What can I expect from a Parent and Child or Creative Dance class?

For those of you who have already registered or for those of you who are thinking about it, you might be wondering:

What can I expect from a Parent and Child (walking- 3) or Creative Dance (3-5) class?
The structure is very similar for a Parent and Child and Creative Dance class. In a Parent and Child class the parent is an active participant with their child. In a creative dance class, children are learning to be independent while making connections with other people in their community. Instructions will be modified to the age and the skill levels of the dancers in the room.

Typical Class Structure

Opening Circle: Coming together as a group and getting to know one another; practice listening and responding through a variety of rhythm exercises; setting up the class to both listen to the teacher while also listening to themselves.

Locomotor Warm-up: Getting the heart rate going and the body warm; discovering various ways to travel through the space; learning to travel throughout the room while respecting the space of others (peripheral vision, changing directions, connecting to breath).

Stretching warm-up:  Stretching various body parts, often using rhyming games to provide imagery, rhythm and fun.

Moving Across the Floor: Locomotor exercises to practice listening and following instruction while working on gross motor skills such as walking, running and stopping, skipping, galloping, turning and developing movement patterns.

Water break and then Relaxation: Connecting deeply to themselves and to their breath, recharging and an opportunity for their bodies to integrate the work that we have done thus far. This helps focus the group so they can be more deeply connected to themselves for the following parts of the class.

Improvisation: Exploring movement concepts such as levels, body parts, space, time, speed and dynamics. This is the time when the child has the biggest opportunity to explore ideas both on their own and with other members of the class.  This is also a great time to integrate concepts we have explored in earlier parts of the class.

Performance: A chance for reflection, getting used to being in front of each other and for sharing the ideas that you discovered with other members of the group so that we can all learn from each other.

Closing Circle:  A quick coming together to say thank you for sharing with each other before going home.

We look forward to dancing with your child in one of our Parent and Child or Creative Dance classes!  If you have not yet registered, please be sure to do so quickly to avoid disappointment.

To find out more about our classes visit our classes page on our website.
 Prices can be found on our portal as they vary depending on the day of the week/holidays. Here is more information on our pricing structure.