Can't believe what I saw at Dance Convention - VENT

[Maridw]

Just got back from Dance Convention in Mobile, AL and was amazed at what some dance schools are teaching their kids.

Let me start with a couple things. I am 49 and take dance lessons. My best friend is the owner of the dance school & our daughters have grown up together. My bf teaches ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, hip hop & lyrical. We take kids from age 2 & up. Everything she does is Age Appropriate for each age group. She will not have our "Babies doing something that the "Advanced" group does. Same with our "Intermediate" or "Junior" group.

We went to dance convention for classes and had one 14 yo compete in the solo competition. Their breakdown for ages was: Camp Dance Adventure - 4 & 5 yo; Juniors - 6 to10; Teens - 11 to 14; Seniors 15 & up. We watched part of the solo competition on Friday night just before our performer and a few after. Our performer was the first Teen of the group. We watched 4 Juniors and of those 4 - 2 were age appropriate. The other 2 had so much "bump & grind" in their routines, it was unreal. On Sunday they had the one Camp Dance Adventure solo perform her routine again. She was 4 years old and at first it was really cute. Then she too got into the "bump & grind". I could not believe that a dance teacher would teach a 4 yo how to do something she obviously did not understand. This child did not know what she was doing, but everyone thought it was so cute to see this little one do this type of dancing.

Our performer was the only Ballet dancer to perform the entire weekend. No other soloist or group did an actual ballet dance. They either did jazz, tap, lyrical or contemporary lyrical or variety. And who got all the awards? All the bump & grind stuff - except for one, who did an age appropriate lyrical that was very good.

Why do dance teachers think this type (the "bump & grind" stuff) of dance is appropriate for kids under the age of 17? When did it become fine to see little ones dance like that?

Also most of these kids that were doing it were obnoxious and had no regard for anyone else. 5 kids from one dance school almost knocked down my bf's mom as we were walking to the convention center from the hotel. We had come out of the hotel and were walking up some stairs on the way to the convention center when it happened. The parents were right behind them and did absolutely nothing. They acted like nothing happened.

Our kids were all very well behaved and knew that if they were caught running in the convention center, they would be in trouble. We have been going to Mobile for the last 4 years. We had to go to Daytona one year, but the rest have always been in Mobile. We have watched the dances get progressively more suggestive and working its way down the ages. We have taken from 10 students up to 20 students of all ages and they have always behaved extremely well. We always get compliments on our students, because of their behavior and because they participate in every class.

Well thank you for letting me vent.

 

[720L]

I won't let my daughter take "Hip-Hop" dance for this reason. She does Ballet, and hers is the smallest class because everyone does HipHop now.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I don't get it either. Thankfully, from what I have seen--neither of our dance studios does this.

We left our first studio after the first year though. Our teacher taught in two places and was leaving this place. After the recital--in which an 18ish yo adult performed a routine that was soooo suggestive in show that my 3yo was in, I was more than disgusted. It was age appropriate--for a strip club. It was disgusting.

This is our first year with dance competitions--but I believe they are all group numbers. At least from our studio, the dance will be quality and age appropriate for each category.

 

[Schmeck]

Same with our dance studio - everything, from costume to music, to actual dance moves, are very age appropriate. I love our studio!!!!! And we have some champions that dance there (national level) and one young lady made it to Vegas on SYTYCD, but she chose a well paying dance job instead. They are very successful dancers, and didn't need to "do the sexy" to win.

My pet peeve - dance studios who pick a 'crazy people' theme, and have the kids out there acting like mentally ill people, rocking back and forth, etc. So inappropriate to make fun of mental illness!

 

[golfgal]

We pulled DD out of dance after her first year, she was 4, because of this very thing. They had the 5 year old class dancing to "Stupid Cupid" doing bump and grind. First, I don't like the word Stupid, then to have these little kids doing bump and grind. The slightly older kids and their street walker costumes got us too.

DS14 has done hip hop for the past few years-all boys0different dance school--and they do appropriate dancing. Even the girls squad doesn't do the kind of bump and grind that the above 5 year olds were doing and these are all middle and high school aged kids.

 

[Maridw]

Glad to see that there are some dance studios that still have a standard.

When our kids do hip hop, it is not the street type hip hop, it is more of a jazzy type hip hop. We get alot of steps from convention from their hip hop instructor Brad Taylor. He doesn't do anything raunchy.

What really irks me is that the dances they teach at convention in the classes are all age appropriate, but they let the competitors do things that aren't age appropriate.