cdrumm4448 Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 DD has been in dance for three years with a local studio. Year 1-ballet/tumbling. Year 2- ballet/tap. Year 3- Petite Company with ballet, tap and jazz. She will be Co. 1 this fall. Co. 1 girls are not allowed to participate in secondary dances; they must wait until the following year. But, they are allowed to participate in solos, duos and trios. Has anyone ever let their dancers partipate in solos, duos and trios at such a young age? How did it work out? I don't want to push her, but I would also like her to be chllenged. She will have 2 competition dances next year, up from one. She really wants to do a solo. There are several considerations: it's about $1,000 more a year in tuition, costumes and entry fees, there will be additional practice time, solos are usually on a different day than her other dances so it would require additional hotel room nights and food expenses. The money isn't the issue for me. Pushing her too much is. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 She's just 5?? Yes, I'd be waiting awhile longer for that much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 I think a lot of it will depend on the child - how badly they want to do it, what her other commitments are, how much stamina she has, how much time she would need to spend for each routine, how the studio handles the lessons, etc. My oldest is currently in her 13th year as a competition dancer. Her first year she was 4 and did one competition team, but did quite a few non-competition classes. Her second year, when she was 5 she did three teams (tap, jazz and lyrical), a tap trio, a jazz duet and a lyrical trio. In subsequent years, sometimes it was more, sometimes less. I think the most she has ever done in one year was 10 routines - a solo, 2 or 3 duets/trios and the rest teams. She has always loved dancing, she's made some of her best friends at dance. We never pushed her, she begged to do things most years. My oldest has always gone to public school so our considerations were - getting homework done, maintaining grades and attendance, not getting over-tired, as well as the expenses involved. I will warn you that if she is really into it, once you start it can be really hard to stop. I never thought we'd be doing this 13 years later when she first took that little ballet class at the Y. We won't be letting our younger kids get into dance like this since I have no desire to start it all over again and go for another 14 or 15 years. This year she has a tap solo, a tap trio, 2 tap teams (one is an Elite group), a Musical Theatre Elite group, a lyrical team, a contemporary team and a jazz team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdrumm4448 Posted March 20, 2011 Author Share Posted March 20, 2011 This year she has a tap solo, a tap trio, 2 tap teams (one is an Elite group), a Musical Theatre Elite group, a lyrical team, a contemporary team and a jazz team. That seems like a reasonable amount for her age. There are 17- and 18-year-olds in our company that have 20-25 dances. Now THAT seems like a lot. I think I'm going to speak to one of her dance teachers and see what she says. I'm wondering if duos and trios are cheaper. I also think a duo or trio would allow DD to dance at her skill level instead of her age. Her competition teams are all 5-7 year olds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 That seems like a reasonable amount for her age. There are 17- and 18-year-olds in our company that have 20-25 dances. Now THAT seems like a lot. I think I'm going to speak to one of her dance teachers and see what she says. I'm wondering if duos and trios are cheaper. I also think a duo or trio would allow DD to dance at her skill level instead of her age. Her competition teams are all 5-7 year olds. My dd is already at the studio dancing 5 days a week. I can't imagine 20 or 25 dances - that is definitely extreme. IME, duets and trios are usually more expensive. Our old studio solos were $30/1/2 hour, duets were $15/1/2 hour and trios were $10/1/2 hour and usually lessons were one 1/2 hour a week. Our new studio handles it slightly different so it's harder to break down but it works out about the same. Competition fees are most expensive for a solo and least expensive for teams. On the plus side, my dd always learned a lot of new and harder skills during her private lessons. The teacher can work with them much easier with fewer students. If your studio does teams purely by age, privates may allow her to advance her skills in a way the team lessons won't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 That's really what it will likely come down to, whether or not YOU can handle it. I agree with this whole-heartedly. I know I cannot handle doing this for another 14 years which is why we are not even starting the younger kids. We are right in the midst of our competition season right now. We had a competition last weekend where we had to drive about 45 minutes away on Saturday and Sunday, wait around since you are supposed to be there an hour ahead, sometimes there are quick costume and hair changes, it can be chaotic and my dd is at the point of doing her own hair/make-up and dressing herself, so theoretically it's easier. :D We have our next competition next weekend. DD is dancing at 10:30 Friday night, then again Saturday night with awards at 11pm, and again Sunday night with awards at 8:30pm. This is 2 1/2 hours away from home so we will be spending the weekend down there, away from dh and the littles and having to drive home late Sunday night with her having to go to school Monday morning. MOST competitions will try not to have the little kids dancing or attending awards late at night but that usually means early mornings (on stage at 7am, so needing to be all dressed and ready by 6:30am at the latest). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdrumm4448 Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 My dd is already at the studio dancing 5 days a week. I can't imagine 20 or 25 dances - that is definitely extreme. IME, duets and trios are usually more expensive. Our old studio solos were $30/1/2 hour, duets were $15/1/2 hour and trios were $10/1/2 hour and usually lessons were one 1/2 hour a week. Our new studio handles it slightly different so it's harder to break down but it works out about the same. Competition fees are most expensive for a solo and least expensive for teams. On the plus side, my dd always learned a lot of new and harder skills during her private lessons. The teacher can work with them much easier with fewer students. If your studio does teams purely by age, privates may allow her to advance her skills in a way the team lessons won't. That's what I'm hoping for (that they can address her capability, which IS hard to do in a group). Our solos are $399 (that includes 4 30 minutes lessons to learn the routine and 8 15 minute lessons to clean it up). The competition fees for solos are $150 each comp. It's the comp. fees that really add up! I'm not sure about the duo and trio fees. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdrumm4448 Posted March 21, 2011 Author Share Posted March 21, 2011 That's really what it will likely come down to, whether or not YOU can handle it. I agree with this whole-heartedly. I know I cannot handle doing this for another 14 years which is why we are not even starting the younger kids. We are right in the midst of our competition season right now. We had a competition last weekend where we had to drive about 45 minutes away on Saturday and Sunday, wait around since you are supposed to be there an hour ahead, sometimes there are quick costume and hair changes, it can be chaotic and my dd is at the point of doing her own hair/make-up and dressing herself, so theoretically it's easier. :D We have our next competition next weekend. DD is dancing at 10:30 Friday night, then again Saturday night with awards at 11pm, and again Sunday night with awards at 8:30pm. This is 2 1/2 hours away from home so we will be spending the weekend down there, away from dh and the littles and having to drive home late Sunday night with her having to go to school Monday morning. MOST competitions will try not to have the little kids dancing or attending awards late at night but that usually means early mornings (on stage at 7am, so needing to be all dressed and ready by 6:30am at the latest). We only have three competitions a year (unless you join crew, then there are a ton more). This year we had two out-of-town competitions and have one more local. Same number next year. So, theoretically, next year will be three classes (probably back-to-back, all on one day). If we did a solo/duo/trio, it would add a 15-30 lesson on another day, but not every week. She would probably also have rehearsal almost every Saturday. I need to speak to the teacher to really nail down costs and expected lesson/rehearsal time. We homeschool, kids have violin lessons twice a week, 4-H every other week, CC every Tuesday, and dance one night. They both play baseball, but that is temporary. I'll keep you posted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubermomto5 Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 i'm of the mind that it's ok to take it slow, and i won't go into that, but i will say that if you are asking if it seems to much, it probably is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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