance at 15!

Or alternatively, tell her that it's too late to get good at anything now she's a teenager, so she'd better resign herself to being shit at anything she doesn't yet excel at 🙄

She could indeed become very good. It's not ballet!

But how will either of you know whether she has a natural talent until she tries?

Also find it rather sad that amateurism isn't encouraged anymore. This sense of there isn't any point in taking anything up unless you have the outstanding talent/exactly the right body/precisely the correct age to do it to top professional levels. There is nothing wrong in dancing and dreaming about being as good as the very best, even if you don't actually end up as good as the very best.