Creative movement at my studio has always been a combo of very basic ballet and jazz with very minimal choreography. I attended another studio's recital this spring that had pre-k classes who wore tap shoes and didn't get much beyond shuffle steps and stamping but also sang. I thought it was cute and it might be a better way to transition the kids for tap in the next years. So, I have a few questions to all you creative movement teachers out there - how much tap do you teach to your pre-k students? do students this young know how to handle wearing tap shoes (ie, do they know when to stop or is it too much of a distraction thus creating more chaos)? Any thoughts on this would be helpful!

I teach 2.5-4 yo's creative movement. I do not teach any ballet or tap at that level, it is a creative movement class. For pre-ballet and tap ages 4-6, I teach 45 mins pre-ballet and 15 mins tap. The class also includes creative movement. I have used my syllabus for 15 years and find it works great. I only let the 2.5-3 yo's start dancing 4 years ago, before that it was always 3-4 yo's. The creative movement children do a in studio performance twice a year, they do not dance on stage. Tamra

i have 2-3 yr creative movement, they do ballet tap and tumble. ballet is slow movements (fly like a bird across the floor, skip with your basket on your spot, and so on) tap is making sounds, (toe taps, marching, clapping, keeping beats) tumble is fun time on mats, rolls, jumps and so on.... they do recital ballet and tap only. parents love it and so do the babies! i teach 4-5 pre ballet tap and tumble, they learn possitons of the feet and a few simple ballet steps, tap is basic suffle steps, sugars, toe heels, heel digs and so on, and tumble is about the same with fun time on the matt, but they learn a few other things as well, they do ballet and tap for recital too. i start ballet tap and jazz at age 5/6 (1st grade) and up.

Absolutely!! I teach preschoolers & they absolutely LOVE their tap shoes. I've explained to them that they can't run in them because there is no rubber on the bottoms (I show them mine, then theirs) and they can slip and fall. Since they like to run around, safety is important. Fortunately, I usually am in a pretty small space to teach, so they don't have much space to actually run in their taps. We do such steps as marching backward, toe back, heel step, shuffles, shoot-the-star, etc. They've all gotten the above with the exception of shuffles - they try! My 3 & 4 yr olds are working on toe/heel/step right now. I think that tap is a dying art & I'm on a mission to bring it back. Starting with the little people!

At the pre-school levels many studios offer a tap and ballet combo class. At times when I teach the little ones i weave in creative movement because I believe it's important to get their imagination into the movement. As far as tap goes three and four year old usually learn:

1. marching (in place, in a circle, backward)
2. heel tap stamp
3.toe taps (I've compared toe taps to the mouth of an alligator, this usually gets their imaginations going).
4. Ball taps
5. funny toes (ball taps out and in)
6. tip toe marching (where they march with the balls of their feet, but their heels remain off of the floor, it's a good intro for teaching them to stay off their heels)
7.Shuffles....

Hope that helps:)