Expert: Connie - 6/4/2009

Question
QUESTION: my granddaughter is 15 years old.She had taken ballet along with other dance forms for 8 years. As she advanced and was required to go more times per week the schedule became too much for her immediate family.She dropped out and wants to now resume.Her first class in Jazz made her feel inadequate, her turn out was not good. She seems insecure and is planning to go back to ballet  by way of an intensive summer dance program. Is it possible to regain her skill in a reasonable amount of time. Is there any advice regarding inconsistent training.She had been out of dance training for 2 years.

ANSWER: It's going to be tough for her to return after two years off.  However, it shouldn't be impossible!  Her teacher should understand and take it easy on her in her first few classes.  If she works with dedication and persistence she should have no trouble catching up.  Dance is just like anything else; if you trained for a marathon and then didn't run for two years, you wouldn't be able to run the marathon again immediately.  She will regain her strength and skills after easing back into dance.

Just a word of caution about the summer program; she should be careful not to overload herself.  If she is out of shape, she could get injured taking three or four classes a day.  she should be smart; if anything hurts, STOP!  

Best of luck!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: What advice can you add as to this--she has taken so much dance , won awards including a dance scholarship to current High School and then was dropped from it all (dance training--I refer to) and frankly instead of the absence from dance helping academics it was replaced with facebook, texting, etc.--and this was allowed because of the lack of commitment in the immediate family -here is my question so that I can maybe  advise them well-- she wants to pursue dance in college Not necessarily ballet only but what is the disadvantage if she is not given the encouragement and OK to dance now. Isn't it important to have consistent training NOW to prepare for college if this is the area she wishes to be a major. It is my understanding that especially Ballet is most important.I had the decision making for a long time about it but no longer do and the bottom line this girl not receiving  dance training is due to again lack of commitment on the part of the family getting her to class.  It is very sad because it was such a love of hers.

Answer
If she wants to major in dance, it is important to have some training beforehand, so she can place into the higher level classes.  Ballet is extremely important, as it is a base for other forms of dance, like jazz and modern.  It seems like she should talk with her family and tell them how important it is for her to take class.  Really, she should be in class six days a week!

Good luck!