Multiple dance classes, plus acro

[Dancemum44]

Hi, dd 10 has been doing ballet for 5 years and has recently got into Jazz, Contemporary and Lyrical too.

Shes started competing on a beginners contemporary competition team, and so far it’s evident that they need significant acro skills too!

Does anyone have experience with this, do they go hand in hand these days?

My daughter does lyrical, ballet and Acro, and has done a few lyrical competitions. Lyrical definitely has an element of Acro in the dances from what I’ve seen. I don’t know if Acro is compulsory or if some schools incorporate what’s needed in the lyrical classes. All the lyrical and jazz competitors at her school do Acro as well. And if they want to compete in lyrical, they must also do ballet.

Depends on the ballet school. My dd goes to a strongly ballet focused school which does not offer acro, but does offer jazz, contemporary, musical theatre, singing as well as both RAD and Cecchetti ballet. It gets many children to vocational school, and is focused around strong technique and is in some ways a bit old fashioned.

Other local ballet schools offer acro, street dance etc as well as ballet and do lots of festivals and competitions, annual
shows etc.

You need to choose what sort of school you want, based on what your daughter enjoys and how serious she is about dance. Some schools will expect acro skills, some won’t.

Yeah she’s loving the school she’s at and is also getting into acro, it doesn’t come as easily to her but she’s working very hard with it.

The competitions I have seen so far definitely feature it quite heavily, many Ariel’s etc being thrown around 🫣

My daughter is currently starting her 3rd year of her dance degree. She competed in numerous dance competitions from age 12 to 18.Acro was never a part of lyrical or modern dances until around 6 years ago. In fact some comps rule that there should be no more than 2 acro moves in any dance piece. Acro moves and Acro dance seems to have become popular after Dance Moms became very popular. Technique, interpretation and musicality matter more than Acro moves that can look impressive but aren't necessary in a dance piece. Most comps now have a separate Acro section for those dancers who are skilled in Acro moves.

@cossette, I totally agree that there shouldn’t be too much acro in dance comps, but there definitely is a lot! My daughters dance technique is beautiful, but she feels she’s not “as good” as the ones doing flips etc in the middle of dances

This recent thread might help x

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/extra_curricular_activities/4812240-dance-not-good-at-acro

I have noticed this too. My daughter is a bit younger than yours but has been doing comps for a couple of years (troupe and solo). There is definitely a lot of Acro out there. It’s pretty much in every genre now except maybe ballet, National and character. I’ve even seen it in song and dance. My dd doesn’t find Acro easy, she’s definitely not a natural and it’s really disheartening when you see routine after routine full of Acro moves. It’s so unnecessary, but is very prevalent. However, I don’t think it is a requirement for professional training. It just seems to be a competition/festival thing.

Thank you @CupOfCoffeePlease I will have a read

My dd also does dance competitions and does classes in ballet, Tap, jazz, contemporary and acro. She was keen to do acro because she did gymnastics and enjoyed that. There is definitely a lot of acro in competition routines these days, even when there are separate sections there seems to be a desire by some schools to just throw in some acro moves anyway. I also think it varies hugely between competitions whether acro will be important or not. I have seen routines awarded purely for the acro tricks even though it wasnt an acro section and other competitions where they have ignored any acro elements in other styles of dance.
I do think acro has helped my dd's dance though in helping to maintain her strength and flexibility. She doesn't use it unless it's an acro specific routine as her teacher doesnt agree with that but really enjoys it and it has definitely benefitted her.