S4K Dance classes are a movement and dance skills based coaching and development program for kids aged 18months to 11years; leading to local and potentially West End based performance opportunities.
Our Movement and Dance Programme currently offer classes for Tots aged 18month-3years, Movers aged 3-5years, Shakers aged 5-7 years and Academy aged 7 years and over.
Our journey begins with our imaginative play and story-based activities for our toddlers, which will introduce core movement skills to music. We aim to build a passion and confidence in movement from an early age for our S4K dancers, progressing into technical skills from a wide range of dance styles and performance and choreographic techniques for our older years. We teach the fundamental movements of dance with a particular focus on enhancing gross motor skills, cognitive and social skills with peers.
S4K is all about building confidence and we will work with the skills set of each individual and motivate them into working to their full potential at their own pace. We will allow time for children to explore and discover new ways of moving or solving problems rather than just teaching step after step, routine after routine! This allows our toddlers and children to use and build upon their imagination, creativity and independence. These are key and valuable skills that everyone can take away and input into other areas of their lives.
Our classes introduce toddlers to structured learning, which will prepare them for nursery and pre-school life. Following our very own unique dance pathway, an S4K Dance class will deliver age appropriate movement vocabulary that will include core skills such as jumping and balancing, body actions & gestures, footwork, travelling moves and trickery such as weight on hands movements. Other fundamentals of dance such as speed, level, size and direction as well as musicality, relationships and performance will all slowly be introduced as your little one develops through our dance pathway.
S4K Dance coaching technique is inspired by the 5 fundamentals of dance; body, action, speed, time and energy, which is implemented into our exciting theme based session plans.
It can be easy to follow a session plan, a curriculum or set steps but it is how it is taught that makes a great coach. The warmth and feelings of our coaches is what welcomes dancers and helps to create an instant bond.
We are proud of our coaches as we call them Sports Entertainers, who are responsible for keeping each and every child engaged and having fun whilst they are learning valuable skills. Our S4K Dance Entertainers are packed with energy, ready and waiting to introduce our budding dancers to the world of dance and its array of steps, rhythms and beats.
They are not only friendly and energetic; they have dance knowledge and training to aid in the fun but skilful movement and dance classes that they deliver to toddlers and children each week.
They do not just coach dance; they care, understand and know the right balance of professionalism and friendship. When it comes to tots dance classes, they take them on a journey, they become one of them!
Us coaches recognise the differences in how each individual learns and will go above and beyond to help them learn and develop at their own pace.
Following peers, listening to the coach and learning from mum and dad in the week are all part of their support structure to progress.
S4K believes in teamwork between the parent and the coach. A circle of trust builds between the coach, the parent and the child as the lessons progress. There is a comprehensive S4K Dance curriculum against which all children are nurtured. Movement and dance progression is the name of the game.
The more a parent repeats the coaches messages during the week the more the child will become familiar and the sooner a toddler, pre-schooler of budding dancer of 5 or 7 will settle into a new environment. They will gain confidence and increase their ability at their own pace, but with the teamwork support of the parent and the coach they will progress .
Our Dance Pathway is designed to provide a common language that can be used by parents, children and coaches to monitor skill development.
Practice At Home. Parents should ask the child about what they have done and get them to practice at home. The pathway book is to be taken home and children are expected to practice the skills they learn at the class during the week. Parents can also tick the boxes if they assess their child’s skills and they successfully achieve the standard required at home– remember to always practice on both sides!
Practice In The Class. Books should be brought to every class and handed over to the coaching team. The coaches will assess each child throughout the session and tick the boxes once the child has achieved the skills in the class.
On registering for a Sport4Kids membership, you and your child will be given a Dance Pathway Record Book, which allows you, your child and the coach to track progress throughout the classes and indicate areas for practice away from the sessions.
We understand that some parents will not be familiar with the technical terms used in the Dance Pathway – particularly under the footwork and trickery pillar of development at our older children's dance classes. But this is why parents can sit in on the classes and pick up on the language and skills being delivered. In the future, there will also be videos that can be viewed to aid in practicing skills from home.
We believe that in order for children to develop passion, they must first learn to have fun. They also have to feel they are learning something they value when developing their skills, which in turn builds confidence and a passion for dance. From here, children progress their dance skills in the group as and we nurture that passion for movement and performance child by child.
We develop a level of engagement, which through careful nurturing a fun-filled activity program and a supportive family environment can then build their passion for dance. Our approach to designing kids dance classes is to focus on child-centric analogous learning, exploring movement and dance skills through themed games – invading the space with silly aliens to jiving through the jungle; pretending to be hip-hopping Easter bunnies or saving the day in our superhero street dance. This creates a platform for children to explore dance rather than just being shown dance.
© 2019 Sport4Kids
Developed by Francis Doody