The Dance Mom Thread

[jwsqrdplus2]

On the injury front, I am terrified! DD1 tweaked her achilles at recital in Jun 07, then "reinjured" it at the Holiday recital in Dec 07. The June injury was my fault . She had a quick change into her hip hop dance, and since I tie shoes faster, I tied her hip hop shoes. After the dance, she came back stage to get ready for the next dance (plenty of time), grabbed the heel of her shoe and pulled down to take it off (without untying it). Not only do I tie shoes faster, I also tie them tighter. So the shoe did not slip off as easily as when she ties them, straining her achilles. We taped her up and she finished recital (5 more dances), then she could rest her ankle. A couple of days later, she was fine on normal activity.

6 months later, she said it was bugging her during the holiday recital, so I had her taped her up again to finish (2 dances), and the next day I took her to the Dr (Dr Mom did the diagnosis in Jun). The good news is I did exactly the right thing (I am the veteran of many a sports injury!) both times! The Dr gave us some exercises to keep her achilles in shape, and she does them every day.

The worst part of an injury is that area is weak and suseptible to injury in the future, so strengthening exercises are important. DD loves to dance, and a simple, "If you don't do your achilles exercises, you will not be able to dance" is sufficient reminder for her.

Right now, she is determined to get her aerial, and I am terrified she will seriously hurt herself. I trust her acro teachers to spot her when needed, but it still scares me!

As far as the studio goes, injured dancers are expected to attend classes and do what they can even if it means sitting in a chair and going through the motions. The studio director and teachers are very understanding and have no problem when a parent/dr says no dance! DD sat out the last week of dance before the 3-week holiday break (giving her 4 weeks off) due to the reinjury in Dec.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Here is a link to one of the changing tents I found on discount dance supply. If for some reason it doesnt work just search for changing tent. I've seen other types too. http://www.discountdance.com/frame_set.php3?mf=/dancewear/page_GIFTACC_p1.html

 

[disneygals]

Injuries!-that's one of the reasons we left the previous studio.

Ex. When my dd was 11, she woke up with an injured neck, took her to Nutcracker rehearsal, told her teacher that we were going to the chiro. She snapped, well if she misses this rehearsal, she can't be in the finale (yeah that 30 seconds is tough to learn) So we go to the chiro, bring her back to rehearsal and while she's dancing in pain, the teacher says Smile, it's not your face that's injured!

Right now that same dd has tendonitis, went for an MRI yesterday and her current teacher is so sweet and supportive. Hopefully she can dance again soon...luckily no shows til May and June. She has been attending all classes to watch what she misses, too.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Injuries!-that's one of the reasons we left the previous studio.

Ex. When my dd was 11, she woke up with an injured neck, took her to Nutcracker rehearsal, told her teacher that we were going to the chiro. She snapped, well if she misses this rehearsal, she can't be in the finale (yeah that 30 seconds is tough to learn) So we go to the chiro, bring her back to rehearsal and while she's dancing in pain, the teacher says Smile, it's not your face that's injured!

Right now that same dd has tendonitis, went for an MRI yesterday and her current teacher is so sweet and supportive. Hopefully she can dance again soon...luckily no shows til May and June. She has been attending all classes to watch what she misses, too.

Sounds like you made a good switch! to your dd and hopes she recovers soon!

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Ok so we just got the schedule for the convention this weekend. I was looking it over and I understand everything except Video Jazz. What is Video Jazz? We were kind of laughing about it like is it where they teach you how to dance in music videos??? Maybe it is!!!

 

[missypie]

The girls at our studio make fun of girls at other companies who have changing tents....just sayin....(Before you invest in one, make sure your DD will actually use it.)

 

[AboutTheMouse]

Thanks for the support regarding injuries!

I guess the hard part for me (and her teacher) is that to see her walking you would never know that DD is injured. There was always some question as to whether she was truly having pain or faking it. It seems to come and go.

But -- she whacked it really hard on the corner of a coffee table over the holidays which resulted in a trip to the ortho doc (who specializes in kids' sports). He did an xray, which found the extra bone and ordered an MRI which found the bone bruise and other issues because of the extra bone. The extra bone may have to be removed if we can't resolve the other problems that it is causing. Recovery from that will be long and rehab will be extensive.

DD's teachers have been pretty good about the situation. We pulled her out of a couple of classes that she couldn't do (like leaps and turns) and she attended all others. DD does what she can and sits when she needs to. I just sometimes feel like there is doubt about her injury. Like I said, to see her walk around, you would never know. But xrays and MRIs don't lie.

I think that she is also understating the problems she is having because she is afraid that the doc won't let her dance. But sucking it up can have consequences.

 

[disneygals]

There are so many things that can go wrong with someone's foot. My dd's foot only hurts when she points it, she's fine walking around. She also says it hurts sometimes a little and sometimes a lot. We don't find out the MRI results til Fri. Her ortho recommended a dr scholl's ortho insert with an arch. She has flat feet plus it will cushion her heel area. (just got one this week, so we'll see)

Good luck to your dd..hopefully she won't need surgery.


Thanks azmickeyfans....and yes, I'm SO happy we switched.

 

[Sleepy]

Her ortho recommended a dr scholl's ortho insert with an arch. She has flat feet plus it will cushion her heel area. (just got one this week, so we'll see)

My son was given a hard plastic arch support. He also has a couple of cushy gel inserts on top of that.

 

[Xcited4Disney]

 

[cabanafrau]

The girls at our studio make fun of girls at other companies who have changing tents....just sayin....(Before you invest in one, make sure your DD will actually use it.)

If they ever go to a competition that doesn't have a changing area available or FAR too undersized for the amount of dancers attending, they'll change their tune quick.

Because of the size of our overall studio, our changing booth gets an overtime workout come recital time -- there simply isn't the possibility of providing reasonable privacy to over 800 dancers.

 

[UMTerp]

My DD9 has her second duet competition tonight! We can't wait!
Anyone else competing this weekend? Good luck!

UMTerp

 

[Xcited4Disney]

My DD9 has her second duet competition tonight! We can't wait!
Anyone else competing this weekend? Good luck!

UMTerp

Best of luck to her!
my dd has her very 1st comp tomorrow! She's super excited!

 

[jwsqrdplus2]

Best of luck to all those competing this weekend!

We have 5 weeks until our next competition! The studio just posted our charges for that competition: DD2 is doing 2 dances and DD1 is doing 5 for a grand total of $225. And that does not include travel costs since we will have to stay overnight at least 1 night. Remind me again why we do this!

 

[missypie]

If they ever go to a competition that doesn't have a changing area available or FAR too undersized for the amount of dancers attending, they'll change their tune quick.

Because of the size of our overall studio, our changing booth gets an overtime workout come recital time -- there simply isn't the possibility of providing reasonable privacy to over 800 dancers.

They have no expectation of privacy (as long as they are only changing in front of other females.)

 

[UMTerp]

Best of luck to her!
my dd has her very 1st comp tomorrow! She's super excited!

I hope she has a great experience!!!! Good luck!

UMTerp

 

[UMTerp]

We have 5 weeks until our next competition! The studio just posted our charges for that competition: DD2 is doing 2 dances and DD1 is doing 5 for a grand total of $225. And that does not include travel costs since we will have to stay overnight at least 1 night. Remind me again why we do this!

Wow!!!! I would faint too! At least you have some time to save....

 

[cabanafrau]

They have no expectation of privacy (as long as they are only changing in front of other females.)

Oh, absolutely. But that's exactly the problem. We've faced several situations where there is no way to utilize an area to change w/o being exposed to a co-ed population.

 

[SydneyBristow]

The girls at the studio my DD attends all wear these flesh colored leotards with clear plastic straps under all their costumes, so they don't have to worry about getting changed. I think they're pretty cool and you don't even notice them when they're on stage.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

good Luck to all those competing. Let us know how it goes.

We have a convention Sat and Sun and the older girls are competing Sat night but they could not get the younger girls dance ready in time. I'm kind of relieved! I'll report back on whatever Video Jazz is on Monday.

Dd was practicing her Illusion this week and kicked over a lamp that was on a table. How many times do I have to tell this girl to go to the middle of the room and push the furniture out of the way if she is going to be needing more space. Guess its more fun to see if you can squeeze it into the area.