Missing dancing what to do? Hello Pictures &co

[morethanpotatoprints]

Hello all.

Any suggestions please. She stopped dancing classes due to too many commitments, misses it terribly but doesn't want to stop anything else.
Should I pay for a private lesson? This will be another lesson to pay for.
Should I get her some dvds, but then she'll miss the progress.
She doesn't want to make dancing a career but doesn't want to rule out a singing role that requires some movement.
She enjoys tap, modern and jazz, really doesn't like ballet but doesn't mind the warm ups.
Do I say enough is enough?
Then I think she needs exercise and is H.ed now.
Arghhhhhhh! I blame Matilda, not saying dd would be west end material but she cried when she found out she was too tall to audition, which shows her determination, bless her.

IMO its time to get realistic, either she loves dance and wants to commit time to it it she loves all the other activities and wants to commit time to them. She has a choice to make.

What is her current schedule & how many dance classes was she doing?

I wouldn't have thought a private lesson would be hugely beneficial, dd had a few privates but that was to prepare for something specific

if she was doing ballet tap modern jazz etc perhaps she could just keep with one class. Ballet is the foundation but modern is great for technique. Even just a jazz class per week will keep her hand in.

Do I remember correctly that she's a musician? At music college dh had to dance (opera course) which to be frank was hilarious. For MT its pretty essential.

But I know how you feel. Dd is really struggling to keep up with her piano at the moment with the hours she is doing.

Her compromise is she's still having piano lessons but not doing exams.

Hi Pictures.

I know, she made her decision and she couldn't even say goodbye to them. We explained and her friends and parents were great, most she had known since she was 2.5
So she really didn't look back, just got on with her usual busy schedule and then brought it up tonight.
The problem is not being able to commit to anything and having to pay for missed lessons, which if we'd continued would have been a lot recently. She does have time but its not regular, so a dance class on a Tuesday she would maybe do half of them if that. Saturdays were the same, sometimes every week then need 2 weeks off.
She really enjoys dancing and whilst will never make a dancer, she did a few lower exams and got mainly distinctions.

Pictures

Sorry, yes musician and thinking of specialist music schools some time during secondary, if not sooner.
She does quite a few concerts 2 choirs, string ensemble, music lessons,
3 (pestering for 4) instruments, and voice. Abrsm exams at most exam sessions.
I just wish a teacher would do a drop in session or let you fill a time she has vacant when dd was free and they weren't busy.
My dh does this for some of his pupils who may be on call or awkward working hours.
Do dance teachers operate like this?

How about the odd summer school or easter workshop. Something to look forward to at a time when other things wind down?

Most dance teachers dont do drop ins due to studio availability issues & schedules. Dance lessons are very much a group activity? Whereas music lessons are 1:1

you're near to Manchester aren't you. have a look at sunshine studios, I think they do adult drop in type sessions. Not sure about children.

Hmm it seems more hip hop. You need somewhere like pineapple.

how old is she? old enoughbto look into a "youth dance company" ? The. commitment would be a. bit more episodic . More like a week of workshops in half term and some weekends.
has she tried (again this is a bit age dependant) social salsa /tango/jive/ ballroom type dances. Where a taught session precedes a dance.
A few dance studios offer pay as you go sessions, but not many, I know of one in Exeter.

I was going to suggest workshops. Have a look at your local large theatre group - our runs a lot including dance - both term time & holiday sessions. At easter they always do a musical theatre in a week session. Ds2 has a few one off Matthew Bourne workshops coming up for example (he's not a strong dancer, but they say beginners welcome so he shouldn't be too off the ball).

Could she do musical theatre exams? (Ok maybe a bit bonkers but they seem to have some movement element in them - am trying to find out about them for ds2).

Could she audition for things like YMT (maybe too young?) Some of their shows are more dance heavy than others.

Also keep your eye open for touring west end shows. Is she under 5 foot? There are things that come up at under 5 foot. Iirc the Matilda height limit is teeny?? If you're near a large theatre tours are good because they're intense but short term usually. Ds2 generally has to hand himself over for a week for tours, but it is just a week on the whole.

Thank you all.

She is only just 10 so maybe most Youth things out for the time being.
I also hadn't considered one off workshop type of things, thank you for the suggestion.
She isn't a brilliant dancer at all, as she left was working towards grade 2 tap and modern, did grade 1 ballet but doesn't want to do any more in ballet. She also hasn't done any jazz exams neither.

Am I right in assuming dancing for shows incorporates lots of different styles, or is there something specific like stage dance for e.g.?

saintlyjim

I did see an audition recently can't remember what character but even though it was a mainly singing part they required grade 4 ballet as minimum.
Would this have been a strong dancing role for this level or would they all be this kind of level?

Oh, yes she is under 5ft, she's probably about 4ft 8/9.
A good few inches higher than the tiny ones. It makes me laugh when they say 8-12 year olds under 4ft 4 etc. They must be really tiny if they are 12.

I will have a look what is available locally, I've a feeling its not much, but there are several good private dance schools, which is what we don't need.

Verucca Salt in Charlie is age 9-11 & grade 4 minimum. It's a high standard for that role.

They vary morethan - but as pictures says grade 4 is a higher standard than usually required for child MT roles.

Dance really isn't ds2's strong point - but even he got through to the final round of Oliver (there was one singing round & the rest were dance dance dance bit of acting more dance dance- for 7 hours - we didn't realise so turned up without food or water - thought he'd be out in 10 mins - in fact had I known it was mainly a dance audition we probably wouldn't have even tried). His dancing was a lot worse then as well! So no, they don't have to be a very high standard for a lot of roles.

The casting breakdown usually says - I think ds2's current one was something like 'some dance' (there's hardly any - and it didn't form part of the audition). If they want a high dance standard they'll make it clear.

Workshops are great - and there's usually a good choice around.

Oh and you can audition for YMT/NYMT from age 11 - they do split the age groups a bit in the productions.

Pictures

That was it, Verucca Salt. Not that she would have gone for it if it had been lower as up until now its not what she would have considered. But she found it on a website.
I know they really need to concentrate on one particular thing and be prepared to be committed to it, the standard is so high in the professional work, and it should be. It is just so difficult for them to know how they want to specialise at a young age.
Its also hard thinking if she puts of x until she is older will it be too late to begin.
Anyway, enough rambling. I will definitely check out workshops and local things just to keep her hand in.

verruca is more of a dancing than a singing role apparently ballet dancing is her unique point, for violet think its rap

A friend of DDS just got down to the very last few for verruca

Could you possibly talk to the dance teacher? Explain that she wants to keep coming but other commitments may interfere with attendance and could you pay on a drop in basis for a while? We have several at our dance school that do this.

My dd auditioned for verucca. She is grade 6 ballet and got through the dance audition and the singing but failed on the acting :(

That said she did say that the dance was particularly hard. No grade 4 would have coped with it!

Sparkly. Dds friend was only grade 3!

How did she cope with the ballet routine pictures? Genuine question, because dds friend (now at white lodge) also found it genuinely difficult. And a strange, stylised form of ballet that was extremely fast!

As I say, both girls (in fact 3 girls I know) got through the dance audition but they all felt it was a particularly fast routine. I think the speed was probably what made it hard for them.

She's quite quirky, does a lot of other styles too & is used to picking things up fast. Dds old teacher just didn't put them in for exams until they were perfect!

Think she got to the last 6 but they went for someone older in the end.

The verrucas do seem to be a bit older. So often with these things when uou get to the final few it comes down to the look of the child (& of course who they cast in other roles as well).