Parents Ballet?

[OrangeArt]

How helpful would a beginner ballet class be for 9yo level 4? How long would she need to take classes for it to help her gymnastics?

I don't even know yet if my daughter would be interested, but I figured I should get some info before asking her about it.

They get some dance instruction, but it's really not much beyond learning routines. And I see how graceful the girls with a dance background are compared to the others...

(forgive me if this is a common question, I tried a search, but they always come up with no results for me in the mobile app)

 

[1canadiangymmom]

Ballet can't hurt, just make sure its a good dance studio teaching proper technique.

 

[3gymgirlsmom]

One of my girls took a lyrical dance class last year and I really think it helped her

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

I think ballet is always helpful! I wish my gymmie would consider it, but she has no interest and she is very well aware of ballet (my older DD is a ballerina, gymmie practically grew up in the studio!).
I second the advice to make sure it's a solid,reputable studio (yes, even if you're not taking dance "seriously" you should always go for good training).
The only time I have ever discouraged someone from taking ballet classes to help with gym was one mom I know who wanted her dd to take a beginning ballet class specifically to help with the finger and hand positions. I told her honestly at that level ballet she would not get much out of that, if anything at all, as beautiful port-de-bras takes years to achieve.

 

[kitkat]

A couple of years ago I put my daughter in a regular ballet class. I personally didn't find it helpful and not what we were looking form. So then the following year I put my daughter in private ballet lessons with another gym friend. This way we were able to tailor it to exactly what we wanted. She focused on leaps, turns, fingers, toes. It was awesome. I thought it really helped both her floor and her beam. Sadly they do not want to continue this year.
We have decided to put them in yoga, breathing and meditation. The girls have mixed feelings about it but said they will try it. The little girl we do this with has high anxiety when it comes to competition so we thought this might be helpful.

 

[LuckyMommy]

Our gym has a ballet room attached and a resident ballet teacher. Starting with pre-team the girls are all together for 1 hour of ballet a week. She works on their form, leaps and turns especially geared toward their floor & beam routines. They can see in the mirrors exactly how their form is. She also works with the girls as they transition to optionals, by starting to work with them in L5 on the type of music that they move best to as they think about floor routines. The girls really enjoy their dance lessons as well.

 

[COz]

Find a *strict* school. First find a local dancewear shop, then ask there. They will know all the schools and their teaching philosophies. Find an RAD school if you can.

In a good ballet class they are pretty much constantly corrected for 'form' and extension. This is IMO the biggest reason it helps with gymnastics. A good class will also possibly be stricter than a gymnastics class. The classes are so much shorter and there is no down time, no chatting at the sidelines when lining up.

Don't assuming that she will be in the lowest level class. When enquiring make it clear that she is a gymnast. She will have more strength and flexibility than the other 9 year old ballet students. Ask the teacher how it all works and which class she might go into.

Do remember that naturally graceful, dancy girls tend to do ballet. It's not really the ballet that makes them graceful, although it develops whatever natural grace they have. The ones that really stand out probably already had at that in them. Some 5 year olds just starting ballet are more graceful than 9 year olds that have been doing ballet for years, with better arms!
So don't expect that some ballet will necessarily give that same level of grace that you have seen in the girls that you mention.

Oh and end of year concerts and exams.
Have a think about how you feel about the idea of exams. It's a once a year thing and as phrased in another thread here about ballet, like a once a year meet that determines whether they move up a level. It's a big deal for the dance students and studio and they expect you to take it seriously if you decide to do an exam. This means that in the lead up to the exam, possibly in school holidays, they may ask for extra time that may class with training. Because this is a once a year thing, they will not be happy if you're missing the exam preparation for something you do all year around.
They usually have end of year concerts which again involve a lot of work for the teachers and kids. Stress levels rise. Let them know early if you don't want to participate in the actual performance. There's still a lot of benefit for learning the dances with the constant correction, but depending on your gym commitment you may not want the extra stress of the actual performance. But then again, she might decide that she loves it!

 

[OrangeArt]

Thanks for the great replies I actually ended up asking her 5 minutes ago and got an emphatic "No!" so I guess that's that. I will keep this advice in mind if she changes her mind in the future. I just got the idea in my head because she only just started learning lvl4 floor and keeps commenting on how much more dance there is, not necessarily in a good way, lol.

 

[COz]

If you do consider it again sometime in the future, ask to do a trial class. It will probably be quite different to what she expects.

 

[beachgirl]

We have a ballet instructor come to our gym and starting at preteam 1 hour of ballet a week is mandatory, including boy's team. We have had it since the new compulsory routines started because they have a lot more dance. I think the ballet has made a big improvement in the dance elements of the dds floor and beam routine.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

My dd has a dance class built into her gym program, one hour a week. That being said, when she was 5 she wanted to try dance class and came out after the first day with a " this is too boring!"

I do know lots of kids that do dance classes in addition to gym and they find it very beneficial for their kids. If they like it, that is.

 

[flippingtogether]

Great thread and question...... Here is my follow up. My understanding was a gymmie should do dance with a dancer who understands gymastics, not just a straight dance or ballet instructor, as things like jumps and leaps are trained differently in the gym vs. dance studio (and this can mess a gymnast up).
But, do others find this not to be true/a rule of thumb??

 

[OrangeArt]

Good question flippingtogether. I'm curious for the answer. Our gym has a dance instructor, I think she just works into practices, not a certain time period weekly, and I think her background is more modern /hip hop...

 

[my4buffaloes]

My question is if my dd has natural turn-out (which means deductions in gymnastics) and I put her in a ballet class to help with form, is her turn-out going to get worse? She needs form help, but some of the help she needs is to not do things like dancers do them, if that makes any sense.

 

[lovemygymnast]

We have my DD in a private ballet class 1 hour per week. I was told it would help her lines for L4. It really has helped and she enjoys it, although, would never choose ballet over gymnastics, lol. This instructor has done both gymnastics and ballet. She works on specific things with her for gymnastics as well as all of the positions in ballet. I see improvement in lines, shoulder and head position. I definitely believe it has helped! One coach told me that a strict Russian ballet school is best. There's nothing like that available here though.

 

[gracyomalley]

DD did 18 months of RAD ballet when she was "old L5-L6", had to stop when it got to be too much with moving to L7. Loved it, but then she's also a musician and I was a dancer. She was 9 when she started. There were a few things where she had to remember "gym arms" versus "ballet arms", and turn out stuff that varied, BUT having the body awareness to alternate between the 2 is part of what she learned.

The exams and recitals/productions were a pressure, and that's part of why she left. Her ballet teacher was great - let her come less days than the other girls, and would have let her skip exam but keep moving up, but she was heading into pointe work, and I knew THAT wouldn't fit in with gym commitments. She still (18 months later) picked up her new floor routine in 30 minutes, a record per the choreographer!

She's not long and lean, but she is naturally graceful and with years of violin/orchestra has a sense of music that many of her gym friends simply don't so the dance was only part of it...

I wish she could do both...and I think ballet would help with her upper back flexibility....but that would take time and lots of boring barre work. She might do some dance again if she does a "low key" L8 year this year....

 

[OrangeArt]

So I talked to her a bit more, and found out she has some anxiety about "not knowing anything" compared to other students. Anyone have any idea of the background of most Ballet I students? i.e. Do most come from pre ballet classes, and some experience is expected of them?

I found a class near us that fits perfectly with her fall gym schedule, and they are not required to do recitals (not sure about exams), there are separate auditions. And the main syllabus is Cecchetti? I'm going to call to find out about placement.

She's agreed with the caveat that she can "quit" (hate that word) after 2 months if it's really torturous for her.

 

[Gymdancer]

Our experience is very similar to gracyomalley's. It is in the name, gymdancer. When I first joined cb, dd was deciding whether to do ballet or gymnastics. She had done both since quite young. She chose gymnastics, but if she has a break, she is looking for dance camps to attend.

They have a gymnastics dance teacher who has done both and makes dance relevant to gymnastics once a week, I believe. The arm placement is different, and that has been a struggle, but there are a few dancers at dd's gym, and they seem to cope well with changing back and forth. I believe dance really helped dd in gymnastics. Musicality, grace, and leaps are all good. I don't think you could go wrong giving it a try.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

I took Ballet for years when I was a gymnast, and I'm a guy! Very helpful.

 

[COz]

Call the school and ask how they place new students.

At my daughter's studio, I've seen an 8 yo gymnast with no prior dance experience placed into a RAD grade 3 class and do really well and skip to grade 5 the following year.
From what I have seen, new students are placed within a level or two of where they would be if they had started as toddlers.
Teachers are also pretty good at knowing after the first class whether a child will cope at a particular level and at what level they should be placed.

New students have to figure out a big of terminology that the other kids know, but it's not really a big deal, you just copy the other kids and the teacher will not be unreasonable and expect magically that she will know everything instantly.

If she's particularly worried about it, ask if you could arrange a 30 minute private rather than doing a trail class first.