An outline of skills and teaching strategies for a baby ballet class (2 year olds).

1. Learning objectives:
2. Teaching Strategies and Insight
3. Skills Overview

Learning objectives:

1. Fundamentals of movement: balance, coordination.
2. Learning how to be a student!
   1. Many students at this age have not even been to pre-K yet, so sometimes dance class is their first introduction to a classroom setting. This means that it’s often on the dance teachers to instill classroom etiquette in these young dancers, such as understanding that they must stay on their dot, raise their hand when they have a question, stay in their lines, follow the teacher, etc. All of these cooperative behaviors are a part of the learning objective of the year. 
3. Introducing ballet concepts and terminology
4. Inspiring exploration, expression, and creativity

Teaching Strategies and Insight

1. Most of the kids at this age are usually around the same level dance-wise, but their behavior is usually what differs so much from student to student. 
2. Understanding the basics of a step is more important than technique at this age.
   1. While this may seem obvious to experienced teachers, I remember being incredibly frustrated when I first started teaching students this young and had no idea what expectations to have as far as skills or discipline. For this age group, learning how to skip is more important than making sure their toes are pointed and they’re connecting to the posse correctly.
3. Mix in fun activities in-between ballet exercises
   1. 2 year olds love songs they can dance along to! Anything that tells them to clap, move, shake, jump, will get them excited while also doing some dancing. Two birds with one stone!
4. Combine center skills together into 2-3 exercises
   1. Ex) doing plies then port de bras at the end.
   2. This keeps their attention longer! It’s hard to get 2 year olds to do several ballet exercises, so it’s in your best interest to combine a few into a short sequence.
5. Take time to learn what motivates each child. Every kid is different, some really care about getting their stamp at the end of class, while others want to be the line leader, etc. 
6. Use simple language
   1. Make sure you are using examples that are relevant and appropriate for 2 year olds. References to animals and shapes work really well. 
   2. Don’t baby talk to your students! There is a difference and it usually comes from the tone/cadence. “Baby talk” can be harmful to a child’s social and emotional development. 
7. Most of these kids won’t be dancers their whole childhood; the point of the class is to instill in them the discipline and coordination to carry on into their young years. It’s a really wonderful opportunity to have a dance teacher, to be able to positively mold the lives of our students at such a young age!

Skills Overview

1. Feet and arm positions: 1st and 2nd position
   1. Don’t expect them to fully understand turnout at this age!
      1. The main objective is getting that 1st = “in”, or “heels together” and 2nd = “out” or “feet apart.” This seems to work well with this age along with a visual demonstration. 
   2. For arms in 1st, the classic trick is to tell kids to imagine they’re holding a beach ball, so they learn to round their elbows while not folding their arms too far in. 
   3. For arms in 2nd, it’s best to teach them to hold their arms straight to the side, and place emphasis on holding their arms super strong. (Rounding elbows will come later)
2. Port de bras:
   1. I like to use this balloon analogy that works well with 2 year olds:
   2. Imagine you are holding a balloon in front of their belly button (arms in 1st)
   3. Then we inflate our balloon and it goes over our head (arms in 5th)
   4. And then our balloon pops! And our arms float down to demi. 
   5. Can reverse this process too
3. Demi plies – in 1st and 2nd position
4. Tendus and piques
5. Introducing arabesque
6. Introduces the idea of turning to face the side. Plus kids LOVE arabesques.
7. Jumps:
   1. Sautes in 1st/2nd
      1. Can do them en centre/ on their dot or across the floor in an “obstacle course”
      2. I lay down the dots hop-scotch style (2 dots, then 1) and have my students jump with their feet out / in 2nd position on the 2 dots, and then jump with their feet  in on the single dots. 
      3. Once they master the feet you can have the girls open and close their arms with each jump 
   2. Skips – hands on hips, can add connecting to posse once mastered.
   3. Chasses
      1. Start facing the mirror, tendu to the side 
      2. Anytime I’m teaching chasses for the first time, I always explain it like the back foot is chasing the front foot. This almost always works and even 2 year olds are able to nail chasses.