Dance Studios - Do some operate to get kids onto teams, require more classes before they teach proper technique?

[Ting Tang]

I signed my daughter up for ballet and jazz to help in another sport.  It is one class.  I cannot help but wonder if they are teaching proper technique or if for these girls, it is solely recreational.  Do they get serious with their students only when the student commits to a competition team?  We don't have many options around here.  They will tell my young daughter to work on splits, but when she goes to see her coach for her sport, she is pretty concerned about my daughter's position.  I also hear sometimes they have the girls do splits before properly warming up.  This sounds dangerous.  There are dance schools farther away that do not have competitive dance teams and focus on performances only (not recitals--shows), and I know that would be better, but I just can't drive far away to one more thing, lol.  She had a private ballet teacher once, but Covid ramped up, and the lady moved out of state.  Just wondering what your studio experiences have been.  FTR, my daughter is only 7, and the class probably has K-2nd graders.  I don't expect much in the way of ballet, but I certainly don't want her to hurt herself.

 

Edited February 28, 2022 by Ting Tang

[catz]

I think quality teachers and studios teach good technique safely.  This could be a teacher issue or a studio issue, but no I don't think you need a competition studio necessarily.  My daughter got great technque out of a performance based studio for years (she was on the "performance team" for a while that took a bunch of classes but has done much less) and she is at another rec/performance based studio now with great instruction.  

I think you can get poor or great instruction from almost any kind of studio.  Well, high end pre-professional ballet studios are usually pretty consistent.  Somtimes rec classes for young kids are taught by older teens/young adults which sometimes can be great but sometimes isn't.  

That said, if we're talking 1 hour a week, there is only so much you can do in that amount of time and that may be more focused on fun than anything, especially for 7 year olds.  I wouldn't expect 7 year olds in a rec dance class to be spending tons of time with flexibility, warm up and stretching.  What is the 2nd sport?  Anyway, I do also think your expectations may be too high for a rec class for this age range.

Edited February 28, 2022 by catz

[Clarita]

So if the dance class stays light and fun (aka If she says Ah I don't want to do it or it hurts or is uncomfortable they will just let her be) then as long as she is having fun it's ok, even if they aren't teaching everything correctly. If they are pushing her to do more than what she is fully confident in, then you need to seek out a studio that is doing things right.

There are definitely dance studios that teach the "wrong" things and sometimes dangerously. Usually if a studio does good teaching it will do good teaching across the board. "Bad" studios can also have competition teams and stuff. The worst studios in my opinion push kids to do things before they are ready (there is actual physical age-inappropriate stuff for dance). One major example is pushing kids to go en-pointe (ballet) before their ankles are formed.   

[teachermom2834]

Dance studios really vary widely. One thing is for sure - you cannot judge their quality by whether or not they have a competition team. I know there are some good quality studios that have competition teams but around where I live if one was looking for quality technique and safety the first step would be eliminating studios that focused on competitions. I realize that isn’t always the case but I would not use competition as an indicator of quality. 

[City Mouse]

Also, K-2 is a wide range of physical development. There may be more focus on technique later on. I can remember when my DD was taking dance the beginner combo classes were not as focused on technique as later intermediate single style classes.

[Clarita]

Also a studio that is going to teach good technique is going to teach that from the start. In a beginner class they will teach you the proper way to do things, but not yell at you or correct you if you did it wrong. They are also more relaxed about the choreography. 

[mom2scouts]

Our dance school has competition teams, but every single student is given the same training and they work on proper skills from the very first class. Competition dancers and other dancers all take class together (other than classes specifically for learning a dance for competition) and get the same training. K-2 classes are hard because there is a wide variety of both physical skill and interest, Some are seriously interested in learning good dance skills and others are just there for fun and exercise. 

I wouldn't base anything on whether the school has a competition team or not. Ours does and we have dancers working professionally in LA and NYC and former students with large dance scholarships. Schools with competition teams often have some of the best training because they're not just "for fun" recreational studios. 

Edited March 1, 2022 by mom2scouts