When did your DD(s) start dance class?

[ourbabygirl]

DD loves dancing (around the house, when we're in a restaurant and there's music playing she'll dance to it, etc.), but I'm not sure when to enroll her in class.
I realize that most schools are probably starting classes next week, and just want to make sure I'm not totally missing the boat if I don't have DD start until next year. She'll be 3 in October.
I believe that I started when I was 3.5, and that seemed fine, but that was also almost 30 years ago!

When did your DD(s) start, or when do you plan to have her/ them start dance? (I mean tap, jazz, and ballet. :))

[Neatfreak]

DD1 started taking ballet at three, and if I'm honest, she was too young for it (not enough focus). It was a serious class, and she would have done better with a fun-oriented movement class instead.

[bubbaray]

DD#1 took a parks and rec class at 3, started a ballet/jazz combo class at our dance studio at age 4. We then did ballet only, last year we added jazz and tap. This year she was supposed to do ballet 2x/w, jazz & tap, but has a foot injury (unrelated to dance), so that is on hold. She was asked to join their performance troupe, but can't due to the injury.

DD#2 started ballet/jazz combo at age 2.5. This year, she does ballet. She will move to ballet and jazz, maybe tap, next year.

[gatorsmom]

There is a serious dance studio here in town that starts them moving around at 18 months. Their prices are serious too, though, so Sisi took a class at the YMCA this spring to try it out. She loved it and asked to take another class so we signed her up for another YMCA class. If she continues to love it, I'll sign her up at the serious studio this coming year sometime. Sisi will turn 4yo in November.

[JoyNChrist]

DS1 (4) is starting next week. Our niece (who will be 3 in November) will be starting with him.

[brittone2]

DD started this summer w/ a drop in class that was available locally. That was great as it was structured so you just paid for each individual class because of people being on vacation, etc. That let us figure out if she was going to like it and want to stick with it. I was sure she would enjoy it, but before forking out tuition I wanted to know. There were usually only about 3 girls in her class each session so she got a lot of attention which was nice with her just starting out.

We just went to an open house for a different studio, and really liked it. DD is starting there in a week.

Both her summer class and the upcoming class are preballet. She gets 15 mins of tap as part of a pre ballet "combo" at the new class (45 mins ballet, 15 of tap, no recital/performance for the tap, it is just for fun).

I personally didn't want to do the really young "creative movement" classes as I feel equipped to do a lot of that at home with playsilks, dancing ribbons, etc. kwim?

[maestramommy]

Dora started ballet at 5ish, this past January. It was the preschool ballet class for 4-6 yo. She just started Ballet I for 6-7 yo. I was a little hesitant, but the office told me since she's turning 6 very soon, just sign up for that class.

Arwyn is just starting ballet, she is almost 4.5. She is in the preschool ballet class for 4yo. They call it Ballet Beginners. They also have it for 3yo. There's also Jazz/Tap combo, something they call Creative Movement for boys,

The school is a non-profit performing arts company with an attached preschool. So the preschool dance classes are really developmentally appropriate, and geared for that age group (3-6). It's not a formal dance studio. We are keeping the girls in this program until we see that they are totally into it an progressing to a point where a dance studio would be more advantageous for them.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Well, my ds started when he was almost 3yo. :)

Beth

[jse107]

We just started two weeks ago. My DD will be 4 at the end of November.

[sarahsthreads]

DD1 took a "dance" class at the Y around 3 (it was really listening games like red light/green light and freeze dance in ballet gear). We moved up to a real studio shortly before she turned 4 (we won a certificate for a week-long dance camp there and she loved it - and it really wasn't any more expensive than the class she was taking at the Y) and while she was young to start she had an amazing teacher who took a dozen 3-4 year olds and had them doing a reasonable facsimile of a choreographed dance by the recital. :)

DD2 is starting this fall at the same studio (she just turned 3) simply because I can't take one more year of dragging her out of DD1's dance class every time they open the door. The studio has a 2.5-3.5 year old class that is pretty much designed for this situation - in the recital they're the ones up there in the cutest little pink sparkly tutus, with one girl always facing the wrong way, one girl frozen like a deer in headlights, one girl completely showing off, and the rest just doing their own thing. It's super cute, and while expensive, the idea of being able to sit for *an entire hour* in the studio lobby without having to entertain a 3 year old desperate to dance like her big sister has me weak in the knees!

So that's my long-winded way to say that a) it won't matter if you wait a year and b) if you want to start her now, don't expect a lot besides a cute three minutes in the dance recital. ;)

Sarah :)

[sste]

My SIL didn't start until she was 6 or 7 and that was in an after school program and she went on to become a professional ballet dancer. :)

We started our DS at age 3 to work on some gross motor skills and because it was fun - - it was a creative movement class not ballet. We aren't doing it now only because we are overscheduled and cannot add anything else.

Is your concern time, money, or readiness?

[elektra]

DD started this summer at 4. It was a 3-4 class. For her, she would have had a really hard time paying attention if I would have started her at 3.

[AnnieW625]

DD1 started at 3 yrs. old at a local ballet school that had classes on the weekend. It was pre ballet 3, no other dances but ballet, and it was very simple stretches and technique and it was fun. I have not decided when I am going to start DD2 (if she wants to dance) I might wait until she is 4 or 5 because DD1 spent a lot of last year kind of burnt out on dancing and said it was boring, but loved performing on the stage. DD1 is still planning on doing a final year of pre ballet 5 which will start in a week.