Dancing in college without majoring in dance

<p>Of course they would. But might also find it a lot of fun to be on a team of other dancers, if they opened their minds a bit.</p>

<p>k, maybe its me, and maybe I will get flamed, but for one group of dancers to "roll their eyes" at another group seems snooty</p>

<p>what ballet dancers can't lower themselves to other forms of dance?</p>

<p>I doubt that, i bet you most dancers will indeed enjoy other forms</p>

<p>soozievt, I know from my daughter's stats that Goucher is a probable fit and Vanderbilt a big reach. DD is a junior, has not officially taken the SATs, so the jury is still out on her final prospects. Guidance is good at her school; they provide a reality check.</p>

<p>TheDad, you are right, don't see my daughter doing dance routines.</p>

<p>citygirlsmom & missypie, haven't found most teens to be wildly openminded. Agree ballet can be snooty. Everyone likes different things, I try to read between the lines to see if a program might be a match.</p>

<p>I mentioned the drill team thing because there have been quite a few fabulous, fantastic, serious dancers from my daughter's studio who have had a great time (as non-majors) on college dance teams. They go to camp before school starts and by the time school starts, they already have a group of friends....kind of like being in a sorority, but not. </p>

<p>(I will say, however, that there are also girls at the dance studio who are fabulous, fantastic, serious dancers who would never consider for a moment being a part of any drill team at any point in their life.)</p>

<p>Just to add to this thread, although it is not applicable to the OPs daughter.</p>

<p>Princeton has a great dance program. In modern they have a full for credit curriculum with New York choreographers who create works for student performances. Ballet is $5/class at Princeton. And, there are three student dance clubs that are an integral part of the school - perform twice a year each of them and during Freshman Week etc. These are not silly clubs. Two are more hip-hop, one more lyrical. The girls love them and commit. Lots of hours per week.</p>

<p>So if you want to be a professional ballerina, bad place. But if you are an excellent student who wants to continue dancing very actively, focusing on performing and fun vs. serious study, it's a good place.</p>

<p>One of these links has a video of a performance.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Ebodyhype/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princeton.edu/~bodyhype/&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Edisiac/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princeton.edu/~disiac/&lt;/a>
<a href="http://www.princeton.edu/%7Edancexp/Media1.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.princeton.edu/~dancexp/Media1.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I'm at Vassar and I'm loving the dance program. I'm in a ballet class that meets three days a week with pointe on another day (which I don't really like, but our teacher is VERY careful to warm us up, etc) and an option to take pointe two days a week. We also sometimes do pointe at the end of regular technique class. One of the most valuable things I've found about ballet at Vassar is the girls I'm dancing with - they've all been dancing for like, a million years, and some of them have VERY impressive resumes already (trained at SAB, etc etc). </p>

<p>I'm also in the student-run dance group. There is a faculty-run dance company that's a little more "prestigious" (I've only been dancing since I was 12 so I'm not quite up to that level yet), but the student group is very fun and still requires a lot of work. I also have the opportunity to choreograph with this group, which is something that's important to me... </p>

<p>I didn't really look at your daughters "stats" or whatnot, but Vassar IS highly selective so she may not be up to its requirements. Either way, definitely consider it; dance is one of my favorite things about Vass so far.</p>

<p>My daughter was in a similar situation as OP. Studied ballet since age 6, pre professional school, summer intensives, etc. She is a senior at Dickinson College right now, and has found the dance program to be just what she wanted. She takes ballet at CPYB each semester for credit and also participates in the dance and theatre group on campus. They have company class once a week and 2 performances per year. Ballet has always made her so happy, and she finds it a good stress reliever after a tough academic day. Goucher was another school that she considered - they have a great dance program.</p>

<p>


It would be like suggesting that a classical musician join a grunge rock band. Totally different genre.</p>

<p>well, let us see- classical muscians played with some of the best rock and rollers of all time, and seemed to be enjoying it</p>

<p>and some grunge rockers are actually pretty good muscians</p>

<p>and for different genre- what in the world is wrong with that?</p>

<p>sorry if I get a kind of "elitest" feeling of that comment made by a poster about ballet dancers rolling their eyes at other forms of dance- as if somehow everything else is less than ballet, and heaven forbid they try something new</p>

<p>I had a friend whose son was an amazing baseball player, star of the team, and he liked it, but he was bugged for joining rugby, as if rugby was some sort of lesser sport</p>

<p>ballet is great, but do ballet dancers really snub other forms</p>

<p>I would think not, but maybe I am wrong, as pointed out by calmom</p>

<p>and ps- nothing wrong with grunge</p>

<p>I'm with calmom.
It's like suggesting that a tennis champion would enjoy and be good at ping-pong. Different genres indeed.</p>

<p>
[quote]
It would be like suggesting that a classical musician join a grunge rock band. Totally different genre.

[/quote]
Exactly. And it's not a matter of being snooty about ballet per se. There's a lot of cross-over between ballet and modern, jazz, and fusion styles. The demands between that cluster and dance team dancing are considerable, QED. About which some have a clue, others don't.</p>

<p>Question for citygirlsmom...
Have you or one of your offspring attended an elite college? If so, how do you justify that given your post?
I'm an unabashed believer in being the best you can be. Elitism? Yeah, I guess.
The foolishness, IMO, is to assume that someone who has trained in classical ballet for 10 years would find hip-hop groups rewarding and a sufficient substitute. Before you get your back up, the opposite applies. Who would assume that a hip-hop dancer would like dancing classical ballet instead of what he or she knew and loved?</p>

<p>The other problem with ballet dancers doing dance team (which are frequently more cheer than dance) is the different training that these styles require. Doing dance/cheer with the turnout that has taken years to develop and master can lead to injury - and it's hard to lose the "muscle memory" and the now-second nature way a ballerina holds herself. </p>

<p>And yes, ballet dancers can and do do different styles - anyone see "So You Think You Can Dance", and watch Danny Tidwell do ballroom and hip hop? But I don't think for a moment that he'll give up ballet or that hip hop would suffice for him.</p>

<p>My daughter was one of those prepro ballet dancer; 15-20 hours a week plus rehearsals. She started with all forms of dance, but by the age of 8 knew that ballet was home. She did have one jazz or modern and one character class a week, but only because they were required. </p>

<p>She looked for a college where she could still dance a few days a week as ballet was her love and her life for 13 years. With the academics, school size, and location she wanted there was not a lot of choice. She settle with her first choice school that had dance, just not the caliber she was accustomed to. Yes, she is dancing; but she has come to realize that unless she could have the ballet class she had at home, it wasn't really the same. Several of the girls are trying to get the school to offer more advance classes; unfortunately, it has fallen on deaf ears.</p>

<p>As a junior, my daughter has realized that while she still loves ballet, right now isn't the time. The school has made it where the girls really don't enjoy ballet anymore as the classes are not challenging at all. Freshman year she did dance with the dance team; this was not in place of ballet, just a fun activity. While she is a great dancer, she still looked like a ballerina on the field!</p>

<p>Bottom line-if ballet is really important, make sure the class is a level your child will be happy with and find out what levels are offered each semester. As far as off campus classes, my daughter did not want to rely on having to leave campus several times a week alone to take classes. If she had a friend to go with she might have thought differently, but without a car she didn't want to bother. That was just my daughter's view; she had friends from high school that did go off campus for classes, most in larger cities. Also, as far as going off campus, don't forget that your daughter will most likely be taking classes at the studio with younger students that might not be happy that "that girl from college" is taking with them and getting their teachers attention. If your daughter is at a cut throat studio now, you know what I am talking about!</p>

<p>My DD is in a serious pre-professional ballet program. One of the graduates from her school is now a pharmacy major & the captain of her college dance team - so not all dancers are opposed to switching styles. =)</p>

<p>snowball, my daughter's experience has been the same as your own.
If there is a way to develop in ballet at any college at the level she was used to, I don't know where that is.
There are classes in major cities.
But the reality is that ballet excellence and academics are two separate paths. The head of the dance department at my daughter's college felt that she could pursue professional level positions after school because of her strong technique. But she wasn't suggesting that she could further that goal at her college.
Time to make grown-up decisions, of course.
I hope this is a harder realization for me than it is for my daughter!</p>

<p>Goucher has ballet professors who also teach at the prestigious Peabody Institute, so their program is topnotch.</p>

<p>You might want to look at Mills College in Oakland, California. It had a strong dance program when I was there many years ago (mostly modern). A friend of mine double-majored in Computer Science and Dance.</p>

<p>Following up to Danas, there's an underlying essential truth: there's <em>no</em> way that someone who has been in a serious pre-pro company or studio is going to keep up the same level of ability in college. Simply. Can't. Do. It. Even the young women I've known who danced in major regional companies and then went to Stanford found it difficult to stay in even half-shape.</p>

<p>Another cold hard truth is that it's hard enough to pursue a professional ballet career on any level let alone do it <em>after</em> college, even for a Dance major. Now, after college going on to dance, say, in MT is a different proposition. Ballet is a bit like gymnastics where you can be washed up and "over the hill" at 24.</p>

<p>TheDad,
I couldn't agree with you more. If someone wants to seriously dance (ballet), then the dancer would be trying our for companies, etc. and postpone the college education or attend part-time. D has a friend from ballet who is presently dancing in a small company, and since that's what she wants to do, it works out well for her.</p>