Dancing for Kids (Baby Ballet / Tot Tap / Junior Jazz)

The dances are demonstrated and explained step-by-step, followed by a performance by Rosemary and her beginning preschool students, so it's easy to dance along. The delightful music will help children remember and execute the dances. Includes the following programs: Baby Ballet, Tot Tap, Junior Jazz. Budding ballerinas ages 4 to 6 receive a thorough introduction to ballet at the tutelage of "Miss Rosemary" Boross in Baby Ballet. The program features Rosemary Boross, a student helper, and a small class of preschool age dancers as they explore the basics of warming up at the barre, stretching, center work, dancing across the floor, and revérénce. Miss Rosemary first describes and demonstrates steps like plié, tendu, suté, chassé, and grande jeté, then leads her class through each step to the accompaniment of original piano music by Bruce Stephen Foster. Because the program covers a large variety of steps and progresses fairly quickly, it is most effective when used in conjunction with enrollment in an introductory ballet class. Alternately, young dancers may want to view the video in short segments, then follow with ample practice time to ensure the correct execution of each individual step.

In Tot Tap, Miss Rosemary Boross presents an authentic first-year tap class specifically geared toward children ages 4 to 6. Miss Rosemary covers a variety of basic tap steps like shuffle, dig, heel drops, toe taps, heel taps, and cramp rolls. She carefully details and demonstrates each tap step, then incorporates the steps into simple dances rehearsed by preschool-age, beginning tap students and accompanied by original, rhythmic music by Bruce Stephen Foster. This informative, 30-minute video can be used alone or in conjunction with enrollment in a beginning tap class.

Junior Jazz is an introductory jazz dance lesson aimed specifically at children ages 4 to 6. Teacher Rosemary Boross covers four styles of dance within this "jazz" presentation: hip hop, musical theatre, rock, and swing. After demonstrating and explaining the individual steps within a combination, Miss Rosemary invites young viewers to dance along with her, two young adult helpers, and a small class of preschool children. Each dance combination has an animal theme like "Hippo Hop" and "Jungle Monkey Swing" and is set to fun original music composed by Bruce Stephen Foster and Brian Sepel with lyrics by Boross. --Tami Horiuchi