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RSS FeedActivity & the Girlie Girl: Ballet vs Yoga
Girls these days all want to do ballet in preschool. And that can be fine. But most of them won’t want to continue once it gets “real”–and given the body image concerns about ballet, most of us really don’t want our daughters to get serious about it anyway (I don’t mean to put the knock on ballet–or certainly any other form of dance–which I respect. I’m just saying the rates of eating disorders, body distortion etc. in ballet are significant. And besides, have you SEEN “Black Swan?”).
Anyway, in addition to–or instead of–ballet how about getting your daugher and her friends into kids’ yoga? It’s graceful, you can wear a leotard if you want, and it’s something that can become a building block for a lifelong healthy practice promoting POSITIVE body image, confidence, competence and inner strength. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Check at your local studios for kids’ classes. There are also some great Yoga DVDs which you can find on my “Resources” page.
My daughter (5) chose karate and soccer over ballet. My son (2 and a half), however… he’s loved ballet since watching the classes go on one door over from his sister’s karate school. So now he goes, the lone boy in a flock of pink-legged girls, and he prances and leaps and chortles with joy and I think it’s AWESOME.
I could use some yoga for me, though. Sounds relaxing
I’m going to add karate. Daisy loved it. I think it’s more for 5-year-olds than preschoolers, though. They can sort of do yoga (“sort of” being the operative word) younger. Or maybe she really wanted to because I do it all the time.
Not always relaxing exactly, though–we do POWER yoga!
Tap dancing is fantastic exercise and can be great for body image. Tap dancers have always had curves! I switched to tap as a girl because the ballet teachers were wayyyy too serious in my town. If your girl has her heart set on ballet, try adding tap and, in the long run, she’ll probably choose the latter. She can still do recitals, too! I was a total ham, so that was important to me.
Tap-dancing never occurred to me (bad knees) but sounds like a lot of fun. If Shirley Temple did it, how bad can it be?
I cannot tell you how much this resonates with me. I danced for over fifteen years of my life. Although there were positive aspects such as physical activity and cooridination, there was a huge blow to my body image that I am still working on ten years later.
So when I wanted to get my daughter involved in an activity, I really wanted to let her try yoga because I thought it would be a good fit for her personality as well as promoting positive body image.
I really had to look for a studio that offered yoga for kids. I could find a dance studio on almost every corner, but yoga studios offereing classes for kids were far and few between. Luckily, I found an amazing studio, and my daugher has been attending classes there for almost a year.
Thank you so much for putting this out there. I feel like an outcast when I tell other moms I don’t want to push dance on my daughter.
You know, it is harder than I realized most places to find a studio. And a lot of Daisy’s yoga was actually through her SCHOOL PE class. They had a dedicated yoga teacher for several years. Sadly, she moved back to wherever she came from (Florida, I think) and they have not replaced her. We still do it together, but more sporadically and I know she misses it. Nonetheless, it was a great alternative to ballet in terms of coordination-building and positive body awareness. Though she DID do ballet as well briefly…
Hi Erin, Generally, when people think about little girls and dance they don’t think about long-term involvement. THey think it’s MOVEMENT and FUN. Probably deep down, like me, most of us know our daughters are not going to really pursue it because by kindergarten it gets pretty rigid. It’s too bad, really, because there is a lot of beauty in dance and it also can foster music appreciation.
That said, yoga is the opposite–it is always a PERSONAL challenge, effort over result. The opposite of classical dance. And so it never becomes too rigid or too hard. Well, anyway, I’m preaching to the converted, right? I don’t suppose you live in Berkeley? It’s hard to find a class for kids and I’m always looking….
I have just started taking my 8 year old to yoga regularly – she used to go to sporadic really-young-kid classes but now I am trying to take her every week. I adore the teacher and think she’s a terrific role model, and the benefits you outline are all ones I want for my daughter. Plus it inspires me to continue to model yoga practice for her, which is a double bonus!
Lindsey, where do you live? Is it a parent-child class?
I love this idea. I feel the same way about gymnastics as ballet. I wonder how long-term either one is and if I’m going to commit any time to transporting my kids around town for activities then they should have a long-term component or be a building block to something greater (otherwise I’d rather stay home and let them enjoy some free play). I’m sure some could argue ballet and gymnastics do to some degree, but I think yoga would more so. Plus it would better teach a healthier body image and overall wellness. Nice suggestion!
I second the karate/martial arts idea. Loved it when I was a kid. And talk about empowering!
Let’s not forget, either, that one of yoga’s main positive effects is the way it helps you inhabit your body fully, to feel yourself in your body. Taking yoga classes (without competition with others in class!) is one of the most body-positive things a woman can do for herself. So getting girls in the habit of doing yoga will hopefully pave the way for deriving its more emotional/psychological benefits later.
Yes, Jen–EXACTLY It gives body awareness in a POSITIVE way and teaches love and acceptance of your physical self both for its potential and its limits…
You can tell I’m into it!
I’ve been a NIA Technique dancer and teacher for more than 15 years. It’s healthy, expresive way to dance that works from the inside out, frees the spirit, and exercises the body in exquisite extrinsic and intrinsic ways. And it creates an incredible sense of community among the participants–men and women of all ages. I highly recommend it as a ballet alternative, especially for high-energy kids (and adults)! Check out the website: http://www.nianow.com/. Most teachers welcome children.
I’ve always wondered what NIA was. THank you for posting!
I’ve been practicing yoga for nine months now (I’m a newbie) and I can’t imagine a better activity for body image for boys or girls. So much of yoga’s focus is about the mind and the soul (and its connection to the body). It’s about respecting your own body, and listening to what it needs.
I practice it with my girls at home and they love it.
Neat, Anjali! Welcome to the practice–good for you, good for your daughters! Great for them to see you beginning this even if they didn’t do it with you. Even better that they do.
Definitely good for boys, too. Daisy’s male classmates really got into it when they had it at school. It wasn’t seen as a male or female thing (because it’s not!). It was great for their focus and they all took it so seriously!
Life – une chanson et son refrain – la mort.
My mom taught tap, so I tapped for 10 years, along with acrobatics that eventually went to gymnastics. Loved them all. The thing that dance offers that yoga doesn’t: recitals! And the thing that gymnastics offers that yoga doesn’t: competition! Depending upon how your kids feel about performance and / or competition, yoga could be either balm or frustrating. Just sayin’…
You know, I hadn’t thought of that. There is the aspect of recitals and competitions. Though there are other arenas for that as well–if a child plays music, takes an acting class. And I suppose that’s a whole different philosophical debate anyway, the role of performance in learning……
Also, tap is really cool. No one seems to tap any more. It seems a GREAT alternative to ballet and to the sexualized dance moves…..
Yeah, in our area, the community center actually offers a class called MTV Dance (as if modern dance was born on MTV), where the girls (never boys) learn to shake their tushes to stuff that passes for music, always with English lyrics (I live in Israel). Tap rules!
[...] Marcia (9) and Cindy (7) to yoga with me. I agree with author Peggy Orenstein that it’s a wonderful practice for young girls. My daughters seem to like it and the other participants seem to enjoy the youth factor and [...]
My daughter HATED yoga, and the only reason she gave us was that all the other kids took their socks off. I told her repeatedly that sock removal was optional, but for several months ballet remained firmly in first place. After much probing, my suspicion is that it’s all about the tutu. If yoga involved a few twirls and a tutu, things might be different. Thankfully (?) she’s received the unsolicited gift of a wii since then, and so ballet has been bumped. For swordfighting. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
That encapsulates so much, doesn’t it? The way we try to combat what the culture throws at us, the sometimes totally weird resistance we meet, the way that sometimes the very thing we’re trying to avoid provides the solution even as it raises another set of issues….That’s why I tried not to be doctrinaire in CAMD–because parenting is COMPLICATED and CONTRADICTORY and WE ALL DO OUR BEST!
[...] muscle building tips for females! : VigrxPlusIs yoga a good workout?Accomplishing Yoga AsanasActivity & the Girlie Girl: Ballet vs Yoga .editComment, .editableComment, .textComment{ display: inline; } .comment-childs{ border: 1px [...]
[...] Marcia (9) and Cindy (7) to yoga with me. I agree with author Peggy Orenstein that it’s a wonderful practice for young girls. My daughters seem to like it and the other participants seem to enjoy the youth factor and [...]