Figure 1.--

Many dancers specailize in ballet to the exclusion of other dance forms. Others dancers experiment with other dance forms or at least are iunterested in a varaiety dances. In some cases there are important simiarities in the skill sets. Some ballet dancers say, however, that other dances interfere with their balet. Experiences and opinions vary on this.

Irish Step Dancing

Some observers have noted similarities between Irish step dancing and ballet. A good number of people compare step-dance soft-shoe to ballet. Although soft-shoe is often more "smooth" and "balletic" than hard-shoe, set, or other Irish dances, and several movements appear to be taken from ballet

Highland Dance

A ballet dancer reprts doing pointe, jazz and highland. The dancer "I love BALlET the best o course, jazz is fun and highlands okay." The dancer indiucates that Highland shortens her achilles and as she already have really short ones, she can't do to much work with Higland dancing.

Ballet and Contemporary Dance

Younger boys have mostly participated in ballet and not contemporary dance. Some members of the dance world suggest that contemporary dance is a watered down classical ballet. Others believe that contemporary has taken dance into the 21st centuary and ballet is still about princes and fairies. Many ballet enthusiasts have seem very little contemporary fdance, especially decent conte,porary dance. Ballet in many ways hasn't even tackled the issue of nudity in dance yet, nor, say proponents of contemporary dance, has it done any of the darker emotions with any depth. The whole point of contemporary dance is to reflect the times in which we live in. There will always be ballet companies that do classical repertory because it is a standard of technical exellence. Modern dance does not have a classical vocabulary however, many modern dancers are expected to be classically trained in ballet. So, maybe that is were your blur is. Modern dance stands on its own as far as dealing with challenging topics. Some dance experts report seeing dance that seemed to represent both classical ballet and contemporary techniques at the same time. It was different to what would typically be called contemporary but yet couldn't be discribed as classical cause it broke to many rules. Perhaps a a new style of dance emerging? Maybe a new style of ballet? Maybe just a contemporary dance representing the times.

Hip-Hop

One ballet dance wants to know about hip hop. She reports that her brother is 14 and has absolutely no dance experience at all. He wants to try hip hop in an attempt to learn some moves for when he goes to school dances, and other events like that. She wonders if hip hop is actually more like street dancing, or more like jazz. Also, is dance experience a must for this type of dancing?