As young ballet students move into their junior high and high school years, I like to see them exposed to disciplines in addition to ballet. However, there is room for discussion about how many years of training ballet students should have before adding things such as modern/contemporary, character, or jazz. What do you think?

I suppose it depends upon how early ballet training begins. I voted for 3-5 years. If a student has been studying ballet from, say, age 8 or 9, I see no reason why they shouldn't begin exploring jazz, contemporary or modern at age 11 or 12. If the student has had a later start, say, age 10 or 11, then perhaps a couple of years of ballet may be enough for a good foundation. I've even had some students come to me to study ballet because they were attending jazz class and wanted to try classical ballet! A couple of these students became quite accomplished ballet students...

I voted for 3-5, but I have to amend that to say that I really think all students after the age of about 12-13 should get training in other disciplines regardless of how many years they've had of ballet.

Somewhere between three and five years of ballet study (assuming, of course, that the curriculum and quality of teaching accord with pre-professional training standards) should provide an adequate foundation that will actually be enhanced (and not merely destabilized) by the addition of modern/contemporary concepts of the use of gravity, different concepts of what constitutes "centeredness," etc. Pre-professional training programs should certainly provide training in some form or forms of modern/contemporary movement, character and jazz as necessary tools in every dancer's bag.