How important is it for young dancers to train based on their age?
How important is it for young dancers to train based on their age? It’s a question often debated amongst parents, teachers, and dancers. Good dance programs will build a solid foundation before pushing young dancers beyond the limits of their growing bodies.
A solid foundation includes coordination, musicality, spacial awareness, flexibility, strength, and the ability to focus and follow instructions. Good dance teachers build this foundation with repetition, repetition, repetition! It’s no mistake that ballet and most other forms of dance have a set format for each and every class. An independent experiment conducted in 1995 found that it takes 180 practice trials for the human brain to reproduce new, simple movement patterns consistently.
It takes a reasonably long time for the human brain to learn the basics of dance, so many dance students find overall success in continuing the same level of dance for a year or more. Curriculums should introduce new steps based on the dancer’s age rather than the number of years the individual has danced.
Berks Ballet Theatre Conservatory of Dance prides itself in training dancers in a healthy and nurturing environment. Instructors are thoughtful and thorough when placing dancers at a level that is age appropriate. When taught properly, dance is a journey and can be incredibly rewarding and memorable for any dancer that steps into the studio.
We hope to see you on the dance floor this season!
