Your child has talent and wants to dance…If you are not a professional dancer, it can sometimes be difficult to make the right choice when finding a ballet school for your child. Who can you turn to? What to look out for. What are the risks to your child?
As a professional ballerina, it is a pleasure for me to share my knowledge with parents. I hereby provide busy moms and dads with the information they need to find the right ballet school for your sweetest children.
1)Find the right teacher: A professional background is an absolute must. But here’s another thing: not every good dancer is always a good teacher. To teach children, a teacher must be able to make good contact with the student. Your child should feel safe and enjoy dancing. A teacher should be able to inspire your child to love ballet.
2)The atmosphere: Ballet is an artistic art form. To be creative and artistic there must be an atmosphere of relaxation and yet discipline. This combination ensures that the children enjoy dancing and learn a lot in a correct way. An overly strict approach makes the children too uptight and less creative and artistic. An atmosphere that is too relaxed makes them learn little and not listen to the teacher. Finding the right balance here is not easy, but very important. A teacher with a professional background and experience with children will be able to do this best.
3)Ask yourself the right questions: What exercises do they do in class? Are the exercises not too hard for the children? Does the teacher know what she is doing and are your kids not getting injured? What about the knees and proper extension of the legs and hips? Is the teacher explaining that correctly?…These are very important questions to ask yourself before you send your child to class. Paying attention to the correct execution of each exercise is a must so your child definitely doesn’t get injured!
4) Curriculum: Burlesque, Carmen, Show Dance, Casanova?!!! These stories and styles are far too adult for children and not appropriate for their age. Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Coppelia…this is ballet material more suited to your child’s age and development.
5)Choice of Music: The music used in the lesson is going to be remembered by your child for the rest of his life. A refined taste you develop from an early age. Tsaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Chopin…this is music that should be used in a ballet class for children.
Your child’s reaction: How does she feel after the lesson? Will she return my pleasure? It is always good to ask these questions of your child after class.
You need the teacher your children can trust and know they will learn ballet correctly. The biggest risk here is that the teacher does not know what she is doing and injures the children.
With much love and care for children, I write this article and hope to have informed you well.
For questions, you can always email me at info@balletworkout.be
Much preferably,
Tatevik Mkrtoumian
PS: For all info on Ballet Workout’s kids classes: http://www.balletworkout.be/kinderen/ or email info@balletworkout.be
