Any1 have kids in dance?

[StepMom22]

Well I have another question for those of you that have daughters in dance classes. Again, my step daughters are 7 & 8. The oldest takes one dance class while the youngest is in two. My concern is this, has anyone attended their children’s classes to see what their teaching these girls?

There have been several instances of thing’s that I’ve seen that concern me and I don’t know if it’s something to be concerned about or not to be honest. One instance was a few weeks ago when we had a little cocoa and cookie party. Their dad was taking pictures of us, which normally the girls are VERY shy until the minute a camera is broken out, then they have a whole new personality. They were posing with marshmallows in their mouths, and making what I thought were extremely provocative poses. More recently they were being videoed doing some of their “dance moves” which I was pretty uncomfortable with. Granted I know its dance, but their 7 & 8 and don’t need to know how to shake their butts and throw their hair around. Not to be mean and I would never say it around the kids, but they look like pole dancers in the making.
Their dad and I went to their dance studio a few weeks ago to talk to their teacher to see if that’s where their getting this behavior (there are other concerns if not that I can’t get into on here). Unfortunately when we got there they were already gone, which was good for me because the place the go smelled so bad I couldn’t breath. Just another concern since the oldest has allergies (as well as I do). We were only there for five minutes but I could barely breathe when we left. I know it’s an old building, but I would NEVER let my children go somewhere that smelled that badly of mold. Frankly I don’t know how the other parents can do it, other than my step kid’s mother doesn’t stay, she drops them off and runs.

Could someone tell me if their daughter/s are learning moves like this too as I’m not sure it’s something that girls this young should be learning. They don’t appear to be dancing at all, it’s more of their crawling around, tossing their hair and shacking their butts. Am I the only one that finds this inappropriate?

[debknechtel]

Hi Dee...my daughter is taking dance classes and i just came home from a major dance competition 2 weeks ago. I guess my first question would be what type of dance are they learning. My daughter is 10 and is taking hip hop which is a little more provocative than most dances but not to the point I am worried. They shake their middles a little but they are not crawling on the floor and such...it is more a lot of street type dancing...like break dancing kind of stuff. Of all the other types I watched...tap, jazz, ballet, lyrical, musical theatre, acro, pointe everything was pretty tame. It is a whole new world to me as far as costumes go and the whole make up issue...but they only wear it for performance. Most girls wear false eyelashes and lots of eye makeup for on stage. Ask what the teachers or schools credentials are and what they are teaching the girls. I too would be concerned if my daughters dance studio was dirty and smelled like mold. Do they put on a recital? What will the costumes look like?Hope this helps

Hugs Debbie

[StepMom22]

Well the oldest (8) is taking tap and the youngest (7) is taking ballet and jazz. We've tried talking to their teacher, who won't release most of the info until he contacts headquarters with his court order, even though they have his last name.
Anyways, the kids claim they don't have shows of any type, which we assume means no costumes etc, but we don't really know at this point. Their mother isn't allowing these places to release any of their personal stuff, yet she doesn't stcik around either. The teacher did state that their mom used to come in with them but for quite sometime now their just being dropped off. Which is something else I don't feel entirely comfortable with seeing that they can't tell anyone where they live, what their phone numbers are... they can't even spell Michigan, which seems a bit odd at their age.
But I was just sitting here talking with my husband and it makes me feel uncomfortable knowing the girls are left there unattended, especially if their learning to dance like strippers (for lack of a better comparison). But I wonder WHERE exactly it's coming from, is it dance or something at home because we have concerns there as well.
Bottom line, as far as I'm concered, at their ages they shouldn't be dancing and posing like adults when their as young as they are.

[debknechtel]

Dee the next question I was going to ask was if they were seeing stuff at home. Do they watch shows that they should not be or are they seeing things that are inappropriate. i thinall girls will to some degree ham it up a bit but if you feel this is over and above i would be concerned. In Canada a parent ahas the right to return to court and address all these issues just have to make sure you are well backed up with facts. We had a family in town and they had 2 younger kids and 1 older who and a separated mom and dad. These kids would say and do things no kid should at the age they were. Come to find out the older child was not watching waht she was engaging in in front of the younger ones. Very hard to watch. i hope you can find out what is happening and figure out the best solution for all involved

hugs Debbie

[Coll]

My dd2 is in ballet and jazz, dd3 is in ballet. I've not noticed anything inappropriate. Our classes are shown on a tv set, there is a camera in both classrooms. It is known that I may just walk into a class on a whim but I can see nost everything on the tv so I haven't yet.
They could be imitating almost anything. Most likely television.

[StepMom22]

Hubby has spoken with their dance teachers and it doesn't appear as if their getting it from the classes, which leaves us wondering where they are getting it from. We would like to assume it's from TV, but again, we can only assume. They do complain often that they don't have time to watch TV when their at home because "we're too busy working and helping mom take care of her other kids" (meaning their younger sister and brother, one who is three and still in diapers as well as the other that's almost two).
We're concerned that it's coming from somehting at home, which we have other reasons for suspecting thing's going on in the home but CPS won't look into it until one of my step-children get's molested. Figure that one out.
As of today I even had my grandmother point out that they way they behave is inappropriate and that something is wrong because they don't socialize like other children their ages.
I hate to jump to conclusions, but there's so much that needs to be addressed that I was hoping someone here would have some advice. We've got a few thing's in the works, however we're having to go through the courts to get something done because their mother is one of those that intentionally does thing's out of spite not realizing that's it's doing more harm to the KIDS than it is to my hubby, but there's not been much we can do other than take it one day at a time and hope that thing's start getting better. Hopefully thing's start changing for the better soon because these poor girls are the ones suffering from their mom's behaviors and lack of parenting.:-(

[Sammi1961]

My dd took dance lessons for 15 years. She did tap, ballet, point and modern. The dance studio was upstairs and the waiting room for parents was downstairs. parents were never allowed to watch classes as it was too distracting for the students as they would pay attention to the parents rather than the teacher. The school did have a "parents day" when parents were allowed to watch one class. They did a dance recital every year - 2 shows - one in the afternoon and one in the evening. Costumes were needed for each class a child took so if you had your child in 3 classes that meant 3 different costumes. There was also a dance team that did competition. Some of the dances when the girls were older were a little provocative in the modern classes but basically never in the younger classes. I would definitely talk to the teacher if you are concerned about their behavior changing but they may also be getting this behavior from other places such as tv and friends. I feel for your situation as it sounds like the children's mother may be a bit at fault. I do hope things improve. It does sound like dance may be a fun thing for the girls and it is good both their dad and you are involved parents.

[Coll]

If you add up all the years my kids danced I've got 22 years experience.
DD1 took 13 yrs tap, ballet lasted about 3 yrs, then we added jazz and Authentic Hawaiian. DS took 6 yrs tap and ballet, now dd's 2 & 3 take ballet and Miriam has added jazz.

We have many costumes, that we use for Halloween costumes.