Modern dance - complete beginners

[regularobin]

dd is 12 (school year 7) and really wants to learn to dance purely for her own enjoyment. She’s not interested in grades or exams at this stage. The difficulty is that she has actually never taken a dance class before and most of the options near us (we’re close to London) seem to be graded classes, with beginner levels aimed at primary‑aged children.

Are there any classes or holiday workshops in London/Herts where complete beginners can try Modern dance? And if not, are there other dance styles that are more suitable for older beginners with no ballet experience?

My daughter does s theatre class which is an hour of dance, hour of singing and hour of acting. Would something like that work?

Is it specifically Modern dance (as in what would be on a Modern grade exam / technique class) she’s interested in or just modern types of dance across the board?

The kids programme on a Sunday at Base in Vauxhall has a dance intensive option that would be two or three hours of just dance (as opposed to their sing/dance/act option) which would cover contemporary, jazz, and street/commercial styles. Students are grouped by age not ability unless they audition and earn a space on a competitive team. They don’t do grades or exams. They have some elements that are drop in but for a beginner I would say sign up for a term to have a proper go at it. The drop in option works once you know some terminology and basic moves so you can follow different teachers at a quicker pace. But they welcome beginners in the normal weekly classes and she wouldn’t be put down with the littles.

But if she is looking specifically at what’s on the Modern syllabus, they won’t cover that in those lessons.

@regularobin What do you understand by the term 'modern dance'? It may not be quite what you are expecting it to be.

Yes, Modern, in the UK is a specific esam/syllabus style that is jazz based. Modern in the US however, is what we would call Contemporary so Graham, Cunningham etc technique.

Or you might just mean up to date styles such as dancing to pop, hip hop, street dance etc styles?

Most dance schools would put her in with her peers she just might take longer to find her feet , or get her to “help” with some younger clssses