Toddler Children's Kids Dance Classes Benefits

Childhood obesity is still a growing issue in the UK and getting toddlers and kids into healthy habits from a young age is essential to improving the issue. Dance is a fantastic way to engage both boys and girls in having fun, learning new movements and skills, breaking into performance and building confidence. The benefits to health are both mental and physical and dance can even have a positive effect on life skills (being a smooth mover on the dance floor can’t be a bad thing…). Check out our 10 benefits of introducing your child to dance below…

BENEFITS OF DANCE

There are endless physical and mental benefits of participating in dance but here are 10 benefits of dancing with S4K:

1)      It’s Fun
Dancing is so much fun, the children won’t even realise that they are exercising at the same time! Our session plans change every 4 weeks and they are always fun, energetic and framed around a children’s story, character, or programme to help engage the children.

2)      It’s Universal/Inclusive
Dance at S4K is inclusive; it’s for everyone! It is an activity that everyone of any ability can get involved in, even if your child is not necessarily ‘sporty’ or enjoys sports, it’s a must try.

3)      Healthy Body – Healthy Mind
Physical – Through pulse raising games, anaerobic exercises, skills and technique, the body will improve on energy levels, muscular endurance, strength, flexibility, balance and coordination.

Body Awareness – As children grow and adapt to the dance movements and styles they will become more aware of their body and how it can move. This will in turn improve on the control of their bodies and thus their balance and posture.

Mental – At S4K we are dedicated to building confidence in children and dance can definitely help with this, as well as their self-esteem, attentiveness and even maintaining memory through mastering new skills and routines.

Emotional – We offer a safe environment where children can enter the space and able to freely express themselves either through free play, improvisation, explorative exercises or choreography challenges for our older children. It can help them feel joy and express things that they may not be able to verbally.

4)      Relationships & Friendships
At S4K we encourage relationship building between children, coaches and parents. From personal experience many lifelong friends can be found in such classes as you can really create a special bond especially in group tasks and creative tasks in dance.

Parents can also stay and watch their child dance and witness their learning and therefor build a stronger relationship through a shared experience with their child and other parents.

5)      Different Styles
We are not style specific, which we believe is highly beneficial so that the children can experience new ways of moving, new rhythms and beats. As the children advance, more emphasis will be put upon technique and skills and new dance terms will be introduced to reflect the style and to expand their dance vocabulary. Body alignment and foot placements follow the basics of ballet technique, which will guide them in executing movements safely and effectively. However, a lot of the tricks and floor skills in the older classes are breakdance based and are actually moves they would learn in gymnastics.

6)      Creative Expression
Unlike most companies who teach age 3+, S4K Dance (teaching from 18months+) not only teach dance steps and technique but we offer a creative platform. We want to help build the imagination and creativity in your young ones, allowing them to have a creative input in the dancing process as they progress through our Dancer Pathway. This will in turn encourage communication and confidence.

7)      Cultural Experience
Through our monthly session plans we introduce new cultures through style, music, costume and prop. Examples of this are themes such as Superhero Street Dance, Toy Story Tango, Frozen Flamenco and Jungle Jive.

8)      We are located at a Multi Sport Venue
Our dance classes are being launched at St John Beaumont School in Old Windsor. If you have other children that are also interested in Football or Rugby you can take them to classes at the same time! We run weekly Saturday classes for Dance and football, with rugby classes soon to open, all under one roof!

9)      Life Skill Development
We believe that we teach valuable skills in our sessions; skills that can be transferable to any future educational or career paths such as communication, listening skills and team work.

10)  We Can Track Skill Development!
Ever asked your child what they did at school today and not get much response?! Well in our dance classes you can witness their learning, become familiar with the dance language and help them progress at home. There are not many dance classes around that let you stay and watch a dance class over the age of 3.

To track their progress even further we have our very own curriculum. Each child will have a Dancer Pathway booklet where we can tick off the completed criteria each week. As the children progress the Pathway criteria increases and becomes more intense with a focus on the five fundamentals of dance Body, Action, Space, Time and Energy. The Dancer Pathway will also guide us in knowing when they are ready to progress to the next stage of development.

Why not pop along and see us for a free taster at one of our dance development centres? Click here for more info!