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Parenting

what age can little girls do ballet?

40 replies

indiasmum · 27/05/2007 20:08

i just have no idea, i am guessing it might be about 3. dd is 2.5 and very girly and i think she would really like it and my mum seems keen to pay. also i have noticed she has weak insteps and her feet sort of 'fall in' when she walks so thought ballet from a young age might strengthen them and help her walk 'properly'. obviously not grown up ballet, i guess there might be lots of skipping and prancing around for quite some time. but she would prob think that was great. she seems to think she is a fairy already!
so, if your dd's went to dance classes, can you remember what age they started?
and also what should i look out for in a class?

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ArcticRoll · 27/05/2007 20:09

Three years old.

hana · 27/05/2007 20:10

my daughter started when she was 4, but there are little girls there still in nappies think the teacher needs to sort out her age groups a little better!
at this young age, it IS mostly skipping and dancing, not sure doing ballet once a week would strengthen her feet

hatrick · 27/05/2007 20:10

This reply has been deleted

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spudmasher · 27/05/2007 20:11

My DDs both started at age 3.5. DD 1 started for exactly the same reasons you describe. I would like to say her feet and poture have improved but we are awaiting another appointment from the paediatric orthpaedic surgeon now....
They both love it though. We went for an old fashioned well disciplined school. I thought they could skip around to music at home. This plce seems to teach them properly.

DumbledoresGirl · 27/05/2007 20:12

My dd was 3 and about 2 months when she started. She still goes now and she is 7.

I have no idea what you should look for: I just went along to a local class when a mother of one of dd's friends at playgroup menioned her dd was going. They seem to only do skipping and a sort of story telling through movement to music until they are ready for Primary Grade (which dd has just done) anyway. Just make sure it is fun for your dd and not too serious.

scatterbrain · 27/05/2007 20:14

Most RAD schools have classes for 2.5 yr olds. My dd tried it at 3 but was too young, and gave it up again pretty soon. Didn't help that she didn't have a friend in class I suspect.

She started doing it again properly at 5 and loves it now, my mil is ex-royal Ballet and says that 7 is the age that they must start properly if they are going to do anything with it.

elasticbandstand · 27/05/2007 20:16

one of my dd went at 2.5, with her baby sister in the carseat watching, but she hated it.
baby sister grew up to love it herself, i think she was 2.5.
fell out with the ballet teacher... what a cow.

indiasmum · 27/05/2007 20:19

lovely thanks, i wonder if i should start looking around now then...

i would like her to have some kind of interest that she will find enjoyable and that will teach her good posture and grace . not too sure i want her becoming a pro when shes older, if shes anything like me i think its unlikely she would ever ahve the figure for it and dont want her getting obsessive about weight etc. i know thats years and years away and thats prob a rash generalisation so sorry if thats not the done thing to say. sorry am waffling now.

will look into it. there seems to be so so many possible dance schools in our area. i guess i will just ahve to ring around a few and ask to go and see them.

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francagoestohollywood · 27/05/2007 20:19

Indiasmum, there's a ballet school in colleton crescent, which I was told is good.
Otherwise, why don't you take her at gym tots? I take dd there, I think it;s a good way of exercising for little ones. I started ballet at 6 and I think it was the right age to start. Ballet, done professionally, is very hard on the body.

glitterfairy · 27/05/2007 20:20

Mine started at 2.5 - 3 years old and are still going strong incluing my lovely ds.

elasticbandstand · 27/05/2007 20:21

i don't really supose there is any rush, at 2.5 it is really just skipping and pretending..

elasticbandstand · 27/05/2007 20:21

oh good for your DS... Billy Elliott and all that.

bozza · 27/05/2007 20:23

DD has just turned 3 and she has been going to ballet and tap for about 2 months. She is excited about it but it has taken her a few weeks to join in fully. She is great at getting her feet into position but as soon as they try to do jumps it all goes wrong.

hana · 27/05/2007 20:24

at this time of the year, you're probably looking at starting in September, most places will follow the school holidays - after half term there are just a few weeks until things finish for the year

indiasmum · 27/05/2007 20:29

hi franca (like your new name btw!), i think the one in colleton crescent must be closed down as it is for sale- the whole house. very nice it looks too -about £1.5 million!!!! a girl at my schools' mum owns it and was the ballet teacher, but unfortunately i think its prob finished now.
i did used to take her to gym tots but she refused to do the circle thing, she was scared of mike and then i just kept forgetting to go. it was the same with ds2 as well. i dont think gym tots and me are meant to be. though ds1 goes there once a week with school (not gym TOTS obv!) and wants to join up to go after school.

are alot of ballet teachers quite fierce then? my mum still remembers hers with complte terror- a wiry woman by the name of Olga- and that was some 55-60 yrs ago! (why does she want dd to do it so badly?!!)

OP posts:

elasticbandstand · 27/05/2007 20:31

my dd ballett teacher was extremely fierce to parents.

aDad · 27/05/2007 20:39

started at 3 and loved it

bozza · 27/05/2007 20:48

DD has mother and daughter teachers - the mother does tap and the daughter does ballet. She seems more comfortable with the daughter.

francagoestohollywood · 27/05/2007 21:00

fierce? yes, IME they are. My ballet school director had been the first wife of a very famous Italian theatre directro, and fierce she was... she would enter the class with a long wooden stick and correct our position with that. But those were the seventies, and Italy, where students humiliation is quite big

francagoestohollywood · 27/05/2007 21:01

are they selling that big house?really? It's beautiful! (used to live very near)

LIZS · 27/05/2007 21:05

dd started at just 5, has her first exam next month. We tried it at 3 but she wasn't happy to be left. She also inturns her feet so think it is good exercise. There is no difference in ability between those who have done it for 2-3 years already and those who began last September .

indiasmum · 27/05/2007 21:21

franca, yes they are. it looks gorgeous. you thinking of buying it?

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DimpledThighs · 27/05/2007 21:22

started at 3 - loves it to bits - now four and a half.

francagoestohollywood · 27/05/2007 21:26

sure !

indiasmum · 27/05/2007 21:40

can i invite myself around for coffee when you move in?

or... can i move in as well?

without dh and the kids?

theres a self contained apartment... you'd hardly notice i was there

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