To complain about dancing in an acting class

[AmIreallyBeverly]

Just that. 12yr old has a weekly drama class for almost 2yrs. She really enjoys it and is confident. It's run by a proper theatre company. We pay.

It is meant to be a fun but some children (parents?) take it very seriously.

They are doing a play. 14 of the 20ish children will be non-speaking "extras". The main characters are always given to the same people which is frustrating but it happens.

The problem is that all the extras do, is a series of dances in the background.

My daughter is quite clumsy and is very self-conscious about how she struggles with dancing at school. She's been in tears over it. Normally I'd tell her to just suck it up but she is getting really upset about this.

FYI they also do dance classes, musical theatre, "serious" acting classes etc.

YANBU
Some dancing/movement is a normal part of drama class, and being pulled out of comfort zones (or at least learning that you need to tolerate the boring bits to get the fun stuff) is good for resilience and development.
14/20 kids IN AN ACTING CLASS doing no acting for 4 solid months is not normal or reasonable. If daughter wanted to rehearse for a dance recital you would presumably have found her a dance class?
I would raise this gently with management, and if they don't modify the production the find a new class and be very clear about why daughter is leaving.

Obviously, when they're older and start auditioning for parts, they're not going to be given parts that they're no good at. But a regular kids' theatre group will aim to give them exposure to all of the different aspects of theatre.

The issue right now is that the dancing role is the only part available in this particular production for those who haven't got a speaking part. And maybe those with speaking parts were chosen because they had particular talents in that area. Either way, one of the first rules of drama is to learn to accept that you won't always get the part that you want!

I guess I would kind of agree with you if it was a class production of the type that you do in primary school, where the primary aim is to let everyone get involved and have a positive experience.

However, this is a theatre group, their aim is presumably to teach kids theatre skills. Movement and dance are an integral part of this. If kids don't enjoy it, they don't have to do it.

Sometimes rules need re-thinking. What's this group doing? Training kids to be compliant fodder for a ruthless industry and teaching them to get used to feeling inadequate? Maybe it should be more about nurturing young people by letting them try something they want to try and working with them to make an enjoyable experience they will probably remember forever.

Theatre skills are not just for a select bunch who kind of already have those skills.

Or pushing them out of their comfort zones and helping to build their resilience and confidence in the longer term? It all depends on how you frame it.

My dd has gained enormously from having to learn skills that didn't come naturally to her. She learnt the value of perseverance and practice, the importance of putting herself out there and risking looking a bit stupid, the need to learn how to deal with failure and bounce back stronger. I don't think we do kids any favours by designing everything around their insecurities so that they don't ever feel uncomfortable or out of their depth.

The bottom line is, if you sign up to do drama, movement and dance is very likely to be a part of that. It goes with the territory. If you don't like that, find another hobby.

Massive eye roll emoji.

@Aintgotthatswing I agree with your posts. A lot of the responses on here read as though op’s daughter is at stage school or doing a drama degree and must either suck it up or stop. It’s a children’s hobby class, where surely participation matters far more than developing every skill. Op has said the school does more serious classes where I’d expect more less flexibility.

Of course the same kids always get the bigger parts, they are the best actors. Theatre schools are always like that. If your daughter isn’t enjoying it, and it’s damaging her confidence rather than building it, and she should quit the class. I don’t see the point of making a fuss about it.

Eye roll all you like.

I wouldn't expect a tennis class to offer tennis with no running in order to be inclusive of kids who don't like running. I wouldn't expect a gymnastics class to exclude cartwheels and handstands for the kids who are scared of going upside down. Why would I expect a theatre class to exclude something as integral as movement and dance? It goes with the territory.

4months of rehearsing for a play that she has no real part in? Sounds appalling i would have to complain

Of course dancing (and singing) is part of acting classes and theatre!

It's all about using all your body to convey your character to the audience with confidence and nuance. Actors don't just stand still detailing their lines - they move around the stage as directed, and are sometimes required to dance or sing as their part demands.

Any period drama usually features both, for example.

She has a part...a dancing part, which she doesn't want.

I do think it sounds like the theatre group have chosen/written the wrong play for this particular group, but perhaps they have their reasons. Who knows?

Theatre is a team effort, and sometimes kids do have to rehearse for months in bit parts that they don't really want. That's just the way it works. The "extra"/"ensemble" roles are still an important part of the whole thing and someone has to do those roles. My dd certainly endured a number of pretty crap parts before she got anything decent, but she threw herself into doing the best she could in the roles that she had been given. If you don't like that, then drama may not be for you.

This seems a bit rubbish to me, even if you think of dance as an integral part of theatre and something that needs to be in the classes (and I would feel differently about how vital dancing is and its mandatory inclusion depending on whether they were classes labelled theatre vs. drama vs. acting).

For me to relate it to something I'm more familiar with, I guess I could think of how as a kid, athletics was a mixed bag for me because I liked and was okay at the jumping and throwing events (though not stellar), but disliked and was bad at the running events because my asthma wasn't well-controlled and I found it embarrassing that I was very slow and sometimes had to stop and breathe.

So if there had been a local athletics organisation, running serious athletics clubs for kids with lots of interest and talent who might go into elite sport, plus dedicated running event classes, and also a recreational class for those who just want to have fun and learn some new athletics skills, I might've joined the recreational one, especially if the way things were generally done at that class was to just do the field events with no track running at all. Some running events being introduced several years in might have irked me, but I'd probably have accepted that it's part of athletics and that it would contribute to my overall athletic ability.

I would not have been very happy if, after several years of enjoying the recreational club, practising my throwing and jumping, and fun low-stakes competitions in throwing and jumping events — and possibly an inferred tacit understanding that at that organisation, if you wanted to do running events, you joined the running classes or the elite classes — I was told that because I'm only middling in the group when it comes to throwing and jumping, I will be doing nothing but solid running for the next several months, slogging and wheezing ineptly round the 400m track again and again, while everyone oohs and aahs at the half-dozen best throwers and jumpers in the middle.

My dad went to RADA in the 50s and it included ballet lessons.

Update - I didn't complain but other parents did. A letter was sent out from them saying it's the first play the teacher has written and they are still tweaking it but that the dances will be removed.