WAG Ballet?

[txgal]

DD's HC recommended ballet for DD. She's already in the gym 20+ hours a week (and she's only 10), so I'm hesitant to add anything else to her schedule. However, I was thinking about calling one of the local ballet companies and asking for a private tutor to specifically work on ballet elements in gymnastics (leaps, arabesques/scales, turns, arm position, leg position, posture, etc) for maybe 1-2 hours a week. I don't think this would add too much for her but would still get her targeted dance training. Is this a good idea or is there something specific taking a regular ballet class would help her with?

 

[COz]

That sounds like a good plan. It's not like she'll need the flexibility, conditioning, discipline or feet turned out elements of a standard ballet class
She'll learn heaps faster and have immediate correction in a private lesson.
I'm not sure that calling a company would be the best way to get a teacher though, performers are not, um, necessarily the best teachers.
Find a RAD ballet school and just ask about private lessons.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

We don't have a lot of RAD schools over here. Coz is right though, call ballet schools, not companies. Many times ballet studios will offer privates. Regular ballet classes are wonderful but slow and time consuming, private lessons to address specific areas of concern would be a better way if that's what you are looking for. If you are wanting the grace and poise of dance training, that takes years (hence the slow boil of ballet). Some studios even offer specific classes for "non-ballet dancers" (dds studio has in the past offered "ballet for Irish dancers" for example) so if you are in an area with many options, call around!

I have suggested many times to our GO that we should hire a dance teacher to come in and work with all the team girls for even an hour/week, but so far it hasn't happened...

 

[txgal]

I'm not necessarily looking for the grace and poise of a dancer...I'm really just looking for cleaner dance elements in DD's beam and floor routines. Her dance is okay, and it is certainly not holding her back, but bigger leaps, steadier turns, improved posture, and overall improved presentation would be about what I'm looking for. We have a really good ballet school here in town whose dancers are also part of the city's main ballet companies. The active dancers (that is, this season's premier dancers), don't teach any classes; but the dancers rotate so no one suffers repetitive use injuries and such, so I'm thinking one of the dancers on the 'off' schedule would make a great private tutor.

 

[emilykatherine]

We don't have a lot of RAD schools over here. Coz is right though, call ballet schools, not companies. Many times ballet studios will offer privates. Regular ballet classes are wonderful but slow and time consuming, private lessons to address specific areas of concern would be a better way if that's what you are looking for. If you are wanting the grace and poise of dance training, that takes years (hence the slow boil of ballet). Some studios even offer specific classes for "non-ballet dancers" (dds studio has in the past offered "ballet for Irish dancers" for example) so if you are in an area with many options, call around!

I have suggested many times to our GO that we should hire a dance teacher to come in and work with all the team girls for even an hour/week, but so far it hasn't happened...

We have a dance teacher that comes in for about 45 minutes a week, but not all year round. She mostly comes for the younger kids that are in compulsory because the opitional a did it for a while but she made our dance really sloppy so we haven't had to dance for a while, I thought she was mean and didn't understand the difference between gymnastics hands and ballet hands.

 

[Muddlethru]

I don't know how much your coach charges for privates. But our coach charges a very reasonable amount. Based on my own experience, ballet teachers (the good professional ones,which you may or may not need) charge considerably more. If money may be an issue, you may be able to get a semi private lesson with another child (or two) to split the cost. That way you can still get the customized personal attention you want.

 

[gracyomalley]

Just keep in mind that ballet arms and leaps are NOT the same as gym ones - in fact DD's dance teacher constantly reminded her "ballet position" not "gym position". If what you want is clean lines, body control, grace and poise ballet will take a girl there - but if its specific gym stuff - do more gym! (However, if the coach suggested it then maybe its more the grace/poise body control the coach thinks your dd needs....I'm sure a coach knows that the positions are different - down to hand shape/angles, etc. DD has to "un-dance" her floor routines to minimize deductions sometimes...)

 

[2gymnastand1soccerplayer]

At my dds gym they hired a ballet teacher to come in every Wednesday for a month for the level 5s ( they were extremely sloppy with their dance) their coach made sure that he was their to tell her anything that needed to be changed to fit the compulsory level 5 floor and beam routines. I think of if you go with a private you should make sure that the teacher is aware of the differences and is ok with teaching it a little bit differently