How can a 12yo “catch up” with dancing?

[StuntNun]

My DS has recently decided he wants to go into musical theatre as a career. However, he never did any dancing until recently so he’s miles behind his peers, some of whom have been dancing for years. I signed him up for a dance class but he was put in with other children the same age with more experience and he just wasn’t able to keep up or learn in that environment so I stopped the class as he wasn’t progressing. He has a great memory for routines and has no trouble learning the moves but he doesn’t execute them well. He doesn’t seem to have any body awareness and can’t tell that he’s not doing the moves correctly. I looked at dance summer schools but I think he would be really out of place at his current level of dancing. He really needs to start from the beginning with a teacher that will give him feedback on where he needs to improve; he just didn’t get that from being in a class with girls who had already had lessons for years. Please can anyone give me suggestions for how he can go back to basics and properly get started with dancing?

I can only think that he needs to go into a class suitable for his ability, rather than his age.
And perhaps to do any other sort of 'movement' or fitness classes (e.g. trampolining?), in order to work on his proprioception.
Combined with some 1:1 tuition- is there an older dancer, say 15 or 16 who could coach him?
But, basically, to "catch up", he will have to work harder and put in much more practice. He may or may not have the talent to excel. He may or may not be able to work at getting to a basic competency- but this might not be a good enough standard for musical theatre.

I say this very kindly, the MT industry is tough. Most kids have trained since they were 2/3 years old. If you said he had a natural talent, he may be able to catch up with intense 1:1 lessons but given you have said he doesn’t seem to be aware that he isn’t performing the moves correctly then it maybe that you have to guide him to MT for fun rather than a career.

And yes, second that he needs to be in a class for his ‘grade’ rather than age. I’m guessing that it’s not a ‘serious’ MT school if they didn’t pre-empt this.

My sister started dancing "late", she was 7, in the career world that's late. Her dance school offered 1 to 1 lessons every week and she was able to learn and do multiple dance exams in one go in order to catch up. Does your DS new school have that option?

MT is a tough old business and not one I would particularly encourage. I think if he wants to pursue it in some way I would go for actor that can sing - rather than focus on dancing. Dancing is a short lived career and in MT you'll most likely end up in the chorus.

Thanks @GraveAndQuietI think he does need to develop his physical abilities as he isn’t very sporty or flexible.

@WasherWoman25at the moment it is only for fun and he doesn’t have any career aspirations so it might be something that he would continue at amateur level or he might go into coaching or a different area as he’s currently writing a musical comedy. But he wants to get bigger parts than ensemble so he really needs to improve his dancing skills if he’s going to be able to take that on.

@dontcomeatmeI think 1 to 1 lessons would be perfect, I’ll look into it, thank you!

It’s just amateur at the moment @SunblockSuewith BTA, Rare, and school productions. But I think he would get more out of it, and be in with a chance at the bigger roles, if his dance skills were more secure.

Fair enough, just your opening line says he recently decided he wants to go into MT as a career.

Contact several of the larger dance schools in your area, ones that concentrate on the basics of ballet, tap, modern and jazz, and ask them if they have any classes suitable for a very enthusiastic boy of his age, who has some serious catching-up to do on technique. Most dance schools welcome boys with open arms.

And I do stress that it is a good technique that he needs, not learning routines, because you absolutely need a solid grounding in technique in order to progress to any level. If he gets to the stage when he is auditioning for full-time MT training at some point in the future, they will turn down advanced people with bad technique, but can and do accept people who are less experienced but have had good training. Someone with good technique can progress much faster than someone with bad technique having to unlearn it and re-learn it properly.

Sorry@WasherWoman25I’m a bit sleep deprived at the moment and must have meant something else when I was typing my original post.

Thank you @blacksaxthat sounds like excellent advice.

I think the only possible route for him now would be private lessons. There won’t be the demand for a 12 yr old boy to start at grade 1 with the 4 yr olds.

There are dance schools that run classes for beginner teens, see if there are any in your area.

boys are not held to quite as high standards as girls if they are great singers.

My own son started dance aged 13 but had private lessons. However I have seen several boys go onto professional training and professional work who only started dance at a later age.

As @Comefromaway has said many bots have not formal dance training before they start professional training. My own DD did not start formal dance training till she was 14 and is about to graduate from Italia Conti.
Once she decided it was what she wanted to do she did work hard - 5 hours of classes a week, ballet, Jazz, tap and contemporary. For ballet she did an adult beginners class at a school with a group reputation for basic technique. She then did a full time MT sixth form so danced 10 hours a week during that ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary and street.
She took dance and drama GCSEs and had acting and singing lessons outside school. I remember her first ever MT show when she was fractionally behind the beat in her dancing and I thought will she ever get this. Then a month ago I watch her totally rock it out in her final year show Our House which is a very dance heavy show - some of the numbers she was even in a feature position. She has been told all the way through the most successful people in the industry are the hardest workers.

I should add it is worth talking to the teachers of the adult ballet class as DD herself now runs one that many people do for the benefits to the core, but strong core is a the basis of a large portion of ballet and she would teach someone like your son in her class. Hers is part of an MT school.

He needs private lessons. Most dance schools love boys, and realise they will struggle initially. They do come on quickly though.

I knew someone who started dance successfully as a teenager but she had a strong sport background which gave her the core strength and fitness which was transferable to dance. My son who is a similar age did start when he was young but he only does one dance class a week and seems well able to keep up with the others who do more and I imagine it helps that he's generally active and strong (also musical). Now he's at a more advanced level much of the class seems to be stretching etc (not learning routines). Does your son do swimming? If not could he start? That's great for general fitness. Good luck, hope he finds his feet (see what I did there...), I don't really understand why there are so few boys in dance, my son loves it.

Ps I can't advise on the career aspect though as my son is happy doing it as a hobby (does do exams, shows etc) and it's not something I have a background in at all.

No sane dance teacher would put an adolescent beginner in with tots. They'd probably start with grade 3 at least, and possibly a free work class as well.

Grade 1 doesn't start till about age 6 by the way. They do pre-primary and primary first.

My DD is a dance teacher.
She says what she would do is probably start him somewhere between the class appropriate to his chronological age and the one appropriate to his level, and supplement with some private lessons if possible. She would never put a late starter right at the beginning with tiny kids a great deal younger than them - that would be humiliating and unnecessary as older children do tend to pick things up more quickly. But she wouldn't put him in a class that was way beyond his capabilities either as that would be demoralising and unlikely to benefit him. She'd compromise on a class where the kids are a bit younger but not embarrassingly so, and where the content would be a challenge but not totally unachievable. Plus if she had space she'd definitely offer some one to ones in order to try to get some of the basics established.

12 is absolutely fine for a boy to start in MT training. Girls outnumber boys by at least 15 to 1 and the pressure put on boys to be more masculine (eye roll) at secondary means few carry on through.

NYT/BTA/school productions is a very sensible path at this age for a hobby interest now with the potential to step up later if he decides it is his life calling. 12 is the old end of child roles in professional MT so unless the child was really pushing for it and school teachers or similar had commented that he also had a brilliant singing voice, I wouldn’t go down that route.

In practical terms for dance, he needs the ‘technical’ classes, like ballet, tap, and/or modern from what you say. It’s great that he has good pick up for routines - that is something some spend years improving, so it’s a gift to do that naturally. Technical classes will help him develop the ‘right’ ways to do those steps he picks up.

Grade 1 classes tend to be an average age of 7, so not quite as young as you might think. They can join at 6, but not everyone starts then so a big enough school will have students of a wider age group. Where my DS trains, they would likely put him straight into Grade 2 or possibly 3 and evaluate after a month or so to see if it is too easy or too hard and move him if appropriate. It will always depend on the kids in any particular setting, but a new 12 year old in grade 2 or 3 would be totally normal in our set up. Some would move up quickly and some would stay there and do the full grade.

I would let him do a few weeks of group lessons, check that he loves it as much as he hoped, and then investigate the option of private lessons. They are spendy (a pound a minute is pretty normal here, but I’m in London so other places may be less) but the progress rate is huge. That would allow for the catching up you’re looking for, and he could quickly find himself in class with his peers.

The wider MT picture includes singing and acting training too. You may find a local place that offers an option that combines the three - there are more of these programmes in London but they do exist across the country. But he’s right to look for extras in cleaning up the dance. Across the week, my DS is in class for dance way more than singing and acting, but it’s a case of more concentrated teaching, as most weeks he has an acting and a singing session in private lessons while all the different styles of dance are in group sessions. Acting and singing can be done in group classes too, but just keep it on your radar as parts that all come down to dance are very few and far between.

All the best of luck to him.

That’s good to know @Comefromawayhe’s a really good singer and his acting is coming along well. It’s his dancing that his weak link. Private one-to-one lessons sound like what he needs.

Your daughter sounds amazing @NeedanadultgapyearI do wonder whether my DS might be better in an adult class than with other children.

He’a not sporty at all@Danascully2but then I wasn’t either and I did tap pretty successfully (until I broke my ankle.)

Thanks@MrsAvocetthat’s really helpful. I gave up tap after I broke my ankle and the teacher said I had to move down a group where I would have been with much younger children so it strikes a chord. I think the class he was in was so far beyond his capabilities that he didn’t make much progress but he’s very committed so I think he would do well in the right environment.

I had no idea that the ratio of girls to boys was so high @CatatonicLadybugalthough I had noticed that the girls’ are of higher ability/standard than the boys in the productions my DS has been in. I feel a lot more confident about getting him some dance lessons. His singing is excellent but he’s been having lessons for years and is a born performer, he loves being on stage. Thanks for your advice.

Would you consider Irish dancing as an adjunct to MT dance training? It's very strong on conditioning, agility, and technique.

Can I ask what dance genre she did? My DD does ballet but I’m wondering if she needs to diversify and add other styles..

The technique is unique to Irish dance though, and doesn't translate to other genres particularly well, especially not ballet (coming from a place of experience here).

Following as my daughter is in a similar boat. She’s 10 and just started jazz lessons. She’s a great actor and singer and says she wants to do performing arts when she’s older (obviously she’s got ages yet). She’s found the first few lessons tough though