Five Benefits of Ballet for Children

Take the time to enrol your child in ballet class. Every single time you leave the house and dash to ballet class will be another day you give your child a creative outlet. Ballet for children adds confidence, exercise, focus, culture, and bonding. It gives children an appreciation for music and rhythm and generates a gift of movement.

1. Confidence. Very young children and especially toddlers have a great deal of confidence. They lose this trait around three years old and become shy and clinging. With ballet, your child can just let go and enjoy a medium that gives them hours of pleasure. You will be amazed at what a group ballet dance class can do for self-esteem.

Ballet improves mental and emotional health. Instil a sense of pride in a student and boost self-esteem. As children master more challenging movements they feel self-assured and empowered. Pride, empowerment, confidence carries over into other areas of their lives.

2. Focus. Focus is always an issue with young children. With ballet, your child learns to become attentive and focused. They discover what it means to pay attention and follow the group. They focus on body movements.

3. Exercise. Ballet for children or ballet class for toddlers is perfect for strength, flexibility and how to move. Any type of exercise should be fun and creative. Ballet is the key in starting children off with the right foot and being active. Ballet for children boosts coordination and balance. It helps to correct poor alignment. Ballet that includes jumping and leaping and increases heart rates. Physical activity improves stamina, cardiovascular health, and endurance. Ballet improves physical self-control.

4. Education. Ballet can be a gateway for instilling in children a love of music and culture. There is a definite educational benefit of ballet. Students, no matter what the age, are exposed to a combination of movement, performance, learning and memorising. They enhance their sensory awareness and cognition. Memory, learning, and consciousness with what is going on around them are skills that will benefit children in all areas of life.

5. Social awareness and bonding. What a great social outlet for children. Ballet for kids can help young children develop social skills. Teamwork, communication, trust, and cooperation are a part of ballet. New friendships happen and shyness becomes a trait of the past. Being in a group and performing in front of an audience enhances bonding between dance mates.

Exposure to sports, the arts and groups help children become well-rounded. Dancing is the perfect medium for girls and boys. Ballet is an great gateway into tap dancing, hip-hop, Latin dance, and jazz. Ballet classes for toddlers help little ones learn to follow instructions, gain a sense of discipline, and find how to control their bodies while in motion.

When children are young, things tend to come easy for them. As they experience ballet at an early age, they are learning an awesome art form, and also being trained for the life that is still ahead of them.

Click Here to find out more about us and kids ballet classes at Tippy Toes Ballet

Step of the Week: Plié

Step of the Week!
Our step of this week at Tippy Toes Ballet is a plie. What is a plie?.................Well a plié [plee-AY] is one of the more basic steps in ballet, but it’s arguably the most important as its often the beginning and ending of the majority of steps. Why not practice plies with your little one or see if you can spot how many plies we do in each of your little ones Tippy Toes Ballet class!

Step of the week: 1st Position in Ballet

Our step of this week at Tippy Toes Ballet is 1st position.

There are five different positions of the feet in ballet that define standard placements of feet on the floor. 1st position is when the toes point in opposite directions, with heels touching.

At Tippy Toes Ballet we like to make 1st position magical as we usually always start each exercise in this position.

Why not practice 1st position with your little one or see if you can spot how many times we do 'magic toes' or 'penguin feet' in our Tippy Toes Ballet class!

Nicola & Emma x

The benefits of dance for young children

With dance children not only learn how to have fun and be creative, they learn so many great attributes. Kids dance class is one of the best ways to get out all of that energy whilst learning discipline.

One of the most rewarding things that a parent has said to us here at Tippy Toes Ballet, is that their child started ballet class as a shy little person, and now they have blossomed into a self confident little ballet dancer! Just watching a child gallop alone, without holding on to Mummy or Daddy's hand is a delight, especially if they have previously seemed very shy about galloping!

We love to share in ballet class and we also love to have friends and hold hands. We find it so rewarding when children can skip around in a big circle together without needing a teacher. We want to teach children to work as a team as well as learning how to dance on their own.

Dancing to music at such a young age is always good for a child's musicality. They learn rhythms and how to count in dance without realising it. They also learn how to concentrate for a little longer each class, so that eventually they can remember an exercise or a short dance on their own.

Mostly we try to give children a wonderful ballet experience in each class so that they will fall in love with dance.

Love Nicola x