I just wanna say that what I'm about to say is no way supposed to be an insult to Darcy - she seems like an absolutely beautiful and lovely little girl and genuinely is a credit to Louise. Everything I say here is supposed to be criticism of the god awful mother, not the child herself.
I grew up dancing and still do as an adult. I was (and still am) a pretty average dancer. My dancing abilities as a child were nothing extraordinary and I knew I was never going to grow up to be a prima ballerina. I am extremely lucky that I had parents who acknowledged and embraced this - I was taught that dance was a fun activity that I did for a bit of exercise and to spend time with friends and that it didn't have to be anything more than that. I wasn't pushed into aspirations that were not attainable for me and dance was certainly not made to be my entire personality (the thought of my mum ever referring to herself as a 'dance mum' makes we want to cringe!). Darcy, is also what I would categorise as a bang average dancer (if not, quite below average). From what I remember, Darcy's last exam was her grade 1. From what I can remember growing up, most kids did this grade age 8-9ish. From everything we've seen Louise post (which is far too much, lets be honest. We, as viewers, should not have seen enough content of Darcy to be able to criticise her dancing) Darcy has poor technique. Whether or not this is down to her training or just lack of natural ability is a different argument, however any dancer could easily tell from what Louise has posted that Darcy, on paper, is not a talented dancer.
I'd like to reiterate that this is not supposed to be a grate on Darcy or her skills, because being average is nothing to be ashamed about. However Louise is currently doing something which I have seen be done by 'dance mums' a million times over and I don't think she realises how bad the consequences could actually be on Darcy. She is pushing a narrative online that dance is going to be such a huge part of Darcy's life rather than encouraging her to just enjoy the fun of it. Parading Darcy around the RAD, creating a dance insta account and spending obscene amounts of money on custom made tutus aren't exactly doing this. Just let her be a child, attend her weekly dance classes, and let that be it. Because quite frankly, for Darcy's level of skill, that is all dance is ever going to be for her. Dance is a brutal sport to take part in and most people watching from the sidelines don't actually realise how cut throat it could be. Dance is not the kind of sport you can start taking seriously later in life and if you work hard enough, you'll magically become good enough to become the next Darcey Bussell. Growing up, the kids that were obscenely talented at age 4 were the ones who went on to dance professionally. The ones that were average as children stayed average and that was that. Natural ability, 9 times out of 10, is something that you need to ever be able to take dance seriously. No matter how many bloody dance workshops Louise takes Darcy to, it doesn't matter. She is always going to be beat out by kids who have natural ability and Louise needs to reign in this whole 'dance mum' persona before Darcy's ego gets seriously hurt in this whole process!
It genuinely shocked me when I saw Louise say Darcy isn't ready for pointe shoes 'yet' (insinuating that she wasn't far off). To be blunt about this, from the dance experience I've gained a child like Darcy probably won't ever be ready for pointe. Most children nowadays go on pointe between 11-13ish. I'm no dance expert or teacher, but comparing Darcy's ability to what I have seen throughout my life, she is probably a good 3-4 year off being able to go on pointe. Any teacher who puts her on before that point (no pun intended!) is out of their mind. Sadly, it is quite rare in the dance world for girls to go on pointe 'late'. Because by the mid teens, most girls who haven't already made it end up dropping out and if they don't they are usually labelled as a 'bad dancer' and aren't given the proper training that they need to ever make it on to pointe anyway. Whilst Darcy will always be Louise's 'little girl', 11 is not a young age in the dance world. By that point you are potentially only 5 years away from professional training. Royal Ballet School take children on for training at their school from the age of 11. Those are the children who go on to be professional dancers - its not the children doing a weekly class at their local theatre school!
Sorry for the obscenely long post - it just genuinely quite upsets me to see Lady Louise taking what could be a fun little hobby for Darcy and turning it into a fun game for her. Darcy doesn't need to be 'Darcy the future professional dancer'. She just needs to be Darcy, who happens to like dance. I've seen this scenario play out so many times throughout my life and it never ends well. The child, at the least, usually ends up resenting dance and quitting full stop. At the worst, I've seen kids with pushy parents develop eating disorders and severe anxiety issues as they never feel good enough. Dance really isn't just fun, games and tutus and Louise is making it out to be
