2 Year Old Dance Lessons

Just a word you wont' be allowed to watch...This is normal. I was offended that the dance teacher would not let the parents observe the class and found that most studios have this policy. I called around and it surprised me to no end. The kids just don't look at the teacher as an authority figure when mom and dad are around. Plus, parents get phone calls, they visit with their friends at class. Don't worry, if this is a reputable studio they are experienced and know what they are doing.

Our dance teacher won't allow little ones to come to dance class until they have turned 3. But the class for the Ittybities is more play than actual dance class.

For instance: they do the Hokey Pokey, it teaches "arms go in, arms go out...this teaches arm go places. They put on their tap shoes and "hop like a bunny" on their toes with their hands cupped under their chins, they "hop like a ducky" hands on hiney like a duck tail and on their heels of their feet.
They put on leis and grass skirts and play hula music an play like they are doing the hula.. they are NOT learning the hula but learning "arms go left, arms go right, feet step together, feet step left, step right, etc...that arms and legs go places". The ulterior motive is that the kids are learning to listen to the teachers, they are learning to control their bodies, they are learning rhythm and how to feel the beat of the music...too many things to list but hopefully you get the idea.

Children should only be using tap shoes at this age and they should be learning to control their ankles, toes, wrists, etc...they learn how to manipulate these joints. If they wear ballet shoes it really only gives them a different feel, they should not even attempt to go Pointe. It can seriously damage them if started too early, their little bones are still soft and forming until nearly puberty.

Here are some links about proper ages and what to introduce when:
http://dance.about.com/od/adultdancers/f/Ballet_Age.htm
http://dance.about.com/od/typesofdance/p/Ballet.htm

A very good article that will help you look out for bad teaching habits.
http://www.dance-to-health-help-your-special-needs-child....

My daughter took dance and cheer, through the city parks and recreation center. The teacher played music, showed them how to move thier arms and point thier toes, then let them loose. It was the best performance ever. The girls had so much fun. Now she does hip hop and soccer. She loves music and dances any chance she gets. I say go for it.

My husband pressed me to agree to it when our daughter was around the same age this winter. I couldn't believe it - that he was serious about it.

She hated the first few classes, cried the whole time.
Then, she really started getting it.

They're on summer break currently, but we'll be starting back up again in a few weeks. It's the craziest thing. I taught Gymnastics and was completely against it because of her age, and it was fantastic!

If she loves it, I'd say go for it!

you have to take the "dance" part of it with a grain of salt lol. really its more an activity. they will for the recital have on cute cute cute ballerina dresses. they will stand up front and have some music that runs for about 2 minutes and they will twirl on their own little marks. do a couple plia's and a couple of twirls. you will sit in the audience and cry because she is the most beautiful little ballerina ever lol. and if she likes it do it. but if she hates it in a more structured setting don't make her go. there is always at least one who has a melt down the day of the recital and won't go on stage and its ok lol.

My DD took dance when she was 2.5 in a 2-3 class. She did great, but she is very methodical and an amazing listener. They did work on a few skills, but mostly played music games and ran around, which was just as cute when they put their tutus on! :)

Lessons for children younger than 4 are usually creative movement classes. They explore movement and music, they don't really learn dance routines. If it's not a creative movement type of class, I wouldn't bother. I think it's too much to put demand of learning specific steps on that age.

I used to teach age 5 and up, and the occasional 4 year old if maturity permitted and I can tell you from experience that younger than 4 is pretty impossible to teach a routine to. You just have to repeat a lot of movements, play follow the leader, play pretend (pretend your a tree blowing in the breeze) stuff like that. I would suggest for you to visit the class while in session and see what you think and if it would be worth it or fun for your daughter.

Creative movement classes can lay a good foundation of musicality for them to build on later when they are learning actual choreography.