As someone who started out in calisthenics, became involved in other dance forms and came full circle to bring calisthenics back into my life again, I can see significant benefits for Calisthenics as a dance form of choice for young dancers and beginners. I also teach dance outside of calisthenics and can easily spot a ‘calisthenics girl’ by her commitment to perfection and technical exactness.

For those unfamiliar with ‘cali’, it is a multi-discipline dance sport involving dance, apparatus (clubs and rods), exercises, marching, some ballet, and sometimes singing and acting. For a greater understanding, check out this post, and the awesome YouTube videos I’ve linked to (they are not my videos).

The following are my Top 8 reasons why calisthenics is an all-round performer in dance:

Structure, discipline and focus

Within their first year of calisthenics, parents will often comment on how their child’s focus and self-discipline has improved. This is because pupils learn complicated apparatus manipulation (clubs and rods) and floor patterning in their routines, and are also challenged to learn and remember five 2.5 minute routines. That’s some serious brain training! It’s confidence-building to say the least.

 

 

Variety

Children learn a variety of different types of dance and movement as part of one weekly lesson. There is no time to get bored! And if they don’t like a particular dance, they can be more willing to tolerate it for love of the other routines, as each provides something different to appreciate.

 

 

Caters for all personality types – the bouncy kids and the fairies

Many kids do not suit the softness of ballet, so calisthenics is a great alternative if they are not enjoying ballet class. We do trick them by sneaking in some ballet and they learn the foundations of ballet technique, so they can pick it up again later if they wish. The same goes for the softer, more ballet-inclined dancers – they come into their own in a Graceful Girl, rhythmic or aesthetic routine.

 

 

Focus on rhythm

I have observed that calisthenics participants have fantastic rhythm and we owe it mainly to marching. March generally uses a clear 2/4 rhythm, which is the easiest to learn. Learning this from a young age has benefits, for when they learn the 3/4 or 6/8 rhythm in later years, they have a strong understanding of the differences between all time signatures. Calisthenics also focuses a lot on precision of timing with the music and each other, which necessitates particular attention to counting to the music. Movements are learned to counts, not lyrics or beats. Therefore, musical appreciation develops early while young ones still have their in-born sense of rhythm and pitch.

Strength & flexibility in concert

As mentioned in my previous blog post, there is a concerning trend towards encouraging hypermobility at a cost to safety, technique and longevity. Calisthenics has blazed a trail in dance over many years to ensure pupils are encouraged to develop the strength needed to balance out the flexibility, and that coaches are adequately trained to ensure this happens. As part of level 1 compulsory training, every coach completes a 6-hour standardised Strength & Conditioning module developed and delivered by a physiotherapist and/or exercise scientist.

 

 

 

Opportunities to perform in a theatre

From the age of 3, calisthenics participants perform in a proper, proscenium arch theatre with technical capabilities, at least 3 times in one year. These are team performances and do not include solo or duo performance opportunities. From an early age, a true performer is born!

A governing body – one each for coaches and members

As pointed out by True Potential Physio, calisthenics has monitored safety through Banned Movements, to ensure that pupils do not perform movements that are unsuitable to their level of training or the performance environment (a non-sprung stage).

Value for Time and Money

Up to seven dance disciplines in one weekly class across the year – it speaks for itself. As a parent of a young dancer, I’m happy for her to do calisthenics for as long as possible, before the prospect of driving her to a variety of different ballet, jazz, hip hop, acro, singing, cheer and contemporary classes across the week kicks in (trust me, she’ll want to do them all!). Right now, I know she is getting the foundations of dance training, which will enable her to spread her wings further into the dance world at a later time. Like, when she can drive! Ha!

Calisthenics gave me a great foundation for dance, and while I would’ve liked to have made a foray into other styles earlier than I did (my teens), time and money was a sobering reality. I still went onto successfully participate in sport aerobics, jazz, hip hop and contemporary – some 20 years later I still partake in some of these – and I have calisthenics to thank for giving me my grounding. It taught me how to pick up movements and the technique quickly and gave me the confidence to walk in to a new style and studio. What makes me most happy is that I continue to learn, and your child will too.

Calisthenics is something you can continue until you are well over the hill, especially now with the Masters section. So whilst my post has been about the benefits of Cali for young ones, it’s home to many for almost eternity!

So whether you start in Cali or stay with Cali, you can be guaranteed to not only create many fond memories, but carry through life with you a number of great skills like self-discipline, quick learning and performance under pressure.

Check out the Calisthenics SA website to find a club in your local area.

I love all genres of dance and love to see the growth in all styles of dance; calisthenics just happens to hold a special place in my heart. May we all work together to keep ensuring the Dance World is the best place to be on Earth!

As always, you are welcome to comment our question!

*Thanks again to Steph Devlin Photography for use of her stunning images.
*This is not a sponsored post for CASA, Calsac or the club with which I am affiliated).