Gymnasts and figure skaters as ballet dancers

[Helene]

The oldest of the "baby ballerinas" was 14.

I don't know about gymnastics, but there are junior and senior divisions in figure skating. To get to compete as a senior nationally, a skater has to pass technical tests. (Michelle Kwan famously snuck out and completed her senior test at age 12 behind the back of her then coach, Frank Carroll.) If they pass, they can compete in regionals and sectionals to make it to Nationals. (The top 5 or 6 skaters from last year's US Nationals, for example, get byes to Nationals, as do skaters who are competing in international competitions during the qualifying regionals.)

A 14-year-old can dance the lead in a ballet, but if she tries to dance Giselle or Odette/Odile, she will be compared to the greats of all ages. A 15-year-old Darci Kistler danced Odette in Balanchine's "Swan Lake, Act II" for an SAB performance, and from the clips from a handheld camera that I've seen, I am sorry I missed it in person. On the whole, young prodigy dancers are cast in age-appropriate roles. Skaters have complete choice of music to which to perform, and the younger skaters, if they want strong presentation marks, pick age-appropriate music and choreography and rely upon high technical scores.

Three of the last four Olympic Ladies champions were 16 or younger: Hughes in 2002, Lipinski in 1998, and Bauil in 1994.

In International competitions, but not major championships (Worlds, Olympics, Europeans, Four Continents), a 14-year-old can compete. However for major championships, a skater must be 15 on 1 July before the season begins. There was a huge controversy in 2006, as neither Mao Asada, who won the Grand Prix final two months before the Olympics (over Olympic Silver Medallist Cohen and Olympic Bronze Medallist Slutskaya), and had beaten Olympic Gold Medallist Arakawa and Cohen at Trophee Eric Bompard in November 2005, nor Yu-Na Kim, the two skating wunderkinder, was age eligible for the Olympics. (Ironically, it was the Japanese Federation that had pushed for the age limits on medical grounds, and that considered an official protest to over-turn the rules on Asada's behalf.) As a result, three of the top seven women after the short program at US Nationals are ineligible for Four Continents and Worlds, while the 16-year-old Junior champion is. (And at this point in the competition, it looks like there's a chance two of the three medallists will be ineligible.) It would be possible to have a 14-year-old Senior champion and and 19-year-old Junior champion.

Kistler was a Principal Dancer at NYCB at 18, Patricia McBride at 19. I think Allegra Kent was another teenaged Principal, and George Balanchine "discovered" Maria Tallchief and Mary Ellen Moylan when they were around 17 and dancing with the Ballet Russe.

[SanderO]

It looks like a 14 year old who speaks like an 8 year old is the US champion... but she is not old enough to go to the Worlds. This is appalling. She may be very skilled but something is very wrong here in my opinion.

Why are these children allowed to compete in these things?

This is really exploitation of children in my opinion.

I heard Nessun Dorma among other pop tunes kids would dance to.

[SanderO]

Vishneva thought about figure skating but decided to get serious and has become one of the worlds best ballerinas.

Thanks to those who guided her in this decision. Our gain. Imagine see a genius like her fooling around on ice.

[Helene]

The 14-year-old National Champion, Mirai Nagasu, was able to compete in Seniors because she passed her senior tests and was eligible. She is last year's US Jr. Champion, and the reigning Jr. World silver medallist. She will compete at Jr. Worlds again later this spring.

I think Vishneva got the better deal with choreographers: Mishin is no Petipa.

[koshka]

About age limits in gymnastics:

Some competitions have junior and senior divisions (eg, US championships, European championships) and some are effectively seniors only. A gymnast must turn 16 in the calendar year of the competition to compete in the Olympics and _usually_ at the World Championships. For Worlds, an exception is made in the pre-Olympic year: age-eligible gymnasts for the following year's Olympics may compete.

Thus, at the 2006 World Championships (not a pre-Olympic year), competitors had to turn 16 in calendar year 2006 (ie born 1990 or earlier). At the 2007 World Championships, competitors needed to be 16 by the end of 2008 (the Olympic year), meaning born 1992 or earlier. As a result, there were a few 14 year olds competing, but they were all due to turn 15 by the end of the year.

For many, many reasons both physiological and other, few young ladies continue in gymnastics at the elite level beyond age 18 or 19.

[SanderO]

I was sent this video which looks like a cross between ballet and gymnastics and pair skating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5lN96dgt_Y

Incredible balance there!

[vicarious]

Ethan Stiefel started in gymnastics.