Childhood is a wonderful, magical, amazing time. These sweet dancers grow and learn so quickly! A ballet curriculum for 5--7-year-olds needs to be carefully crafted so that our classes keep up with the kids without overwhelming them. What we hope is a beautiful bridge into formal ballet can sometimes feel like a surprise shift for kids---especially in recreation and competition studios. But there are definitely things teachers can do to keep these transition years joyful:
Normalize having an age range in your classes. Especially for children in first and second grade, there is a big difference between a child who had their birthday nine months ago and a child who had their birthday nine days ago. When to transition from combo or creative dance into formal ballet should be a unique decision for each child. If you have a mini or petite division competition team and you need every member to be in a ballet class, try to have two different classes---one for the kids who would benefit from starting formal ballet and one for the kids who would benefit from a less structured and more gradual transition. The Geeky Ballerina curriculum has a Ballet Foundations C level that is designed especially for dancers who thrive with the second approach.
Be clear with your teachers about the behavior and attention expectations for the beginning of the year and the end of the year. These will not be the same. Your dancers will mature a lot over the next nine months. Be clear and firm about your starting place. The minimum expectations you set now must be met now. If a student can't do that yet, they simply need to be in a different level. All the teachers for the age group (ballet, jazz, hip hop, ballroom, etc.) should have the same behavior and attention expectations to start the year. Children do best with consistent and clear expectations.
Pace how you introduce barre work. You don't need to do a full barre on Day One. You don't need to do all of the barre work and then all of the center work. Your dancers in Ballet Foundations A and B will do best without using the barre at all. For kids starting Ballet Foundations C or Level 1 in the Elementary Division, it often works well to mix things up a little bit. Maybe you do tendu facing the barre to work on staying square but do grand battement traveling forwards so kids can use a little momentum to help that leg feel really high.
Remember that it's a journey, not a jump. Your first day of Ballet Foundations will look a lot like the last day of Pre-Ballet class. And that's exactly right for your sweet dancers.
Our ballet classes absolutely should grow in expectations as our students mature. If they didn't, our students wouldn't reach their full potential. When the transition into formal ballet is handled well, we keep the joy and creativity that makes ballet class so special.
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