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dancing as a therapy.

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dustintorch
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13 May 2010, 6:36 pm

Hethera wrote:
dustintorch wrote:
Oh and that's really great about your son! The sooner the better, don't make him get a late start on it like I did. Age 9 is ideal for starting ballet. But boys can be a little older. Is he on the spectrum? He will benefit greatly from ballet if he is. Make sure you get a good school though. It won't be more expensive since he is a boy. They will give him scholarships just for being a boy and you may actually end up paying less for a better school! The other schools are a rip off anyways. Mostly run by people who never really had a career in dance. Where do you live? I would be happy to give you a good list of schools in your area. If you live anywhere near a big city, that is most likely the best place to be. Even if he is NT he will still benefit.


We live in a small city in British Columbia (I don't want to give out too much info online), but we actually have what's supposed to be a pretty good ballet company here. The school that hosts the company is just a few kilometers from where we live, so I imagine I'd be sending him there. I had sent my daughter to another school for her lessons, but I could tell (even with no ballet experience myself) that they were terribly sloppy, so she's been getting lessons at school from one of the teachers from the better school, and even with just one group class a week, she's improved x100! I can only imagine that the official classes offered at the school of ballet are even better! My son is only 3, so he will be getting quite a good start, I think. :) He copies everything his sister does and he always takes a bow afterward. So cute!

Anyway, good luck with your move and your job! And thanks for the info about scholarships, that's really cool! :D


It sounds like you have a good idea of where to send him to school. I would say that's probably the best place too. Just do research though, because sometimes a school attached to a company doesn't necessarily focus enough on the students. It's safe to say that it's your best bet, but if there is a conservatory geared specifically towards pre professional students, it might be good too. The key words are "pre professional". It sounds like you have an eye for ballet even though you've never trained. If it doesn't look right, then it's probably not. I would say though overall, if he's 3 just put him somewhere that he will have fun and develop an interest in dance. He doesn't need to start training hard until he's about 9. Even then it's not really training that hard, just teaching basic movements. At three, you're basically paying someone to teach him how to skip in a circle. Your daughter is a different story though. I don't know how old she is but it sounds like she's old enough to start actually training. So overall, just make sure you find a school that actually invests in the students. Ask if the top level of the school performs with the company. If they do, then the school is probably pretty interested in how their students look and how they are trained. Sorry if this is a little long winded. Good luck with everything!



Hethera
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13 May 2010, 6:49 pm

dustintorch wrote:
Hethera wrote:
It sounds like you have a good idea of where to send him to school. I would say that's probably the best place too. Just do research though, because sometimes a school attached to a company doesn't necessarily focus enough on the students. It's safe to say that it's your best bet, but if there is a conservatory geared specifically towards pre professional students, it might be good too. The key words are "pre professional". It sounds like you have an eye for ballet even though you've never trained. If it doesn't look right, then it's probably not. I would say though overall, if he's 3 just put him somewhere that he will have fun and develop an interest in dance. He doesn't need to start training hard until he's about 9. Even then it's not really training that hard, just teaching basic movements. At three, you're basically paying someone to teach him how to skip in a circle. Your daughter is a different story though. I don't know how old she is but it sounds like she's old enough to start actually training. So overall, just make sure you find a school that actually invests in the students. Ask if the top level of the school performs with the company. If they do, then the school is probably pretty interested in how their students look and how they are trained. Sorry if this is a little long winded. Good luck with everything!


Thanks for the tips! The company actually does include the school's student in their annual "Nutcracker" production, which was a huge selling point for my daughter, actually. :) She's actually quite young too (5), but a total ballet fanatic since she was 14 months old and saw her cousin's recital. I appreciate all your advice, as I am not really "up" on my ballet!