Anyone in dance too?

[cocoamommy]

My daughter will be turning 4 at the end of next month. She's been in gymnastics since age 2 1/2 and she loves it. She currently goes to 2 gymnastics classes twice a week but has recently been asking to try ballet in addition to gymnastics. I heard ballet class can really help one become a good gymnast so this is the only reason why I'm considering letting her try it. She's not even 4 yet so I'm wondering if it's to much for her. Our current situation is she goes to two different gyms because we can't fit in a second gym day with either gym because of my husband and my work schedule. The one gym is great and when she starts doing competitive gymnastics we will most likely keep her there. The other gym is cheap compared to the other one and she loves her coach and has actual friends that go there but it's more of a tumbling class than anything. The cheaper gym offers ballet class so I was thinking of letting her try a class there and see how she likes it. But there is also a Russian Ballet school near her other gym that offers begining ballet classes. It's more expensive but I'm wondering if it would be better for her and her gymnastics. I've never dealt with dance classes so I'm not sure where to start. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Shelovesthebars]

My advice would be to let her do the less expensive dance class at this age. Right now it is more about movement education. My daughter is 5 and she has been taking dance for 3 years now. We started her at a Russian school and she hated it. We took her to a new studio that really focuses on fun and movement education at this age group and she is really loving it. It has really helped her gymnastics too. She is competing level 3 right now and scoring 36+ all around and I think it is partly due to the dance lessons.

 

[MdGymMom01]

For a child this young, a creative movement class is best until the age of 6. Ballet, although very beneficial and the foundation of all dance, can be very boring for most kids. I would stick with a less expensive class like SLTB's suggested.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

Having been a dancer and a dance instructor- as well as my daughter being in dance and gym, I can say that yes, ballet is certainly helpful for gymnasts, however, most studios will not start formal ballet training that young. (usually starting at age 6 or 7 for a "real" ballet class) Any class for kids younger than that age is focused on creative movement and rhythm and learning to follow directions. It is to stress fun! You can put her in a 45min to 60 min combo class, too, and she would probably really enjoy that. If you start her serious too soon, she will just end up hating it.

 

[cocoamommy]

Thank you!

Thanks Ladies. That was the answer I was hoping for. I just didn't want to throw away money on a different dance class if the Russian ballet would be more beneficial for her. I think I'll let her try the regular ballet class and see how she likes it.

 

[sportsmom22]

Both of my girls started off in dance before moving into gymnastics. My oldest took a tap/ballet combo class in preschool and the next year all she wanted to do was do gymnastics. We moved her to a gym only class at a different location. AB started in a tap/ballet/gym class (20 min. each) in preschool. She then moved to competitive cheer, tap/ballet/gym. We kept her in classes so that she was not bored while waiting on her sister's team classes. The next year, she did competitive cheer and gymnastics. Then she competed level 3 gymnastics for a year. She now competes level 4 and does hip hop. I think keep it fun and simple while they are little. They will decide what they like the best. After being in gymnastics only for several years, my oldest now plays volleyball, basketball, and softball.

 

[Kiwi]

My DD started in a pre-school ballet class and pre-school gymnastics class. She is still doing ballet and gymnastics, although as she moves up the levels the training hours increase for both, so I think it is going to be hard for her to continue with both for much longer. She loves both and I think it would be hard for her to choose which one to drop. I'm not sure how much the ballet helps her gymnastics, I guess the girls who do dance as well do tend to move in a tidier, more graceful way.

 

[NotAMom]

To answer your question... Yes, dance is very helpful towards gymnastics. However, at your daughter's age, dance is all about learning the most basic things (in any form, particularly in ballet). To me, it's all about exposing her to the dance setting and looking pretty in her dance cloths. Any decent dance studio should be able to provide such an environment. So, why waste the big $$$?

Our one daughter started her first dance class when she was 3+ and she was bored out of her skull in her ballet class. She joined in probably only 20% of the time. However, when she turned 5/6, she turned into a different child. You can certainly see the development change over the short period of time.

 

[Kiwi]

Our one daughter started her first dance class when she was 3+ and she was bored out of her skull in her ballet class. She joined in probably only 20% of the time. However, when she turned 5/6, she turned into a different child. You can certainly see the development change over the short period of time.

This reminds me of when my DD started pre-school gymnastics, she was just over 3 and a half, I think. She spent most of the time having tantrums, refusing to do anything, hiding behind the equipment and sulking, with me trying to coax her out! Luckily, that phase didn't last long!