As a Director of a Preschool, are you interested in enhancing your student’s readiness for school? Would you like to know how our dance ‘cognitive learning’ Brain Gym Program can provide children with a strong foundation in sensory motor skills and hand/eye co-ordination, social/listening skills and co-operative play. If so, then this Program is for you.
How do our specific dance activities enhance sensory motor development and prime the central nervous system to receive the information it needs? Through our NCS (Neuro/Core/Stretch) Program, children learn to:
- respond to verbal cues
- use their eyes, hands and body; and
- focus their energies as their bodies begin to integrate the various movements and anticipate the next steps in musical sequence.
And as children continue along this Program they learn to actively engage in the world around them becoming calmer, more focused and confident little beings who are primed with the skills they need to progress more successfully along their path.
For our more mature students (aged 4 years and above) our Super Baby Ballet Brain Gym Neuro/Core/Stretch component exercises aim to increase flexibility, core strength and neurological balance of the body. This is achieved through a series of core, neuro-integration, proprioception, limbic & stretching exercises. These exercises strengthen the body’s core while developing co-ordination, balance, alignment and optimizing flexibility.
Dedicated training in this Program improves technique and dance performance in all dance forms, sculpts the body and prepares it for optimum strength & endurance, while reducing the risk of injury.
For further information regarding our Brain Gym Body Conditioning Alignment Classes please click the button below.
NCS (Neuro/Core/Stretch) Classes
Super Baby Ballet’s 3 featured learning programs:-
- Stage 1: First Steps – a maximum of 9 children (2 -3 years), 30 minute class.
Foundation – a maximum of 10 children (3 -4 years), 40 minute class. - Stage 2: Form – a maximum of 12 children (4 -5 years), 40 minute class.
- Stage 3: Flair – a maximum of 13 children (5 – 6 years), 40 minute class.
Please note that the number of children enrolled in a particular class may be less than that stated above to accommodate the size of the ballet classroom.
We aim to:-
- provide specialised teaching within a caring and happy environment for your child’s first foray into the world of dance
- empower children to reach their full potential by making them more self-confident in their abilities
- prime children’s senses and help navigate them through the developmental milestones (ie. assist them in integrating their world better through a series of neuro-integration and muscular/strength building exercises)
- prepare children for further technical development through the Royal Academy of Dance curriculum
Progression through the levels
As our Programs are ability based, a child commencing with SuperBaby Ballet would necessarily begin in First Steps/Foundation, where the foundations of classical ballet technique are taught. Once a working knowledge of these foundational techniques is gained, the student may then progress to the next level.
Each of the learning Programs of Foundation, Form & Flair therefore naturally follow a progressive logical sequence in the presentation of the set exercises. This is to ensure the exercises are easily understood and integrated by the children. It also provides a clear and concise guideline for ensuring the students are on the right track in the development of their learning at each stage of the Program.
Type of Learning Program
The structure of this learning Program is designed to enable any child to engage in the Program (particularly one who has had no prior experience in ballet technique) through the use of creative and explorative play. Using various play activities the learning content has been broken down into manageable segments which enable children to bring into focus their imaginations facilitating the organisation and enactment of particular dance movements. Using this dance framework, children are also assisted in the expression of their thoughts, ideas, conceptual understandings and feelings.
Children’s own choice of costume in our classes is also designed to support them entering an imaginative world that corresponds with the theme used in our lessons. This enhances creative & expressive intention and enables the execution and accurate assessment of technical skills.
Our classes also incorporate a series of neuro integration and muscular/strength building exercises designed to enhance children’s strength and proprioception (ie. one’s neurological balance of the body through the connection of the left & right hemispheres of the brain). Through these proprioception exercises, the brain is reorganized and re-patterned making sure both sides of the brain are firing well and communicating in a desired manner, improving nervous system organization.
These exercises are also designed to help children overcome any other challenges and assist them to better integrate their world. For example, sometimes the nervous system and body can come out of balance due to a number of factors – birth trauma, stress, emotional upsets, severe illness & toxins. This may result in nerve messages becoming impaired or blocked resulting in misalignments, altered joint motion and poor health. As commented upon by Dr Jennifer Barham-Floreani ‘In today’s world, health is not just a matter of ‘feeling fine’ it requires ‘optimal physical, mental & social wellbeing’ and this includes a body that is able to continually adapt to the stressors placed upon it, recreating order and harmony. Whenever the body is unable to adapt, the health becomes compromised…..’
Through the application of our ‘cross-crawling’ exercise for example, children learn to balance and co-ordinate their bodies better. This is achieved through connecting both hemispheres of the brain which is necessary for communicating and interchanging information rapidly across the brain stem. ‘These same neurological routes are also used later in life to perform more difficult tasks and in the capacity to multi-task’. Ticklish, Dr Jennifer Barham-Floreani.
Royal Academy of Dance objectives
All of the SuperBaby Ballet programs are designed to align with the creative objectives set out in the pre-primary Royal Academy of Dance syllabus and are adjusted accordingly to cater to the pre-school aged sector.
‘The new pre-primary and primary syllabus uses music and movement and the children’s imagination to tell stories about catching butterflies, approaching tigers and even ‘becoming’ Cinderella or a pirate… all this at the same time as learning the first basic steps of classical ballet technique’ (Dame Antoinette Sibley, President Royal Academy of Dance). ‘Its direction is focused on the developmental needs, interests and abilities of children as they begin the lifelong quest of being skilful, knowledgeable and expressive movers’ (David Gallahue, Professor Indiana University).
Why us? Benefits of this Program
Teaching a child to make exercise a part of life encourages a healthy lifestyle and builds healthy habits that last a lifetime. Overall, this Program is designed to
- assist children with healthy growth & development
- help children achieve & maintain a healthy weight
- help children develop more confidence & self esteem
- help children builds strong bones & muscles
- improve balance and posture
- develop neurological skills
- help children maintain and develop flexibility
- improve cardiovascular fitness
- reduces stress levels; and
- help children have fun with their friends and makes way for them to meet new ones
To assist parents in deciding whether our classes are an appropriate fit for their child we offer a complimentary first class (‘first class free’ policy) to all interested students.
At the end of each year every student of SuperBaby Ballet has the option of performing in the annual concert that we organise. The end of year concert will be held if the child care center would like it to be a part of their end of year celebrations (it is not mandatory). We can also integrate our children’s performances into any existing end of year performance that the child care center already hosts.
Please note that the fees we charge for our ballet classes at child care centers are not inclusive of the fees already charged to parents by the child care center. In this respect, the Directors of the child care do not need to become involved in processing payments for the ballet classes, we will manage that completely.
We only require one room to conduct our ballet classes.
Our classes can run in the morning or afternoon, depending on your requirements. The classes we run at child care centers are structured to suit the unique needs of the child care center.
To find out more about how we can tailor our child care center classes to suit your needs, please call Elizabeth Harris for more information on 0418 486 569.