Early Childhood Program
Our Early Childhood Program (ECP) is designed to provide children between four and seven years of age with a strong foundation in dance and movement, accompanied by a nurturing and positive learning environment that will help establish the knowledge, understanding, and love of dance.
The ECP teaches the young dancer the main elements of movement and dance such as space and how to relate to it as an individual or as a member of a group, musical rhythm, opposition, directions, and the elementary positions and movements of ballet. Within the classroom the young dancer will discover the important social and critical thinking skills of self-awareness, creative expression, imagination and teamwork. Studies have shown that children who are introduced to the concepts of movement sequencing, patterning, and spatial relationships help develop reading, mathematics, and other educational skills.
All of the instructors who teach classes in our ECP have an extensive dance background and are trained in the ECP syllabus. This syllabus has been personally codified by the School Director, Mary C. Geiger, after teaching for over 25 years. Please see our Faculty Page for more detailed information on our ECP instructors.
How Classes Are Structured
Classes are divided into age specific levels for 4-6 year olds. Classes meet once a week and last 45 to 60 minutes depending on the age group.
Younger students start class with circle time, where they share exciting experiences they had that day and participate in a team building exercise. Older students begin directly center, with a warm-up that focuses on warming up large muscle groups, correct posture and improving strength and balance, which is the basis for barre work taught in future ballet classes.
Following center warm-up comes various floor exercises across the floor that are based upon monthly goals set by Mrs. Geiger’s syllabus. These exercises incorporate classroom etiquette, musical awareness, and relationships between space, direction, and movement as individuals or as a member of a group.
The final section of class is devoted to developing creative expression and play. Students will engage in activities that allow them to play with props, practice locomotor skills that form the basis of all dance steps and just have FUN!!
Levels
Age is the main factor for classroom placement. Social development and physical elements are a part of this equation and are taken into consideration.
Pre-Ballet
4-5 year olds
new to learning how their bodies move, as well as how to behave Four and five year olds are quite in a classroom. They experience and gain knowledge through play, observation and repetition. Therefore, students are slowly introduced into the classroom environment, and the same class is repeated several times before being changed. Some of the dance concepts taught are movement of feet, balancing, weight transfers, jumping, simple arm movements, stretching, and moving across the floor. All of these movements are taught in a fun and imaginative way.
Primary
6 year olds
Students in Primary learn to further control the movements they have learned from Pre-Ballet. They learn to take those movements and add direction changes, patterns, and musical tempo changes. The quality of movement becomes more defined and the students become more self-aware, thus utilizing space more effectively. Students also learn about counting music, dance history, and will eventually take the movements they have learned and transfer them to the ballet barre.
Intro To Ballet
7-8 year olds
Intro to Ballet is a transition class between the Early Childhood Program and the study of classical ballet technique. Essentially, this class takes the concepts learned in previous classes and begins to put them in the format used in an actual ballet class with some creative elements included. By the time students have turned seven, they are ready both physically and mentally to begin studying the beautiful and disciplined art form of classical ballet.
Performance Opportunities
All students at each level have the opportunity to demonstrate their classroom routine along with a dance that features everything they have accomplished throughout the year, at our in house Ballet Showcase. Children 6 year old and up may audition in August for the Michigan Classic Ballet Company’s annual Nutcracker performances held each December.
