Early on, many parents may find that their child seems to be more fluid in their body movements when they dance. A kind of grace that is a cut above the clumsiness of other children noticeably less lithe. As a parent, it would be natural to want your children to have a leg up over others. So you’d be looking at how you can improve the skills of yours.
The prevalent advice is to start a child in dance classes at around 5, but there’s a caveat. At this age, your child may not be mature enough for the discipline that lessons, not just dance lessons, need. They need to have an attention plan that will span the length of the lesson (typically 40-60 minutes), be sociable enough to mingle with other children, and not disrupt the class by throwing tantrums.
If you as a parent are unsure, a good compromise would be to sign up for a few lessons and see if your child enjoys it and wants to go back for more. Even if you a have a high-strung child, signing her (or him) up for a few lessons may turn out to be a revelation. There have been cases where such an environment has transformed a child’s personality for the better. In any case, don’t be a stage mom (or dad) and try to impose your will on your child. You’ll just be wasting money and maybe turn off your child from dancing – forever.
There was a time when it was a believed that the right age for starting ballet lessons was at a very young age, from 4 to 8 years old. Nowadays, experience has shown that starting at 10 or 12 years of age, is not a hindrance to having a great career in dance. Starting at a very young age in a rigid discipline like classical ballet can even be bad for a child’s bones. If there is an early interest, there are many styles offered by dance studios in Ottawa that will help develop your child’s love for dancing.
Needless to say, getting your child to love dance at an early age will help develop disciple, social skills, even maturity. There is also the added benefit of physical fitness, which benefits cognitive skills. Contact Capital City Dance if you located in the Ottawa area.
