Toddler ballet - no parents allowed?!

[MumblesAndMutters]

DD is 2+, I’m looking for her to do a class that involves movement on the weekend. She really enjoyed a community centre type toddler dance class over the summer, but the teacher moved away and it’s stopped.

The local dance school offers various preschool level classes however they say from 2.5 they don’t allow parents into the class. Is this standard? I’m not hugely comfortable with this, not least in case she feels a bit lost or needs the loo or whatever. Reluctant to send her. Is this a “serious dance school” thing?

Really helpful thoughts, thank you. I’ve always been a bit scared of this part of the board because I know so little, but you are all lovely.

The point about tap being closer to general noise at this stage is a good one. I was hoping tap would be a good introduction to rhythm and timing, but perhaps that’s better done when they can actually control the shoes a bit and hear what they’re doing.

I would think she’d be too young for tap. But then again, she’s too young for ballet as well. However, if you just regard the classes as music and movement, she might enjoy them. A good teacher will come up with age-appropriate activities for toddlers.

Exactly what I thought, we largely want it for fun at this stage. So the classifications into tap/ballet threw me a bit. Presumably both classes for this age are just shuffling around a bit, maybe one with a tutu and one with clicky shoes. I’m so grateful for the posts here demystifying it all.

21/2 is still quite little. My eldest goes to quite a ‘serious’ dance school and the toddler classes were stay for lesson 1 with a preference for parents to stay outside. I’m not going to bother starting my second until she’s 3 as I think they just bugger about at 2 really or are just a bit unpredictable. At least by 3 they can concentrate a bit more.

Our classes all had teacher, assistant and pianist in so felt there was good safeguards there. Parents sat in room next door. The children could go out to the toilet, you either helped your own child, or if you went away, just asked another parent to , making sure your child knew who would help them.

I run a dance school and do not have parents stay and watch, not even the first lesson. This is because I find that the children do not cooperate in front of their parents when it is a new activity, but also the parents used to talk loudly amongst themselves and be a disruption and younger siblings would run about getting in the way. I dont take children until they are 4 and starting school though, so a bit different from age 2

The teacher of the ‘baby’ class at my DSs school is also a trained nursery teacher. RAD (royal academy of dance)will be age appropriate, it’s basically music and movement but with a clear pathway leading to early ballet steps/skills. She uses lots of props (ribbons, wands etc). Parents don’t stay and they have two senior dancers who help. Teachers will all be dbs checked. Check the qualifications of the staff and the dance school will have a safe guarding policy. If it doesn’t look elsewhere. Be warned, it can be a slippery slope…DS ended up training 15 hours a week!

@MumblesAndMutters

Really helpful thoughts, thank you. I’ve always been a bit scared of this part of the board because I know so little, but you are all lovely.

The point about tap being closer to general noise at this stage is a good one. I was hoping tap would be a good introduction to rhythm and timing, but perhaps that’s better done when they can actually control the shoes a bit and hear what they’re doing.

The time to start tap really is a physical maturity thing. Children develop physical skills as they grow, so until their brain is physically developed enough to give instructions to their muscles (to skip or clap in time to music for instance) then there's no point in wasting money on tap classes.