Baby ballerina

Every girl needs a tutu!

And every mummy needs an excuse to buy one :-)

I'll admit it, it was the thought that Monkey would look VERY cute in a tutu that first had me typing baby ballet lessons into Google. She was far too young for most of them though. They seemed to start about age 3 and be very serious - all rules, gradings and competitions. And whilst we may do the whole competition thing as Monkey gets older, it wasn't something I wanted to start so young.

And then I found BabyBallet!

Lessons start from age six months. Monkey was seven months at the time so we were ready to go. Baby ballet offer a three week trial for £15 so you're not committing yourself to anything if you or baby don't enjoy it.

Monkey had her first lesson on 25th January. We were very excited.

All ready for her first lesson

Once the three weeks are up you can then become a full member of Baby Ballet. It costs £10 for membership and then lessons are paid for termly at the start of each term. The cost varies depending on where you are but for us it's £4.50 a week.

Monkey's membership pack was almost as big as her!

When you become a member you get a fab membership pack which includes a membership card, sparkly wand, bubbles, colouring sheets and crayons, discounts at lots of local businesses, info about your lessons and even a cd to practice with! And even more importantly - the uniform order form!!!!!!

In her uniform for the first time

It even has wings!

I love the uniform. It looks so cute. But while I'll admit that's one of the reasons we started at ballet it's not what has kept us there for six months. Monkey loves it! She really enjoys anything musical so she joins in and dances away with a big grin on her face.

There's lots of repetition at baby ballet. It's great because I can really see Monkey getting the idea of the dances and what's coming next. There are some things that are always included -- baby ballet warm up, good toes naughty toes and the baby ballet lullaby. Other songs are changed each term. At the moment Monkey's favourites are Row Your Boat (especially if she manages to grab the cuddly crocodile puppet) and she loves playing with the balls for Jelly on a Plate, even more now she's realised she can throw them!

At the end of each lesson the babies are rewarded with a sticker and each term they receive a baby ballet certificate. It was a very proud moment when Monkey got her first one.

Getting her first dance certificate from Miss Sarah

If they have baby ballet near you, you should definitely check it out. There's lots more to it than just cute tutus. I'll leave you with this collage of pics from this mornings lesson.