Ballet Beginnings for Children: Pre-School Movement Fundamentals for Ages 3 and 4

Exercises that assist basic motor development are at the core of this guide for dance teachers who prepare very young children for ballet classes. Teaching strategies are organized around a complete lesson plan for a Fantasy Garden pre-ballet class that includes warm-up exercises, creative movement, center work, and work across the floor. Children dance the parts of garden-dwelling characters such as Skippy the Squirrel and Plié the Poppy as well as Galloping Green Grasshoppers and Marching Marigolds, learning to keep their bodies disciplined even as their imaginations run wild. Photographs of children demonstrating movements are included, along with reproducible coloring pages, further ideas for games and props, and two audio CDs of music composed expressly for the Fantasy Garden lesson. The audio CDs are "A Fantasy Garden Ballet Class, Volume I "(60 minutes) and "A Fantasy Ballet Class, Volume II" (43 minutes).