Foundational Dance: Prioritizing Long-Term Well-Being in Dance Education

After committing eighteen years towards dance education, a significant portion of my teaching career has been devoted to training young dancers aged two to eight. These formative years are pivotal in determining a dancer's longevity in the field. In today's dance landscape, there's a troubling trend of prioritizing extreme physical feats, fueled by social media and dance television platforms. However, this pursuit often comes at the expense of young dancers' well-being and future prospects in dance. So how do we combat this?

I've had the opportunity to work with young dancers in various settings, including predominantly ballet studios, recreational programs, and highly competitive environments. Despite the differences among these settings, one principle has remained consistent in my teaching approach: emphasizing fundamentals over flashy tricks is essential for fostering a genuine passion for dance.

In the age of social media, there's immense pressure for young dancers to perform advanced skills from an early age. However, not all children fit into this cookie-cutter mold, and negatively labeling young dancers as "recreational" simply because they may not excel in extreme acrobatics overlooks their potential and diminishes the value of their journey as developing artists. It is also imperative to recognize that pushing young bodies into contortionist movements is neither healthy nor sustainable. Instead, we should focus on building strength and control gradually, especially for those predisposed to hyperflexibility. Children born with this level of mobility can often experience a myriad of side effects that can be long-term health conditions if not trained properly. Constant fatigue, pain or stiffness in the joints and muscles, joints that can easily dislocate, recurring injuries, dizziness/fainting, and even digestive issues are some of the possible health issues we could be inflicting by not training our dancers with care. Joint hypermobility is a condition that needs careful management.

The trend of pushing young dancers beyond their limits in pursuit of competition success raises concerns about their long-term well-being and love for dance. While these "elite" performers may excel in competitions, they often struggle with mental and artistic aspects of dance, such as transitions, movement comprehension, and authentic expression. This emphasis on winning can lead to burnout and disillusionment with dance as they mature. Especially those dancers that were pushed towards hypermobility and whose bodies did not naturally call for it. During the maturing years, dancers' bodies change to where they no longer can achieve the same level of flexibility they once had. They pushed so hard for the tricks that they never focused on foundation. Now these dancers compete, and they repeatedly do not make overall placements, and if they do, it is not within the same capacity they once did. For example, they were first through third overall in competing, but now gracing seventh through tenth. This is the disillusionment that can occur, then we start to blame choreographers for lack of placement. We blame the opinions of judges, or other dancers having “better tricks”; we never address the three most important factors: the push in technical training, a parent's willingness to allow that competitive nature, and the proper guidance to balance it all.

To prevent burnout among young dancers, it's essential to prioritize a love for the foundational aspects of dance. Parents play a crucial role in this journey by understanding their child's pace and avoiding the pressure to keep up with others. Pushing too hard, driven by a desire to compete or conform, often backfires and contributes to burnout.

Moreover, the influence of untrained judges and teenage choreographers exacerbates the problem by promoting unrealistic expectations and disconnected choreography. Instead of focusing solely on perfecting choreographic sequences, young dancers should engage in repetitive practice of fundamental techniques taught in class.

In my experience, nurturing a genuine passion for dance and respecting each child's developmental journey is the key to preventing burnout and fostering long-term engagement in the art form. It's time to shift the focus from short-term success to sustainable growth and artistic fulfillment in dance education.

Krysten Danielle is a dedicated dance educator with over eighteen years of experience teaching in the St. Pete/Tampa Bay area. Specializing in ballet, tap, jazz, lyrical, modern, contemporary, and hip hop, she emphasizes the Vaganova ballet method in her teaching. She has guided students into prestigious summer programs like the School of American Ballet and Miami City Ballet. As an Apolla Performance advocate, Krysten taught "Body Physics," a concept class focusing on mindfulness through movement. Committed to her own growth, she has earned multiple certifications and is a sought-after adjudicator at several national dance competitions.

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