The problems with becoming a full-time dancer at a young age, inspired by Claudia Dean Coaching- Dance Saturday

Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post,

What does it mean to be a full-time dancer?- To work 25 hours per week.

This post was obviously inspired by the amazing Claudia Dean. She is an amazing dance coach who has trained at the Royal Ballet School. If you would like to check her out, she has a YouTube channel, which I will link below along with some of her other links. Recently, she posted a video about becoming full-time at a young age, and the risks that come with it. As Claudia stated in her video, this message about becoming fulltime at a young age needs to be spread to the next generation of dancers. And, as a part of the next generation of dancers, I think its really important that I share my point of view on this topic as a helpful guideline to young dancers and choreographers.

As some of you may know, if you've been a long-term follower of my blog, is that I went to a pretty rubbish dance school where I practiced Jazz for a year. I hated it because not only were the girls extremely snobby, but they were also, at the age of 14-16, were trying to become full-time or get noticed within the dance community. As someone who wasn't as advanced as they were, I struggled because everything was so fast paced to accommodate the other dancers. I wanted to join the school to get better technique, but I just found that I wasn't given the time to improve it. As Claudia also stated in her video, dance is very much a journey and not a race and something that you really have to develop over a long period of time. This is why when you start ballet, you can't just wear pointe shoes straight away, you have to really train your feet and your metatarsals in order for you to really go up en pointe.

As well as this, I also think that becoming full-time at a young age can take away your childhood. This is particularly apparent when you see dancers like Maddie and Kenzie Ziegler. Although I love their work and think that their technique is impeccable, I still believe that they had to take away their childhood quite early on. They were doing dance so much, that they had to become home-schooled because they simply just did not have the time to go to public school. This saddens me because not only does school form the basis of your future, it is also a big part of your childhood and growing up and I think it is something that you just cannot take away.

So, to sum everything up, I think that becoming full-time is very much a decision that needs to be thought about carefully. Dance is an amazing craft that can bring a lot of rewards but it is also something that takes time to get good at. If you're dancing 25 hours per week, then as a young dancer, that can really take a strain on your growing body. Also as a young dancer, you really want to focus on your school work because at the end of the day, that is the thing that is going to back you up for everything.  If you can find the balance between dance and social time including school than that is really all you need.

Watch Claudia's video here!

What are your opinions on this topic? Let me know in the comments below and I will be sure to reply to them.

See you next time,

Bye

XOX, Juliette

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Claudia's links:

YouTube channel-https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC3DwuaUuFPbv9gq5wypEyqQ

Website- https://claudiadeancoaching.com.au

Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/claudiadeancoaching/

My social media handles:

Instagram📷- https://www.instagram.com/jujupage1/

My YouTube channel🎥- https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCKEX1pHN4sytO9Kp4epXuHQ

Other blog:

My book review blog- https://jujupage1sbookreviews.blogspot.com