Disheartening

Gianna was watching "So You Think You Can Dance Kids" this morning and I could tell it was making her feel sad and discouraged.  She was saying how it's all about the legs and she doesn't have "the legs".  Well, the young girl she was watching had her leg in a develope up next to her ear...yes impressive...BUT...her body alignment was all off and her foot was horribly sickled!!  If you're going to do a move like that...please do it correctly.  And for Pete's sake...please take points off for bad technique if it's not done properly at a dance competition. Which nowadays it appears the judges just don't notice. They are too busy ooohing and ahhhing over the moves.

So this is the direction dance competitions are going in these days. Can you grab your leg and jam it behind your head?

Can you develope your leg and hold it next to your ear for 10 minutes?

Can you do this ugly move...called a "tilt"...which has become super popular? There's not one thing pretty about it in my opinion...

Or how about this?

Or this one is so gorgeous!! 

Um...not sure what this is...

Ahhh....love this one...

And this is a very common contortion move I see these days in practically every routine.  Is there anything pretty about it?  Um no...

But it sure does impress the judges these days!!  Forget about gorgeous contemporary and beautiful ballet technique.  Let's give the contortionist the higher points!

And if you can't do this...well then...just forget about auditioning for "So You Think You Can Dance Kids"...because it's all about flexibility these days!!

And if you can't do this move...well sadly it may be time to hang up your dance shoes.

And don't even get me going about how standing back aerials, back handsprings a hundred miles an hour across the stage, and alternating one arm back handsprings are considered dance and can beat a gorgeously trained contemporary dancer.  

We did one competition this year where the first place teen soloist did an entire solo routine without one trick or one contortion move...and she won!!  Yes!!! Finally!!! A real dancer won!!  But sadly that's the first time I've seen that happen in years.  

So my girls are getting discouraged.  They can't develope their legs up next to their ears. They can't bend themselves in half.  They can't tumble a hundred miles an hour across the stage. But in my opinion they both have the perfect amount of flexibility and strength to make them good dancers.  And more importantly, they are fantastic performers!!  Isn't that what dance is supposed to be about anyway? Moving an audience?  Not making them gasp and say "how does she do that???" Let's leave that for the circus please.

Yes, my girls attend a dance/acro school and I love watching all the fabulous tumbling and tricks the kids can do.  But by all means, if we are at a dance competition and we're against a routine with beautifully trained dancers just dancing? Then by all means...I want them to place higher than our acrobats and contortionists.  After all...we are competing in dance competitions, right?