Dance Mom Survival Guide: Growing a Great Dancer Without Losing Your Mind by Lott Malena & Martin Jill

Author:Lott, Malena & Martin, Jill [Lott, Malena]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Buzz Books USA
Published: 2013-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

How old does my dancer need to be to try out for Company?

Though different studios have varying names for it, Company can start as young as 5-years-old, with petite or mini-company dancers, and typically goes up to senior dancers. After that, dancers may decide to major in dance in college or move on to perform with a professional dance company. Many competitions include an adult category, too.

How are Company groups determined?

The studio will match skill sets and whom they believe will dance best together. If you live in a big city and have a big studio, you could have multiple company groups all within the same age range. For competitions, studios enter the dancers in categories based on the level of dance and how many hours they take in classes each week. Some competitions may have beginner, intermediate and advanced dancer categories and others may only have two, or even combine them if they have low entries.

Dance Mom Lauren, whose son has been dancing seriously for four years, had a lot of great advice about studios and helping steer your child into the right place.

“Once your child is about 10 or 11, you need to help your child decide on his/her focus. If that focus is lyrical/contemporary/hip hop, then a competition studio with lots of trophies is a great place to be! However, if the focus is on ballet, then it's time to leave that competition studio and get to a classical ballet training center. By this age, kids who want to become ballet dancers need at least four 1.5 hour ballet technique classes a week plus twice a week pre-Pointe or Pointe. These classes should be used for only technique-- not rehearsals or learning tricks. Competition studios very rarely offer this type of ballet training. If you wait until 12 or 13 to make the switch from competition dance to ballet, then your child will be very behind! Here is a link to ballet training expectations: http://dancers.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=54927

“How can you tell if you're getting good ballet training? First, look at the hour expectations in the above link. Second, ask about a syllabus. If there isn't a set syllabus (e.g., RAD, Cecchetti, Vaganova, ABT), then ask about the method/syllabus that most influences the teacher. Third, look at the Summer Intensives (SIs) the teenage students attend and how frequently they receive scholarships to the SIs. A studio with excellent ballet training should have students receiving scholarship to SI's associated with large ballet companies. Fourth, look at the competitions. Ballet studios generally don't participate in a lot of dance competitions other than ballet-only competitions such as YAGP. If they do compete in mainstream dance competitions, it's usually just their 8-12 year olds, as the older students are putting their focus on preparing for SI (Summer Intensive) auditions.”

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