Your daughter wants to take ballet, and in addition to finding the best dance studio, you are wondering if there are other types of dances she may be better suited to.
Just like kids have a wide range of personalities, there are a wide variety of dance styles. Your child may find ballet too slow or boring, but love another genre of dance. Read on to learn five styles of dance that your child will love.
Beyond Ballet
Ballet provides a solid foundation for any form of dance. It requires discipline and builds flexibility and strength. Ballet teaches how to hold the body in pleasingly aesthetic lines.
Your child will learn to move gracefully while strengthening their core muscles. Strong core muscles are necessary when performing other styles of dance.
While ballet provides a great foundation, you want to encourage your child’s love of dance. The best way to select children’s dance classes is to find out what your child wants to achieve. Do they want to simply have fun, or are they hoping to advance into competition dance as they grow?
What are your goals for your child? Are you hoping they will advance into a career or compete, or are you simply looking for a way to get them physically active and burning calories?
To keep your child enthusiastic and participating willingly, make sure you choose a dance style they have an interest in. One great way to find out what they might like is to show them video clips of different styles of dance and see what they find appealing.
1. Jazz
This is a form of high-energy dance in which dancers perform quick turns, fast footwork, and impressive leaps. This dance form encourages students to improvise and make each movement their own. It is an excellent way for children to express themselves.
2. Hip Hop
This is an excellent choice if your child enjoys dancing to popular music. It is ideal for helping the highly active child burn off energy. The child learns improvisational street style steps that are set to hip hop music.
Children will learn a combination of intricate gestures, footwork, and floor work to tell a story. Children as young as seven have the ability to create their own combination of movements that flow with the beat and rhythm of the music. This type of dance helps keep children flexible and physically fit, in addition to positively impacting their cognitive abilities and self-confidence.
Once they have a solid foundation in hip-hop, some children enjoy advancing into breakdancing. Breakdancing is the original urban dance with influences from the African and Latin dance forms. This challenging form of dance is usually available to children over the age of ten.
3. Musical Theatre
This is a form you may not be familiar with but is perfect for the child who wants to become a stage performer. Children learn all aspects of performing in the musical theatre. This includes acting, expressive movement, singing, facial expression, gestures, and dancing.
Children from the age of seven will enjoy this style of dance that incorporates so many other aspects of entertainment into one class.
4. Tap
Performances by little Shirley Temple are the way you may remember this wonderful form of dance. Tapping feet get the heart pumping and help to expel that extra energy kids seem to have an abundance of.
The mastering of combinations necessary to create the tip-tap sounds helps children improve their memory, coordination, and agility. This is a wonderful beginning dance class as it is ideal for children from the age of three years old.
5. Ballroom
Ballroom dancing is typically thought of as something for adults. Children as young as five can enjoy the benefits of this very social form of dance. With regular practice, they will improve their posture, stamina, and flexibility.
By memorizing the flowing motion of this form of dance, the child’s memory will improve, and they will have better focus. This genre of dance will allow children to advance into competitive dancing.
Beyond Just Dance
Acro is a combination of dance and acrobatic skills and is popular in dance competitions. When performing Acro the dancer must make graceful transitions between dance movements and acrobatic movements.
This form of dance requires athletic ability and a high degree and variety of skills. This is a good type of dance suitable for older children. Some studios may require other dance classes in conjunction with Acro, such as ballet for the development of balance necessary in performing acro combinations.
Get Your Dance Shoes
You must be certain on the style of dance your kids will be participating in before you purchase shoes. There are at least five different types of dance shoes.
Character shoes are for performances but are also suitable as dress shoes. When used for dance, they are to be worn only in the studio or during performances. This is an ideal shoe for classes requiring heals on the shoe, including ballroom dancing.
Ballet shoes are available in different colors, materials, and styles. The most familiar are the classic satin ballet shoes with a ribbon. There are also classic canvas ballet shoes that are popular with older, dedicated dancers.
Pointe shoes are another form of ballet shoe worn by ballerinas to enable them to go up on their toes. The dancer must train properly using pre-pointe shoes before going on pointe.
Pirouette shoes are also referred to as lyrical shoes and are available in either leather or canvas. These are ideal for competitive dancers who must perform a lot of turns. The shoe works well for modern, contemporary, or lyrical dance.
Jazz shoes are shiny and black and become a part of the outfit just like character shoes do. They are typically for jazz dancers but are also popular in musical theatre and lyrical dance.
Dance Wear
In addition to proper shoes, your child will need at least one leotard and tights. There are a variety of colors and styles available to fit the likes of each individual child.
If your child has long hair, your will likely want to master styling their hair in a method that keeps it neat and off their shoulders. One popular method is a French braid that can be rolled and tucked to keep it presentable during performances.
The final accessory is a dance bag. A bag will provide them a means of transporting dance shoes and other accessories to and from class and prevent the risk of loss.
Types of Dances
Learning about the types of dances and deciding what best suits our child is only the first step. Purchasing quality dance clothing and accessories is a must for every little performer.
Stelle began in a San Mateo, California garage in 2015. Founded by the mother of three girls, the goal is to create quality dance and activewear that allows children to achieve their dreams. We offer free 3-5 days shipping on all orders placed in the United States. Our assorted styles are sure to please your little performer.
