Now nationals is over and things are calmer here, I was thinking about how the project kids who got top 10/25 at nationals this year have not all always been front row small group kids. I think there’s an obsession with who is the favourite, and comments about how kids should switch studios because they aren’t appreciated.
I don’t think success is spending the most consecutive years at the top of the pack, it’s the journey and the hours in class and the relationships built, and sometimes it will pay off with a plaque.
I saw a post on here a few days ago that said Molly doesn't "pay attention" to a certain dancer, presumably because she was not the lead of any groups this year.
I think we forget the whole point of competitive dance is dance EDUCATION. Those of you who have never taught comp dance before need to start genuinely trying to understand the pedagogy behind it before throwing around silly statements like that. Where a child is spaced in a group or line is generally not a reflection of how much "attention" they get in their training, at all.
For example, if I have a kid who has gorgeous technique but struggles with musicality and retention of choreography, putting her in the 2nd row IS an example of paying attention to her. I would be paying attention to both her strengths and deficits, and attending to her needs by putting her in a visible window to highlight her technique, while giving her the scaffolding (visual cues from front-row dancers) she needs to succeed. In the studio we would work on improving on those deficits and building her confidence, and if front row is a goal for her, we set clear steps and benchmarks to work toward that in the future! But just sticking her in the front row without all that "invisible" work in the studio would actually hurt her. (Not at all saying this is the case of the dancer who was named in the post I referenced above, this is just a made-up example to demonstrate my point!)
You literally cannot discern the quality of dance education any child is receiving based on if they're selected for small groups, if they're in the front row, or if they're frequently highlighted on social media. In my experience teaching, those back-corner kids are often getting more of my attention. I'm spending extra time reflecting on what approaches I've taken that haven't worked, what I need to do differently to help that kid grow. I'm giving them extra corrections to keep them on track AND extra love to build them up. I'm taking more time talking to them and getting to know them so I can understand what they need in order to grow in their dance journey.
All that to say, a lot of y'all need to smarten up and check yourself before spewing more of these "favouritism" or "neglect" comments. And I'll also say, parents need to stop putting it in their kids heads that getting placed in the back row in one group means their teacher hates them or thinks they're a bad dancer. This whole attitude around the idea of favourites and least favourites based only on what goes on onstage, and not what happens behind the scenes, is really damaging.
