Dancer

[ForBlueFox]

Hello , my daughter is 16 and really into dance she is currently in year 11 and looking to dance next year but at her current dance school which she’s been there for 2 years now it only opened 3 years ago but she has been dancing with her dance teacher for 5 years now , in her Morden class their are 3 lines the front line is for the best dancers the second line the next best and the third line the newbies and the worst dancers my daughter has been stuck on the third line for 2 years now and even people who joined after her are now in front of her
she is very upset and looking to give up dance although it’s her passion

youve not really asked any questions here so I’m not sure what you’re looking for. BUT. As someone who danced throughout childhood and stopped and then went back to it have a chat with her.

Does she dance because she just loves it? Or does she dance because she wants to pursue it as a career of some sort? If it’s the latter then you need to have a chat with her teacher to get more solid advice but at her age I would expect that she’d have been moving down semi-professional routes by now if that was a viable option for her and being ‘third line’ sounds like it’s not her path.

BUT. IF she can be honest with you and herself and say that she just loves to dance and wants to dance and believe that she would dance no matter what then. 1. She should ignore the lines and anything around that and try to just enjoy the dancing. Or 2. Look at moving to another school where they don’t put such an obvious focus on ability/ranking and are more about dance for everyone.

if it’s truly her passion then it will remain so, and she should be able to just dance for fun and really get the full enjoyment. If she goes to uni she will find lots of dance clubs/societies and groups she can participate in there and once she is 18 there are lots of adult classes which focus more on the enjoyment than ranking pupils. But unfortunately she is at a tricky age.

I hope she/you find a way for her to continue to enjoy her dancing.

@soupforbrains yes she wants to dance when she is older professionally she hopes ,she does have slow processing disorder which makes it hard for her to process the dances but she does really well and always in time with others at shows . She is looking into doing dance at collage next year but she is worried she won’t be good enough

Well, I can’t comment specifically on your daughter because obviously I’ve never seen her dance. But being able to make it professionally requires so much more than being in time with others in shows. It sounds like, if you want to support her trying to make it, then she needs to change schools and move to one where the teachers will push her more.

when you say do dance at college next year do you mean A-level dance? Or studying dance at a performing arts college? If it’s the former then her passion for dance and dedication will almost certainly be enough for her to be ‘good enough’ for that.

but I do think you need to be honest with yourselves. Making it as a dancer is EXTREMELY hard. There are thousands of dancers for whom it is their passion but who will never have the talent or be good enough to make it in the professional world. Additionally the expectations for speed of learning new routines in the professional world are very very high. So if your daughter is already worried about not being good enough for a level then she needs to have a very honest think with herself.

of course, even if a career in dance isn't an option, A-level dance still is. And will more than likely expose her to other teachers and dance styles too.

@ForBlueFox She needs to move dance schools. Once a dance teacher has 'labelled' someone like this, they rarely change their attitude towards that student.

Might I suggest you find another dance school in the local area, and ask if she can do a trial lesson. It is right at the beginning of summer term, so a good time to change.

Does she just do Modern, or classes in other dance styles as well?

How many hours a week is she doing? Expose her to as many classes and techniques that you can. Classes like acro, limbering, turns and leaps will help her to develop the techniques needed.

Most of the dancers at my daughters school are doing 8 hours a week MINIMUM and also attending workshops, private lessons and specialist groups on the weekends / in the holidays.

@soupforbrains yes she wants to do a level dance at collage next year , I’ve had a chat with her maybe thinking about a backup option in case that doesn’t work out and she has decided maybe something to be with childcare
@taxi4ballet I’ve discussed with her about moving but she unfortunately doesn’t want to as all her friends are there , she does Morden and tap with the same teacher she has had problems in tap before and then does ballet and acro and jazz with a diffrent teachers same school
@user1471467504 she does 5 hours a week and holidays she does workshops and stretching at home and pratisise a lot at home

If she wants to do A-level dance then perhaps she needs to add contemporary to that list.

I'd also suggest that if she's serious about dance, 5 hours a week is nowhere near enough. The thing is though, she needs quality rather than quantity, and a dance school that always puts the 'mediocre' dancers in the back row is not a good dance school.

Does she want to be with her friends, or does she want to be a good dancer?

@taxi4ballet Sorry my bad i completely forgot about her doing contemporary so she does 6 hours a week she really wants to be with her friends but she wants to go be a good Dancer too .

Being brutally honest it doesn’t sound like she is likely to be anywhere near the standard required for professional dance. Every dancer I know looking to go to full time dance college are doing a lot more dance than 5-6 hours a week.
Is she doing any workshops, comps, IDTA awards type stuff?

@Dueanamechange2025 yes she does workshops every half term doesn’t do comps but does big shows and dancing in the streets to raise money

@ForBlueFox Does her dance school do exams?

Yes they do

Okay, so you know about the grades then. If she's 16, in Y11 and wanting to pursue a career in general dance, she would need to be at a minimum of grade 6 in ballet, modern and jazz (tap not so vital) and also studying intermediate ballet & be on pointe by now. That's a baseline level really, to give you an idea of the standard of other candidates she'd be up against for dance college entry.

@taxi4ballet Hi yes she currently studies grade 6 Morden and grade 5 ballet and grade 2 tap

Has her teacher suggested whether she is ready to join a pre-pointe class or anything like that?

What sort of success does the school or the teachers have in getting senior students into full-time vocational dance or musical theatre training?

@taxi4ballet no she has mentioned it
there’s one girl who got into laines and one other girl who goes to the Brit and one who goes to performer collage