different types of dance

[tillie]

Ok. I've only just started ballet a year ago, and for this year i've been doing ballet six times a week, sometimes seven and i've been working incredibly hard because i desperately want to make it as a dancer. but it just occured to me, many other people on this board take more than one type of dance. is this beneficial? should i take some other form of dance as well, or is this six days a week of ballet good enough? i was just wondering if other types of dance were at all benefitial for ballet training.

[Mel Johnson]

You're still just in the "initial plunge" stage of training, so ballet right now, if that's your intended direction, is important, but seven days? Cheez, awreddy, give yourself a rest once a week anyway. Character and modern can be very useful additional studies right now, and/or jazz, as your consumable time is not yet taken up with pointe classes. Sure, knowing more things about movement is almost always helpful.

[tillie]

Ok, thanks a bunch! I guess I'll be spending even more time dancing once on pointe, so I'll leave it for now. Thanks for the info!

 

Oh, by the way, seven times a week only occurs about once every month and a half or so.

Edited March 13, 2006 by tillie

[PrettyonPointe45]

I'm not sure if it's any help, but I've been dancing for a little over 3 years and I take an hour long jazz class once a week. It's really helped me a lot with flexiblity and strength.

 

My teacher said basically the same thing as Mr. Johnson, though, although she does think that taking jazz and/or modern or some other form of dance is needded in the higher levels of ballet.

[cecchettiballetgirl]

I take modern, jazz and tap classes outside of my ballet ones and find them really beneficial. Jazz classes really help with strength and flexibility while modern helps me to connect with the music and find the "roots" of the movement. Tap classes improve quick footwork and timing and I also take the odd lyrical class which helps me connect to the music I'm dancing with.