Dance, Dance, Dance
Put on a thin saree, stand on tiptoe, and dance like a swan. ...... A lot of girls used to have such a "swan dream" when they were young!
Nowadays, many parents want to send their children to learn dance, not want to let the child become a good dancer, just want to let the child practice form and temperament, cultivate and develop interest. However, a variety of reliable or unreliable news makes parents a little hesitant: good shape of the child to dance; learning to dance will make the child become "eight feet", but also will not grow tall; learning to dance on the child's bone development is not good ......
So, the reporter visited the Changning District of Shanghai. The reporter visited the Shanghai Changning District Children's Palace dance instructor, middle school senior teacher Zhu Huiyu.
Currently in Shanghai's Children's Palace, folk dance and ballet occupy most of the dance classes, but there are also some Children's Palace opened a children's Latin dance classes. So, which dance is more suitable for children aged 3 to 7 to learn?
Q: Preschool children, more suitable for ballet, or folk dance, or Latin dance?
A: If you want your child to develop professionally, it depends on his innate conditions which one is suitable for him; if you just want to cultivate your child's hobbies and sentiment, you can learn all three kinds of dances.
The teaching of the Children's Palace is not commercial, the fee is relatively low, with popularity, and the teachers have the appropriate qualifications, if you want your child to learn a little more professional, you can go to the Children's Palace to choose the appropriate dance classes and dance teachers.
Q: Some mothers feel that it is too hard for their children to learn ballet, and that learning folk dance or Latin dance will save them a bit of effort.
A: Learning any dance is hard work, but if you take it seriously, you will find the fun.
Relatively speaking, ballet is more specialized, but it is the foundation for learning other dances. Even if a child learns folk dance or Latin dance, at the beginning, in addition to the soft openness training, all of them have to carry out the basic training of ballet, which is helpful for the child's learning of other dances in the future. Even professional dance schools are like this.
Q: Since we have to do ballet training, will it be too hard for the children?
A: Because preschoolers lack an understanding of music and dance and can only imitate, the year to year and a half when they first start learning is usually an initiation, where the child slowly gets a feel and understanding of dance in a playful and fun way. At this stage, the main thing is to let the child practice some of the basic movements with a little bit of a certain style of dance, such as Latin style or ethnic style, as long as the child can catch the rhythm and keep up with the music and move on the line.
The more formal dance training for children usually starts after elementary school.
Q: Will the training process be so boring and uninteresting that children will be reluctant to learn?
A: In the process of teaching, we usually make adjustments to try to make this time full of fun. For example, when learning folk dance, the teacher will arrange half an hour for the child to have basic training, half an hour to teach the child to learn some single movements of folk dance, and the rest of the time to string together the learned movements into an interesting dance skit for the child to dance together. In this way, the child's interest is always high, and will not feel boring.
Q: Children's Latin dance is a "new thing", do you think it is suitable for children?
A: Latin dance belongs to the category of sports dance, and now there are children's palaces in Shanghai trying to engage in this program. As long as parents and children like it, learning Latin dance is not a bad idea.
It should be noted that in the process of learning Latin dance, parents should prevent their children from adult tendencies, premature psychological maturity.
Will boys become "sissies"?
Many people think that to learn to dance, a child must be in good shape and look good, and think that it is the monopoly of girls, is that so?
Q: How old are children usually enrolled in dance classes at the Children's Palace?
A: Generally speaking, it's children in kindergarten and middle school, but at the moment there are also a lot of children who come to dance classes at the age of 3.
Q: Is there any physical requirement for children to learn dance?
A: In the past, parents used to send their children to learn dance, often in the hope that they could become dancers in the future, so when we recruited students, we usually picked children who were in better shape.
Nowadays, more parents just want to learn dance to develop their children's temperament, so our enrollment scope has been expanded, no matter how tall, short, fat or thin the child is, as long as he wants to learn, we all welcome.
Of course, as time goes by, those children who are better suited to perform on stage will be given relatively more opportunities to perform.
Q: Is it true that any child with any personality can learn dance?
A: My feeling is that a child who is too introverted and too "reserved" will not be able to learn dance well. Dance requires passion, and if they are too introverted, they will not have enough explosive power, which will affect their expressive and infectious power.
Q: Can boys learn dance?
A: Of course you can. As long as he is interested, he should be supported.
Q: Some parents are afraid that boys will become "sissies" if they dance. Is that possible?
A: It is possible! This is not caused by the dance training itself, but by the environment. If a boy trains with a lot of girls for a long time, it tends to make him act more girlish.
The situation would be improved if a separate class could be opened to bring the boys together and have them trained by a male teacher according to the material for male performers.
Will children be able to dance with "eight feet"
When practicing dance, it is not uncommon to stretch ligaments and learn how to stand. But will this training affect your child's bone development or make him or her "eight-legged"?
Q: Many parents are worried that their children will have "splayed feet" after practicing ballet, is this really true?
A: Nowadays, there are a lot of children who come to us for dance lessons with "eight feet" (i.e., "eight inside feet"). Because the basic ballet training requires "open, tense, straight", dancing can correct this. However, I have not found any case of "eight feet" after 30 years of teaching dance.
Some children, after learning to dance, will walk with a little bit of an outward bow, which is possible, but it doesn't affect the child's image.
Of course, it's hard to tell if you're learning in the wrong way.
(Mr. Zhu had a little girl who was dancing come over to me and showed me her walking and standing posture, which were very natural. Upon closer inspection, I realized that when she stood and walked, she had a slight figure of eight, but it was extremely inconspicuous. I wouldn't have noticed it at all if Mr. Zhu hadn't warned me.
Q: There is also a saying that practicing dance will make children not grow taller, is there such a thing?
A: No, it won't. Growing is a bone thing, and dance is practicing the flexibility of the body, pulling the ligaments, the two are not related.
Q: Some parents send their children to dance in the hope that they will lose weight, can they achieve this effect?
A: Generally speaking, dancing can not achieve the effect of whole body weight loss, it can achieve the effect of local weight loss, such as waist and abdomen. So it is unlikely that you can make your child completely thin through dancing.
Specifically, it should be noted that children with particularly thick thighs are not suitable for losing weight through dancing. This is because when doing basic training, especially ballet basic training, the strength is in the legs and feet, which will make the legs very strong, in a way, both legs will look thicker. This is why ballerinas must require very long legs, this ensures that the legs still look long and beautiful even after they have grown muscle.
What do parents need to do?
Whenever a child learns something, the parents are always there, tutoring and practicing with them. Is it the same in the case of learning to dance?
Mr. Zhu said, however, that parents do not need to "accompany the dance". As long as the child is free to play his interests, usually at home to urge the child to practice on their own can be, do not like tutoring children in English and math as tightly watched him.
(Ms. Zhu told me a story: once she let the children press their legs on the handle bar during class, a father knew about it, and went back to let his children press their legs every day, and sometimes he even pressed his children's legs desperately, which hurt his children. The kid freaked out and refused to come to dance class anymore.)
If parents really want to do something for their children to learn dance, then find a good teacher for them! It's very important.
Warning: How to avoid accidental injuries?
Recently, a girl fell and paralyzed her lower body during dance practice at a children's palace in Shanghai. So what can teachers, parents and children do to avoid accidents and injuries while learning to dance?
Mr. Zhu believes that teachers, parents and children all need to be more vigilant in this regard.
The teacher, in addition to scientific teaching methods, but also take into account the child's ability to withstand, and gradually progress, so that the child to do his ability to move, do not let the child learn some of the difficult skill movements too early. If your child needs to learn some difficult movements, be sure to provide one-on-one counseling to your child. If these movements need to be reviewed at home, then tell the parents the correct way to do them, and show them a complete demonstration so that they can master them.
For parents, it's important to look closely at how the teacher is helping the child with these movements, and to master the correct way to do them before coaching the child to practice them at home. If you're not sure, simply don't let your child practice at home.
At the same time, both teachers and parents should warn their children that they should not be practicing on their own when they learn difficult movements such as somersaults, and that they should be watched by an adult.