I’ve been asked this question a lot.
Usually it is from a parent but sometimes it is from a teen or adult asking for themselves.
My answer is another question.
… To do what?
The word ‘should’ implies there is a goal, a dream, a desire behind your question. With no knowledge of what your child’s goal, dream, or desire is, neither you nor I will be able to answer your How Much Dance Should…? question. Begin at square one and continue play on your next turn.
My child has a defined goal, a dream, a desire. Now can I ask the question?
You can, but
- I don’t have an answer. You and your child do.
- There is no right answer. There is no magic number of hours to be clocked. No student or dancer is the same, no flirtation with or pursuit of dance is alike.
- The answer changes because the destination is not a fixed one.
Conclusion: Your answer to the above question will be unique to your child.
What is the appropriate amount or extent of training for my child at this time?
Ah, that’s better. Here are some questions that will help you find your answer…
“What are my child’s interests?”
Look for opportunities in which your child can try and gain insight into different styles without adding another class to the schedule. It’s a great idea to find a studio which offers the chance to “taste” different dance forms during workshops, via visiting teachers or master classes, conventions, or going to see dance performances. This will help your child make decisions about where he would like to increase his commitment level.
“What and how deep are my child’s motivations?”
If your child is asking, investigate the reasons she wants to take a new or additional dance class. Costume style, choreography, musical accompaniment, or maintaining friendships may be no less valid or less important to her than the desire to enhance her skills. Dance should be fun, too! Do not devalue or brush away these motivations, they are part of the equation.
BUT, the investment of weekly classes is significant enough that it pays to know if it is the desire for improvement and mastering skills that is motivating her, or something else. If your child’s motivations are all superficial, what she learns is likely to be too.
Do weigh and consider all of her reasons and include your child in the process. This is the only way to be clear about her motivations.
“Is my child ready for more?“
She’ll ask for it when she wants more. But is she ready?
If you’ve taken the time to go through the process above, your child is less likely to find themselves overworked or underprepared for an increased level of commitment or activity.
Do be willing to reevaluate, though, if your child is showing signs of stress physically, mentally, or emotionally and cut back if necessary. Things happen, environments change, people change.
“Has my child established a good foundation on which to build?”
His foundational class or two, whether creative dance, ballet, jazz, or tap should offer good, quality technique and training of appropriate skills. Good training is possible in any of these forms but not necessarily happening in every class at every school.
What is quality training?
In short, good training offers classes and curriculum which are designed to develop the tapestry of skills needed for dance – control, body awareness, strength, flexibility, musicality, artistry, and more.
Whether curriculum is based on a set syllabus or backed by other forms of teacher training, education, or experience, it is important to find a teacher who has a method to his/her madness.
No matter if yours is a recreational student, or on a professional track, or has the desire to change his track, if the teacher is not teaching with any real direction or reason behind the exercises, then you want to find someone who does.
If he has received quality training from instructors who also care about his well-being, allowed him to discover the rewards of self-motivation, rejoiced with him in his successes, encouraged him when he has struggled, and instilled respect and enthusiasm for the art of dance, he’s got a strong foundation on which to build.
The Equation
Interest + Motivation + Preparedness = Hours + Diversity + Challenge
Hours is the number of hours spent on the activity.
Diversity is the range of dance styles and dance activities.
Challenge is the level of difficulty of the class or activity.
When there is equilibrium between these two sides of the equation, the amount of training is right where it should be.
How to work out the equation
When you work out for fitness, you go at a pace or a level of challenge until this becomes easy and then you step it up with more repetition and more challenge.
Similarly when the interest, motivation, or preparedness on one side of the equation increases, the values on the other side should increase to match.
The equation is really very simple and logical, yet it takes communication with your child (on whatever level they are capable of discussing it with you) and requires observation and some homework on your part.
The investigation may raise more questions.
How Do I Balance My Time and Money Expenditure With My Child’s Dance NEEDS?
What if he/she wants to be a PROFESSIONAL?
You know your child’s desire is to be a professional dancer. You know that it is his/her desire and not your own. And you want to know if this changes anything about what I just wrote above.
Hint: It doesn’t. But I know you want the nitty-gritty on what it takes to get your child from point A to B.
Did the above article answer at least some of your questions?
Does the equation make some sense in a universal way?
What else do you want to know?
Nichelle Suzanne is a writer specializing in dance and online content. She is also a dance instructor with over 20 years experience teaching in dance studios, community programs, and colleges. She began Dance Advantage in 2008, equipped with a passion for movement education and an intuitive sense that a blog could bring dancers together. As a Houston-based dance writer, Nichelle covers dance performance for Dance Source Houston, Arts+Culture Texas, and other publications. She is a leader in social media within the dance community and has presented on blogging for dance organizations, including Dance/USA. Nichelle provides web consulting and writing services for dancers, dance schools and studios, and those beyond the dance world. Read Nichelle’s posts.
I have a question about what you said–that if you are ready for more commitment you wont feel physically or mentally stressed, overworked etc… The thing is, most of the time I feel stressed and overworked. Not just from dance, a big part of it is school. But does this mean I’m not ready for the commitment? I mean, I think I am, because I love dance, and I started late so I’ve gotta work extra hard to keep up (I really want to do it professionally). But after 7 hours school, 2-3 hours of dance, and then 2-3 hours of homework, I do feel physically and mentally overworked. What does this mean? What can I do??
Hi Ingrid,
I don’t necessarily think it means you weren’t ready for the commitment but the commitment may be more than you are able to manage right now. I am certainly not a professional counselor but I think it means that you have to take a look at the specifics of what is stressing you, where the pressure is coming from, and if there are ways to better manage the stress. This may include cutting back but not necessarily.
Are you at the studio every night for 2-3 hours of dance? Are you there for just technique, or are you also doing competition or preparing for performances? Do you make time for fun/social activities too? Are you getting enough sleep? Your body and your ‘being’ both need downtime to rest and rejuvenate. Everyone needs this balance and it can be easy for teens especially to overdo it.
You might try this as a resource for stress management: http://www.aap.org/stress/. There are worksheets and questions that might help you identify your next steps. I wish you the best!
I am currently at the studio for approx. 1hr.30 min. for technique monday through friday, soon 1 hr. on saturday for pointe and possible 1 hr. on thursday as well. I used to take jazz but I cut that out since the level evaluations are only for ballet and that is my main focus. I also decided not to do nutcracker because that would require that I miss school etc. I feel that in the past months since I left this comment I have come to the consensus that I really want to go for it and attempt to make it professionally, and this decision and further desire to dance has actually lessened stress for me.
I also had another question about private coaching. Do you think it is more effective to have a really good private ballet coach 3 times (4 1/2 hrs.) per week or a decent teacher 5 times (7 1/2 hrs.) per week? I am trying to know whether or not I should try private coaching, but since it would be a lot more expensive I wouldn’t be able to go as much.
Thanks!
P.S. Do you know any things to do if it may not be financially possible to support a really good dance education? I applied for a scholarship but didn’t get it. Does this mean I should apply elsewhere or switch studios?
Private coaching can certainly provide the most direct feedback, but private coaching is not for everyone and whether it is a replacement for regular class instruction would truly depend on the coach, I feel. With the right coach, you can meet training goals at a more accelerated pace but there are benefits to being in a classroom situation too. If possible, I would recommend maintaining a class schedule while adding private coaching once a week or as often as you can manage. It might take a few tries even to find the coach that can really help you progress, plus you’ll discover if private lessons are right for you – you’ll want to do that before taking the all or nothing approach you mention.
As for financial help. It might be worth looking into other local schools that offer scholarships, keeping in mind that the quality of training is important. You might also check out these scholarship opportunities: https://danceadvantage.net/2010/07/28/5-scholarships-for-dancers/
Nice article, and I’m sure it wasn’t meant to answer every parents question…or every dancer’s question. My daughter who is almost 13, currently dances 13-20 hours a week, give or take w/ workshops or extra rehearsal time. She also likes to go to the studio to help out with the younger children’s classes (she was invited to do so after she inquired with the Studio owner) School seems to get in the way of her “dance time” I know she loves it with every part of her being…she choreographs while in her room at night, shows us her dances anytime, anywhere. She loves to perform and loves to grow as a performer. She has had great opportunity to take classes from many respected professionals in the field…and hungers for more. My husband’s concern is balance in her life, friend’s, family, school, and of course the financial end. I see she is happy and fulfilled when she is dancing, and I have asked her repeatedly if she would like to do other things…other than expressing a desire to act as well as dance (she couldn’t do the school play this year R/T dance committment) she wants to study dance on the college level and become a professional dancer. I want her to be happy and fullfilled as well, but am not sure how long we can support her financially at this level. So many questions, but the article did get me thinking, thank you for that!
Thank you for commenting, Kristen… I was trying to uncover the root of your questions – I think there’s one in there! lol
Overall,I hear in your statement many of the typical parent concerns. What I’m going to say may seem contradictory. Yes, balance in life is super important but yes, it is common (and sometimes even necessary) for dancers to sacrifice a lot of things considered normal parts of a child/teen’s experience in the pursuit of dance.
Dancers who end up choosing to pursue dance professionally (particularly ballet) often leave their homes at a young age to study dance elsewhere, their lives (even education) do tend to revolve around dance. It’s important to remember that this isn’t necessarily unhealthy if the desire is truly there – if the motivation is coming from within the child. It can be a fine line, but ultimately it comes down to a continuous conversation between parent and child, evaluating and reevaluating all the time. Trust your instincts – if your child is content with the “balance” she’s struck then it’ll be alright. It’s a mistake to think that one person’s ‘balance’ is the same as another’s. Though it may seem that “normally” kids require a certain amount of social time or variety of activities, no two people are alike. If her balance is off, I think you’ll recognize signs of distress.
As for the financial aspects, it’s no question that dance training requires funding – sometimes significantly so. I would be lying to say even that there is equal opportunity for anyone to study dance. However, in our system it’s easy to get carried away with lots of things that are not essential to actual dancing.
If money is an issue then it is time to determine what IS essential for your daughter. There are alternatives but sometimes people don’t like these and find they’d rather pay the money which apparently was there afterall. Sometimes hard decisions must be made but only you can make those decisions. There’s just no one answer as much as I know parents crave one. I’ve written a bit on this here: https://danceadvantage.net/2010/10/11/quality-quantity/
You may also be interested in this one: https://danceadvantage.net/2010/05/13/well-rounded-myth
Thanks so much for commenting Kristen! I hope this is of some help.
I really love dance, particularly ballet. However, my current dance studio only has 75 minutes of ballet a week with lots of time focusing on jazz dance. I have researched ballet studios in my area and found a studio with a class in my age group that dances the same amount of time a week, but it is all ballet and more spread out across the week. I think that a class like this will help me to reach a higher level than my current school can. Though I am not completely sure I am at this level, I know that I also have to consider the impact on my schedule and what my family can afford. I know that I can balance school and dance because my grades have stayed the same during dance as before my program. My question is, would all ballet be too much? I really love ballet and want to improve myself as much as possible.
Hi Maddi,
No, I don’t think all ballet would be too much if that is where your interests lie. Many dancers study ballet as their primary foundation and focus. You will encounter opportunities to experience other dance styles through workshops, masterclasses, etc. as you continue in dance and will find that solid ballet training will serve you quite well.
Best of luck as you continue to investigate the possibilities!