Women Ballet and competitive gymnasts

[Fliptwisttumble]

I'm wondering how many competitive gymnasts are also taking ballet.... Whether as a separate activity just because they love it, a regular class implemented into their mnastics training time, or outside of the gym specifically to enhance their gymnastics?

Would love to hear from you!

 

[emilykatherine]

The compulsory level do, the optionals used to but it kept making us worse in our dancing( there were some other problems too) but we did it during practice once a week

 

[2G1B]

My 9 yo DD went back to ballet this year. She really enjoys it; but prefers gymnastics over it. Last year she had to make the decision between dance and gymnastics - our schedule just didn't work for her to do both. This year it was possible for her to do one night of dance and she decided to do it. My 7 yo DD decided to go back to jazz; but didn't want to do ballet. I do think that my 9 yo thinks that the ballet is going to help her gymnastics; but she also just really likes dancing.

Both of them go to a dance studio that is totally separate from their gym.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

My gymnast did other forms of dance, my oldest is a ballerina and we're at the studio 5-6 days/wk so the younger one always did some dance too. Not ballet, it doesnt suit her personality at all plus she has always been around it and it just doesn't appeal to her at all. So she did jazz, hip hop and musical theater.
Since she started doing L4 she had to quit dance as well as martial arts, but I think/hope that perhaps her dance experience will help her with remembering routines. After all, she has been remembering other choreography for years!
It's funny because now I want the older one to help her little sister learning some of the ballet moves because I think they add so much to the beauty of gymnastics..!

 

[juststartingout]

I've tried to find a ballet class for my 7yo gymnast because I really do think it helps but all the studios in our area practices on her gym nights so it hasn't worked out yet. I wish our gym had it included.

 

[Seeker]

DD's coach has a ballet instructor come twice a week to work with the team kids. 60 mins/week total.

 

[Natalia]

DD does an hour of ballet per week with her gym.She HATES it.LOL

She does 45 minutes of Zumba a week which she LOVES! It helped her figure out that you can actually count the beat to music ,this helped her a lot more then Ballet ever did to bring her choreography to life.

I'm a ballet fanatic and trully see the benefit that ballet can bring to gymnastics,but if a kid hates it,drop it.

 

[MaryA]

DD does dance 2x a week at gym. I don't know if it's ballet or not. I think one way it really helped her is in learning her optional routine. Last year was her first year of optionals (and this year she's using the same routine, just with level 8 skills... theoretically) and watching her learn that routine I thought, "this would have been a lot harder if she hadn't had done some dance!" Just the process of learning the routine, and putting in all of the "dancy" stuff was not anything she had done before joining her current gym. It was very different from learning the compulsory routines where everybody was doing the same thing and they would drill the whole group on it, section by section. DD had 2 sessions with the choreographer and then she came back to the gym one more time a couple of weeks later to clean things up and that was it.

 

[Bajanswife]

DD did ballet briefly when she was about 6 - it didn't appeal to her. She then did jazz for a while when she was 8/9 and performed in 2 recitals. She's not bad at jazz and quite enjoyed it, but then her gymnastics increased to 4 times a week and she was happy to quit the jazz.

I do think ballet would help her form a bit, but it's too slow and precise for her - she's not wired that way. There is a dance teacher that comes by the gym once a week and work on dance moves with the girls - that will have to do for DD.

 

[iwannacoach]

My first gym program as a team coach was at a facility with a dance company/studio in their own and separate enclosed areas. The owners of the entire operation had deep dance background and took advantage of the coaching change by flatly stating that dance classes would be a part of the team program. It seems the previous HC had refused the offer, but not me because, well geez, I was just happy to be a team level coach.

So the optional kids went to ballet and jazz, for an hour each, every week as if it were a part of their gym practice. The compulsory kids had a jazz class each week, but didn't go to ballet. I think it helped substantially in the areas of balance, rhythm, and presentation. They also were rock solid on their beam turns, so much so that I had several kids finishing their turns and presenting the finish in a stable passe'.

Choreography was easier, and working through their routines through the season was really easy because I was able to ask them to do it slightly different to convey attitude or feeling, and not get a look that said....Huh?

 

[cudutch2]

We started ballet end of last season level 7. I noticed at states the stars were the ones with the nice lines. Her 4 team mates and her now do ballet once a week on off day from gym.. I know the only thing she does not like is putting tights on..

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

Thanks everyone for the replies. DD's gym incorporates 1 hr of dance per week for all "provincial" or national level kids, so L5 and up, into their regular training. DD has off and on taken additional dance (ballet last year, lyrical/jazz the year before) and while we had decided NOT to continue this year, she came home earlier this week saying she has to go back, she needs it to be a better gymnast.

We started last night at a local studio, and she liked it very much. She said "it is strict ballet, and that is just what I need". She's gone on to say she likes the look of Russian and other European gymnasts for whose ballet training is clearly evident in their style. I'm just trying to sort out if one hour a week of ballet will have the desired impact she is looking for (keeping in mind that she is a compact, muscular, power type gymnast).

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

As a ballet mom first, simply because I have been a ballet mom for 9yrs, gym mom for 3.... No, a gymnast won't achieve the fluid, classical ballet lines from 1hr class/week... BUT any ballet/dance will definitely be beneficial! Through the years at the studio I have seen a few gymnasts who took ballet simply to help their gymnastics and it did help their lines, fluidity and leaps. None of them kept going after about L7, I'm guessing for time constraint but I wasn't into the gym world enough to think about it much more t the time. Because your dd is a serious gymnast first, her body won't be changed by that amount of ballet. I think it's great that she wants to take a serious ballet class and it will only help! The opposite is almost never a good thing (a ballet student wanting to take gym on the side for strength and flexibility) but some, ANY ballet is almost always beneficial to gymnastics. Have fun with it, I wish my dd would want to take class, she could technically do it on the one day she has off from the gym because we're at the studio anyways but it's her mandatory homework night.

I'm so jealous of the people who have mandatory dance....
I think the ideal would be to have a dance/ballet teacher come to the gym on a regular basis because if you are simply taking class in a serious ballet studio, you aren't going to get as far into ballet training as you need to really see that "dancer training" unless you take multiple classes per week, which gymnasts don't have time for. But if your gym has someone to come in and work specifically with the gymnasts and what they need.... That would be so wonderful!

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

Thanks. That is exactly what I expected. I'm letting her take it because she really wants to. Over the last few months she has become very serious about her gymnastics, so I hear this type of thing "I need it to be a good gymnast"..... "I wish I knew last year how much gym would mean to me now". While I'm sure she'd take more dance if it would help - we are both maxed out at 1 hr a week as she is in gym another 25.

I'm confident it will help to a point, but I have serious doubts of it turning my compact, muscular Chinese daughter and turn her into a tall, willowy, ballet inspired, Russian gymnast as she is hoping! I guess I don't have to tell her that quite yet!

 

[GymMom&Coach]

I hired a ballet teacher that comes into our gym and works with my L3-7's for two hours once a week. I make lesson plans for her and make sure she is only working the new season routine positions and dance skills. Nothing ever that is not in routines!
The girls seem to like it, which is great because we all know how important the dance is getting in routines...

 

[wgymmom]

We had a ballet teacher come in once a week from January until summer. Now they just add tiny bits of ballet to regular practice. I'm disappointed that they don't have the teacher anymore.

 

[kitkat]

Last year she took a ballet class with a bunch of kids who were there for ballet. She was taking the class to enhance her gymnastics dance. It was good but really not focused on what we wanted. This year my daughter is taking private ballet lessons with another gymnast and the instructor is tailoring to their needs.
The girls absolutely are loving it. Well see at the end of the first session if the coach has noticed any difference in their "flow, etc"

 

[Ponyshine]

I do ballet classes completely separately to my gymnastics sessions. I find that the ballet really helps when it comes to performing floor routines in gymnastics competitions. My ballet classes are not at all mandatory, but I choose to do them because I enjoy them.