How Many Dance Classes Should My 5-Year-Old Take?

The time has come: your son or daughter has expressed an interest in dancing, so you need to sign your child up for a dance class. Along with gaining important coordination skills, your kid can find dancing fun and great to meet friends. The question is what is the right age for dance classes?

Ballet and other dance classes have many benefits for children. So, there is not a wrong reason to start taking dance classes.

If you are wondering "How many dance classes should my 5-year-old take?", then this is the right article to start reading.

How Do I Know When My Child Is Ready?

You may think that as soon as your child can walk evenly, you can sign them up to begin their dance lessons. Yet sometimes that is not the case. The truth is that every child grows at different rates and there are important questions to consider.

The factors that determine whether your child is ready to start taking dance classes are:

• How active is your child?
• Can your child easily pay attention?
• Can your child listen to people other than their parents or family?
• Would your child be motivated enough?
• Is your child maturing enough to be a good student?

One important thing to keep in mind whenever you sign your child up for a class is that depending on the dance studio you go to, you may find some classes have a minimum age restriction. Thus, it is important to keep your child's age in mind when you want to enroll them.

What Types of Dance Classes for Toddlers Are There?

Toddler dance classes are doable when your child is as young as three years old. The good thing about classes for toddlers is they can be more casual and informal than classes for other ages. The types of skills that a toddler can learn from dance classes are imagination, musicality, creativity, basic coordination, and important ballet fundamentals that they would need if they continued doing dance at later ages.

Some studios may even offer pre-dance classes for toddlers, so look up information on those if they are available for your child to take.

How Many Dance Classes Should My 5-Year-Old Take?

Dance styles that your five-year-old can do are tap, jazz, modern, acrobatics, and hip hop. At this age, your child can also begin taking ballet-only classes.

In terms of how many classes, some kids at this stage can easily get burned out from taking on too many activities on top of school, other extracurriculars, and play dates with their friends. Thus, your child's dance classes should last no more than two hours per week, with each class being half an hour to an hour each.

How Many Dance Classes Should My 6 to 8 Year Olds Take?

If you want your child to begin having an interest in dancing professionally, these ages are a great time for them to take dancing more seriously than when they were younger and less coordinated. This can be done by letting your child participate in dance competitions that are appropriate for their age group or special events. This may also depend on how skilled your child is at these ages.

This is also a good age to increase the number of dance skills your child has. The best number of classes for this age is around the same as those aged five.

How Many Dance Classes Should My 9-Year-Old Take?

Now that your child is nine, they can start learning character and modern dancing. They can also take this time to grow their ballet skills even more. For example, famous ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov began dance lessons at this age.

Also, the best number of classes would be two ballet technique lessons per week, which can average for an hour each. At most, classes can be from two to four hours per week.

How Many Dance Classes Should My 10-Year-Old Take?

Since your 10-year-old child is getting closer to puberty, this is a good time to boost their skills and make them take their classes more seriously. At this age, your child can continue improving their jazz, modern, or character dance lessons on top of their ballet classes.

The biggest amount of dance classes that can be recommended for this age are three ballet lessons per week averaging from one to 1.5 hours each. This may not be the first thought you have when choosing a class, but try and see if your child's dance school has any classes in Pilates, repertoire, or variations. This can improve their flexibility and discipline if they want to continue classes beyond this age.

Find the Right Dance Classes for Your Child

Knowing the right age for dance classes that fit your child's motivations and needs can be challenging if you don't know what to look for. But whether you are asking "How many dance classes should my 5-year-old take?" or what advanced dance styles your ten-year-old can take, make sure that it is overall the right fit for your child to do. We hope your child enjoys dancing when they are ready!

For the right times when your child is ready to begin their dance lessons, if they are at the right age for dance classes, we can help you out. We offer dancewear that can fit any age for your child and the types of dance classes. Contact us today to learn more.