Parents Does ballet help with gymnastics & vice versa

[gymdog]

Ballet is very different from gymnastics but won't hurt. Cheryl Jarrett tells a funny story where she hired a ballet teacher for her young 6-7 year old compulsories in the old cycle when a tour jete was in the routine. She told the teacher "okay, I want them to work on their tour jetes now". The teacher looked surprised and said "what, that's an x years skill". As Cheryl says. Welcome to gymnastics. You've got one hour.

Cheryl's daughter is actually a great dancer and has worked on making a realistic curriculum for gymnastics programs.

Tammy Biggs (who is a dancer) also says everyone tells her they want to hire a dance teacher for gymnastics dance but "it's all made up dance anyway so they don't really know how to teach it any better" - her point being like the tour jete story that it won't hurt the basics but not to send a kid to ballet or hire a ballet teacher thinking they're going to help the kids perfect or even work on their switch fulls or wolf turns.

That said at younger ages it's very complimentary and ballet is a great discipline for kids to be exposed that teachers a lot about music and movement in a very organized way...but not until school age. Preschool ballet is still fun though and great socialization and school readiness!

 

[Muddlethru]

Just stop, get off the crazy bus. Let her love it and do it all. When the time comes to choose, she'll choose.

Totally unecessary and can be very offensive comment.

Op, as many have stated, ballet and gymnastics compliment each other. However, at 3 1/2 years old, anything she does or can be trained in is usually child play and will likely not make a significant impact in any serious training later on.

 

[dancingimmie]

I'm a retired professional ballerina, I own my own studio and I have a gymmie. I teach dance at my daughters gym. I have studied and studied the compulsory routines and the dance code. I try to teach beautiful lines and what they need for their routines, whether they are optionals or compulsory (different classes). I know ballet but just knowing ballet isn't enough. You have to know how ballet will help and what is important and what is not...both my girls started in dance. One continues and will (hopefully) be a professional dancer like me, the other one has Olympic dreams. My dreams came true so why can't hers?

 

[gymmummy]

Thanks for the replies, she loves both do it's good to hear they compliment each other. I thought as a gymnasts stance is quite rigid & ballet dancers is quite relaxed floaty it might cause confusion... obviously way over thinking this!

 

[sce]

Autocorrect win of the day. I suppose we are a dramatic, high-charged bunch.

That is hilarious. Took me a bit to figure out what I meant to say! Ie- the span of opinions in this thread

 

[catova]

My DD (now 13 yo, training l9) took what I call 'kid ballet' during 3 years of preschool. It was all about the tutu and learning not to fall on her face while walking. She didn't start gymnastics until kindergarten, at which time she quit dance class because it became more 'real' (she couldn't choose her tutu anymore, i.e. in big kid dance class they had to wear black leotard and pink tights, so she was done). She is not particularly graceful, nor a good dancer, and I think she really would have benefited from more dance.
That said...as much as I have learned from Chalkbucket since finding it when my DD was 10 yo, I am actually thankful that I did not know about CB when DD was very young. Not sure how long CB has been around, but DD started gym in 2008, when it was not the norm to consult blogs like this for sports direction for such young kids (well, maybe it was, but since I worked FT and had three kids in 5 years, I was too busy to consider it). I am pretty sure I would have driven DD out of gymnastics knowing the lengths that some parents (not necessarily OP but plenty on CB) go to optimize potential gymnastics success for their young children. I am a type A personality, and I would have thought 'CB says dance is a big plus for gym, so DD, you should keep doing it'. So personally, I don't mind the posters who comment on all sides of the spectrum, including the 'calm down and let her be' comments. Those comments might prevent someone from driving their kid out of the sport. I realize that other parents may have been able to take the 'pro-dance' knowledge gleaned from CB, applied it very judiciously, and ended up with a gymnast well ahead of my dd. But I know my 2008 self would have benefited from reading the 'she's 3.5 yo, let her be' comments as much as the other comments.
To the OP, I think dance does help (probably can't hurt!). If your DD likes dance - and it sounds like she does - that's great! And if she doesn't like it in 6 months, don't worry, it won't stop her from gymnastics success. Time will tell if gymnastics is for 'now' or your DD's true passion, regardless of whether she takes dance. There is some benefit to letting your kids do what they like regardless of whether or not we 'think' it helps in the gym. I let DD pick the other activities she did at that age (swimming/soccer for many years, but no more dance, when she was done with it at age 5). Looking back, those activities likely helped her strength and spatial awareness, but also confirmed her love for gymnastics as her 'favorite' after many years of doing all three. Best of luck!

 

[mobeans]

Ballet is the basis for all dance. And ballet is also extremely helpful in gymnastics. However gymnastics is also extremely helpful to all sports, so if your DD is in gymnastics and ballet it's a win-win no matter what she decided to do in the future!

At your DD's age mine also wanted to do everything. And she did. And she has an incredible passion for gymnastics so that's where she is now.

In the older girls (i.e. actually competing levels), you can tell who has a dance background. They are the beautiful, graceful routines that just have something "more" than the rest.

 

[auswi]

Dd took dance classes until nearly the end of old Aus IL 9; then a gym change with different hours .

Was glancing back through this thread & realised how CGM ish this post sounded lol
In fact the opposite is true - possum loved dance a whole heap too, 2nd only to gym & we let her do both until the hours got too huge so she could easily step away from gym if she wanted too...

 

[dancingimmie]

Was glancing back through this thread & realised how CGM ish this post sounded lol
In fact the opposite is true - possum loved dance a whole heap too, 2nd only to gym & we let her do both until the hours got too huge so she could easily step away from gym if she wanted too...

Better crazy here then in real life!!

 

[sandy]

Thanks for the replies, she loves both do it's good to hear they compliment each other. I thought as a gymnasts stance is quite rigid & ballet dancers is quite relaxed floaty it might cause confusion... obviously way over thinking this!

Staying "tight" vs "relaxed"- yes, it gets in the way on FX at gym and at ballet, but she has learned to keep reminding herself of where she is. Gym coach yells: you're not at dance! Dance teacher yells: this is not gymnastics! LOL it's funny now ...

 

[Gigi]

My daughter does pointe ballet and gymnastics and definitely have gotten that "At dance, we do it this way" or at gym, "it's dangerous to do a leap that way on beam, etc." You just need to remember to adjust the elements for each sport. At gymnastics there is a dance for gymnastics class but it is different from classical ballet, even though there are also many ballet elements in it. Gym coaches always notice her turn out and know she is also a dancer. I think dance was most beneficial in helping memorize routines quickly, having clean lines, good posture and a little bit of grace. I agree that ballet is not that relevant in gymnastics choreography any more. After attending a college meet, my daughter wanted to drop ballet and take hip hop. Ultimately, for my daughter at least, gymnastics helped ballet a whole lot more Vs. the other way around, especially when she was younger. She was flexible at a younger age, much stronger, had endurance and all that enabled her to progress at a fast pace.

 

[sandy]

Oh boy: classical. Both teachers kept saying she would have to choose. What level gym does your daughter do? Not affecting tumbling?

 

[e'smum]

my gymmie was going to be an acro dancer. i had it all planned out for her. gymnastics was not in the forecast! she took dance and did some tumbling classes to get her ROBHS. i had my oldest in it as well. then my gymmie said she wanted to quit dance and do gymnastics. this was right after i'd purchased the costume for the end of year recital. so she stuck with it from oct-may and didn't look radiantly happy on stage - she was pretty grumpy actually (ha). she immediately went into a couple of rec classes at the gym for the summer along with her tumbling and they placed her in lvl3 (she was 6) as a non compete b/c she had a perfect ROBHS. she picked up her other skills quickly enough and let her coaches know she was ready to get in the last two meets and do states. for her, because she disliked dance, it wasn't helpful. she was taking a leaps and turns class last year at my oldest daughter's studio that i was hoping would help with technique on those items. the teacher loved having her in there but she's picked up so many gym hours this year, that she can't do that class anymore.

enjoy these years of letting her explore and grow. she may decide she wants to do soccer!

 

[dani4]

Ballet does not help gymnastics if it makes your daughter realize that her true love is dance and she decides to quit gymnastics. I think that's where we are. True story!

 

[Gigi]

Oh boy: classical. Both teachers kept saying she would have to choose. What level gym does your daughter do? Not affecting tumbling?

Hi Sandy, I am not sure if you are asking the OP or me that question (as it follows my post ;-) ). Her old head coach would not have allowed gymnasts going to toe, but I don't know his reasoning. Does it affect tumbling? Can you explain in what way? I know it isn't helping gymnastics a whole lot, but I didn't think it was hurting it? Would love to hear your insights. Thanks.

 

[sandy]

Hi Sandy, I am not sure if you are asking the OP or me that question (as it follows my post ;-) ). Her old head coach would not have allowed gymnasts going to toe, but I don't know his reasoning. Does it affect tumbling? Can you explain in what way? I know it isn't helping gymnastics a whole lot, but I didn't think it was hurting it? Would love to hear your insights. Thanks.

You Gigi would love to know the reason for not allowing pointe; maybe fear of ankle injury? affecting dynamic tumbling- ballet is kind of slower, if you tumble with that same pace - doesn't look quite right, and penalties for lack of speed (? if that's the word). I think the technique of men's ballet is closer to what is ideal for women's artistic gymnastics- see Polunin's Take me to Church -Youtube