Ballet vs Chinese dance

[Serendipity]

Hahah... thanks for the encouragement! I'm not really into ballroom or Latin dances though. Loved mass dances when I was in JC. :boogie:


Would love to be able to dance hip hop or jazz! I guess I can dream, hahah!

Oops! Think we're getting off topic here.

[twilight]

So far, most chinese dance teachers I know do require students to have some ballet knowledge, or they incorporate some ballet exercises into the lesson.

[MummyThreeStreams]

Maybe ballet is like the foundation, and you build other dance types on it?

[Serendipity]

Thanks twilight for joining in our discussion! :welcome:


So ballet does seem to complement other dances.

Btw, does anyone know the difference between Jazz Dance per se and Jazz Ballet? :scratchhead:

[MummyThreeStreams]

It’s hard to explain in words. Maybe you can go do a search on you-tube to see the difference? Jazz has a different beat and different feel because the origins are different (more Carribean, African vs. European for classical ballet). So for example, the hips and pelvis and shoulders can move quite a bit in jazz (so you get quite sexy movements!), but in classical ballet you generally want to keep them still. So when ballet dancers do jazz for the first time, they look very stiff!!


Having said that, there are quite a lot of similar moves because jazz has been influenced by different dance styles including ballet, e.g. pirouettes. So if a dancer has a good technical grounding in ballet, she can do well in jazz (jazz dancers do ballet exercises too). Just need to learn to relax the body a bit! I found jazz really fun, and I think most ballet students do too.

Just want to add a caveat. I’m no professional so these are only my opinions from my own limited exposure to dance! It would be great to hear from someone out there who has studied different dance forms in more depth.

[Serendipity]

Thanks for the explanation, MummyThreeStreams!


I notice most schools offer Jazz programmes only to children 5 or 6 and above. Do you find it more difficult than ballet for young kids to grasp?

[firave]

Serendipity:

:?:


I hear that ballet provides a good dance foundation.
Chinese dance is also good for developing grace and might be good for future DSA application. :lol:

:thankyou:

Hi Serendipity
I share the same sentiment with you & is consider DES too for my gals. The Chinese Dance seem to have some \"practical value\" in the future.. & I have at least couple of friends who used Chinese Dance as DSA. Have you made up your mind, care to share where are you going to enrol ur gal?

thks

[Serendipity]

firave:

Hi Serendipity
I share the same sentiment with you & is consider DES too for my gals. The Chinese Dance seem to have some \"practical value\" in the future.. & I have at least couple of friends who used Chinese Dance as DSA. Have you made up your mind, care to share where are you going to enrol ur gal?

thks

Hi firave,
I actually sent my girl to both a ballet class and a class at DES. She is enjoying the ballet class, but is still apprehensive towards the DES class. I think the child needs to be very independent to attend the 2.5h session at DES. I'll see how things go and if she still doesn't warm up to DES, I might have to stop the sessions there. Think they can learn quite a fair bit at DES though.

[znzyzyzx]

I sent my girl to DES before. Initially was okay , but when change to a different teacher , then she started crying before the class and refuse to go. In the end found out that she was scolded by the teacher. That was the only class that she had refused to attend. All other classes she enjoys very much. I think it is not a very loving , friendly environment. My son was there for about one year and he was not very enthusiastic about going for lesson there too.


Now she is in the Chinese dance class at nafa and she likes it.

[Serendipity]

Yeah, they change teachers and studios for different segments of the class. So the child might act up after one of the changes because of new environment or new teacher. But this is probably more a problem for the younger ones.