Basically I went to see my niece's dance concert and freaked out when I saw some of the older dance groups.

I wrote a post on my blog http://www.geeyourebrave.blogspot.com.au/ about it but I am just not keen on the sexualisation of the music and dance moves.

My niece looked gorgeous and age appropriate, she is 6, but some of the kids were way over the top in my mind. However it is clearly part of the dance 'thing'.

Heaps of make up, little hot pant, hair pieces and extensions, fake tans - the kids looked like little tarts and like they had stepped off a float at mardi gra - really revealing.

My daughter LOVES to dance and her teacher tells me she is talented and next year I need to find a good dance school for her.

I feel bad. I am not comfortable with what I saw but don't want to deprive her. I thought physi may be a good option because they don't go in for all the makeup and costumes - just fairly age appropriate leotards.

Anyone with experience of Physical culture

I'm not going to be a huge amount of help, but ick on reading your blog post - especially with the choice of songs along with inappropriate clothing/make-up/styling.

I know definitely in Melbourne there are some pretty conservative ballet-based schools which definitely deal with the other styles as well without all of that. I never did ballet myself, but had friends who did very seriously, and then went to a high-school that was ballet/music only. The dancers had to cover all styles, and the school performances covered everything, however, they NEVER would have been allowed to wear anything that wasn't respectable - I saw years of performances and never saw anything that didn't cover an entire derriere or skimpy bra-tops etc. I have a friend with a 6-year-old daughter at one of the big non-ballet based schools here and I know he would withdraw her immediately if there was anything like that going on, so there are definitely places out there with a different aesthetic.

Eddie loves ballet at the moment (as much as a little toddler can!) and if he were to want to learn dance as he grows up I know I'd be starting down the ballet route first, just to get the best technical foundation possible. Even thought it's a teeny chance that it'd be something that kids do seriously later in life, as a musician I see the most amazing hearts and talent completely hamstrung by the remnants of bad technical teaching in their early years, and I would never want my kids to be in that situation

I can't help you but it would b something I would love to look into for my DD when she is older. We call the dancing you referred to "skanky dancing" in our house and are horrified by the tarty looking pictures lots of friends have posted to their facebooks after the recent round of eisteddfods..

When I was young, I did Highland dancing and the emphasis was on athleticism and we were strictly forbidden from wearing makeup, even for performances. So that could be another possibility.

I can't help in your question, but maybe shop around lots of different dance schools. There may be some out there that do what you're after.

A coworkers daughter does ballet and teaches the younger kids. She's from a fairly professional school and while they do have the hair and make up for performances, they don't do skanky.

I know other dance schools that do seem to go the skanky route and it seems to be the ones more focused on jazz and modeling who are like that, the ballet ones seem to be more classical and traditional.

The dance school my niece goes too is very well regarded, popular and has very talented dancers. Still I just couldn't believe how comfortable parents were with how their kids looked.I felt totally in the minority in my opinions

One dance item the dancers were just teenagers and were in corsets, fishnet stockings and it was very sexualised moulin rouge in the styling.

I did physie when I was a child

Originally my parents enrolled me in it because I was pigeon-toed on one foot & it encourages good posture & turn out. I think I did it from about the age of 6-12 or something... at the time, I loved it! Looking back now, it's quite embarrassing! haha

Anyway, you still obviously have all the elements of dressing your daughter up like a barbie doll (fake tans, big curled/teased hairdos, leotards) but you don't get the provocative moves like in other dance styles.
What I will say though, is from memory it's definitely more 'restricted' than other dance styles, and if your daughter really loves dancing she might not find it 'dancey' enough.. IYKWIM?

ick

Just dont lump all dance school into the same basket. I think ive made this comment before - one of my good friends runs a dance school and they do not wear makeup until they are in the senior class (so around teen's/late teens) and having gone to a few of her concerts none of the little girls wear anything more revealing than a one shoulder knee length dress for their walk like an egyptian number (which ws SUPER cute)

Have a ring around and ask their dress code etc. Im sure you will find one more child friendly. Goodluck!

Chelley, I know what you mean, but I think the others are right - you need to shop around. Just because a dance school is popular or well known doesn't mean it's good.
In the area I grew up (and where Mum taught for 20+ years) there is a dance school that many many girls go to. Even when I was young though, they were one of those school that was totally over the top with costumes, make up, exams for little ones... These days, they are also doing the inappropriate moves and costumes that you describe. Meanwhile, I went to a ballet school associated with a small local ballet company, and that was a very different atmosphere.
As an adult, I attended a ballet school in the same area that was run out of the teacher's house. The focus there was on making sure our bodies were moving correctly. Exams were optional, and only a few of the kids did them. There wasn't even a concert as such, just a break up party at the end of the year where all the classes from the tinies up to the grown ups got to demonstrate some things they had been learning. Some of her students did make it into professional settings. I'd still be going there if she hadn't died

I agree with KiJo. I know only one little girl who does physie and there is still the whole makeup, over the top hair etc etc.

Also agree it is not really "dancey". Don't get me wrong this might be perfect for some kiddies, but your daughter might really prefer the dancing aspect that physie generally doesn't have.

When I did dancing as a little girl, the older girls in the group would do our makeup for performances (so I was say 8 and the older girls were say 16-18), my mum would then wipe half of it off because she thought it was WAY OTT and she was probably right given my age. We didn't do fake tans though (did they even exist in the 80s ha ha ha).