Dance - not good at acro

[DanceMumTaxi]

Dd does absolutely loads of dance. She’s only 7 but competes with a group and in solo’s. This week she’ll be at the studio 6 days (it’s a lot, but she loves it, does well at school etc so it’s not a problem for us). She’s pretty good and has won quite a few solo’s with her song and dance, but her acro isn’t good and I feel it’ll really hold her back and she gets upset about it. She can do forward rolls, head to feet, cartwheels/one handed cartwheels, drop back into bridge from standing. But can’t do an ariel, kick over, front/back walkover etc. She works hard but is scared. Her front splits on both legs are good, but I feel like her acro is really going to hold her back. So many of the routines seem to be full of acro tricks. Has anyone whose dd/ds dances got any advice please? Did they get better as they got older? How did you help? Or are some just naturally very talented at acro. I’d really like to help her. Thanks dance mums/dads.

Off topic, but have any of you seen dancers at competition do their ariels outside on concrete paving??? It is a scary sight!

No, only on grass and in the changing areas indoors.

Though a series of poorly executed backbends to bridge, followed by kick overs, by a young child on stage has been the scariest thing we've seen this weekend. Thudding down uncontrolled each time.

Though, as we were saying way back in the thread, I rarely see a lyrical solo without an aerial. Some use very similar routines, as a pp also said.

@DanceMumTaxi Just came across this thread as it's a similar situation for my daughter (who is a year older than yours).

She regularly does 6 days, competes in both solos and groups and is one of the lead dancers in the team dances.

She can do a controlled back bend and bring her self back up the same way and can do one handed cartwheels but that is it. I totally get what you mean about acro tricks being more involved, she came second to a girl in lyrical not long ago who pretty much ONLY did acro tricks and no dancing whereas my DD is much more ballet focused.

She absolutely loves performing but I have to agree with others, already it is starting to take it's toll not she is getting a bit older (a whole 8 years old!) and she is starting to put a lot of pressure on herself despite being very talented in actual dance - and it's down to lack of acro tricks.

I've decided to cut back on the amount she is doing next season because I don't think at that age she should be under so much pressure. This has completely changed from last year when she was quite content placing in top 3, now she NEEDS to win and it's not healthy.

We are cutting back on dance (although she will still compete, just in less dances) and she is joining a girls football team. We have agreed that we will continue to concentrate more on ballet and not worry about tricks because dance is supposed to be enjoyable. Once it starts getting stressful something needs to give.

Dance really does take over so I think a different activity along side it helps to take the pressure off.

@VasariMichelangelo my dd is the same. She’s a lovely dancer but gets so upset about her acro, as she just doesn’t have the confidence for the harder tricks, despite desperately trying and putting so much pressure on herself

@VasariMichelangelo @Scaredmumsickchild thanks both. Sorry to hear your DD’s struggle with Acro too. I just wish Acro didn’t focus so heavily on the comp circuit. As you say @VasariMichelangelo lyrical dances winning when really they should be in an Acro section. Those without fantastic Acro are finding it really hard despite being lovely dancers. Good luck with the football.

Hi there, your dd is doing an awful lot for her age, and I can't help wondering what in the way of actual normal classes she has, with the teacher concentrating on ballet training. A lot of schools spend so much time on learning and practicing routines for competitions, there's not a lot of time left for proper classical technique. And the technique needed for acro stuff, back bends, walkovers etc is pretty far removed from ballet so at her age, if she is keen it could hinder progress.

I agree.

You're better working on ballet technique, the acro tricks will be far less useful. While the local dance festivals can be useful in improving confidence and performance they're not really always an indicator of how successful a child is going to be either (a lot can be heavily weighted on the performance side).

Some of the serious dance schools won't take part in the local festival scene, preferring the larger national ballet competitions. It's usually the IDTA schools here who are keen on the local festivals and I hate to say it but some enter the lower standard competitions to claim a lot of trophies and make their school look more successful on social media.

There are quite a lot of dance schools which don't enter competitions and festivals at all.

For young ballet dancers who are perhaps Royal Ballet associates, associates elsewhere, or are maybe performing with English Youth Ballet etc, festivals get in the way, particularly with group dances because they feel they can't let everyone else in the group down.

My dd’s next two solo’s she’ll learn are lyrical and ballet. She probably would have preferred a a tap or commercial to a ballet, but I’m quite pleased because there’s definitely no Acro in the ballet and more ballet will help to improve her technique.

TaxiDancer I was very surprised to find out that BIFF had dancing festivals — I did a lot of ballet/tap/modern growing up (I did Advanced 2, classical awards etc), but it was only grades and a school show. If people did more it was associate programmes or auditioning for theatre productions. Festivals were for speech, drama and music as far as my experience went.

(I then did ballroom and Latin competitively but that's completely different again.)

She does 1hr 30 mins ballet a week (the school doesn't offer more for her age) opposed to just an hour of gymnastics. I think it's her confidence because she has hurt herself before and tbh I just don't think it's her 'thing'. Fortunately her coaches aren't very pushy so they haven't put her under pressure, it's when she sees other girls.

I'm really not bothered about any acro tricks personally, it's just a shame that it's such a big part of lyrical. The school doesn't enter ballet competitions (I actually didn't realise that was a thing!) so I might look into that.

Works out she's does about 12 hours a week but that's 6 different styles of dance plus gymnastics and musical theatre. It just sort of spiralled and she didn't want to give anything up! We often have comps in different parts of the country which require a 2 night stay because cheer is a separate day from dance so we've drooped that to make it only one day and I've cut other classes down so it will only be a 3 day week for her.

Next year she will be old enough to audition for Scottish ballet so we're going to work towards that.

@taxi4ballet yes, she could have auditioned for pre junior ballet with Royal Conservatoire this year but it fell on a comp weekend! She was in 4 team dances and it's a commitment you need to stick to so you don't let the other girls down.

When I read it written down it does sound like too much although suppose it's felt normal because a few of them do that many (although there are some who only do 1 or 2).

We actually decided against moving dd to a very good local dance school because they did a lot of comps, and the rehearsing and festival dates would have made it difficult for her to commit to the associate programme she was already on. We felt that associates was more important in the long run.

Please please please, Do not let a dance schoolteach your little girl serious gymnastics skills. For her safety enrol her in ckasses with a gumnastics club which has the proper training ,equipment and expertise Dance schools teach them to just throw the skills as quickly as possible.They don't care of understand the importance of teaching correct and safe technique which will minimise her risk of injury and developing problems in later life.

@curaçao my dd dance school also teach acro, but they do seem to do it carefully and with mats etc

They do use mats and air tracks etc. Acro is taught by qualified teacher. She teachers acro, silks and hoops at a number of different schools.

@DanceMumTaxi

Your daughter is only 7 and should not be stressed about acro it annoys me so much that young children are even thinking this way.

I do understand the acro problem as I live in an area where the dance scene is extremely competitive and intense.

Firstly though most acro you see is not dance it’s gymnastics. I don’t care how many people say different, look on insta at schools like the Vale in Stockport and any dance colleges(addict post lots of their routines) you will find very few acro tricks in their dances. So really think about the dance school your daughter is in and whether it’s truly the right environment for her. Show her videos of lots of amazing dancers and step back from competing. A little dance competition in a school is not going to influence what she does in dance. The only reason a routine may win is because the judge remembers a trick (they can not remember one routine out of more than 10 dancers)😃

@DanceMumTaxi

gymnastics coaches hate acro because of the high level of potential danger so if your daughter wants a career in dance focus on technique, picking up choreo quickly, working hard and loving what she does. These are traits choreographers are going to value and want from their professional dancers rather than a side ariel.