While looking for a dance school for my daughter and son I stopped by The Little Gym to pick up some information. I saw on The Little Gym website that they offer classes for a large age range. I could take a class with my daughter in which we both participate if she was a toddler. The Little Gym offers classes that help with sports skills which would be great for both my son and daughter, and they offer a range of dance classes for all ages which would be good for both of them too. The Little Gym’s website and facility both look nice and may fulfill what I am looking for, for my daughter and son.

Searching the Hillsborough area I came across a local dance school, The Dance Connection. It is much closer to my home than The Little Gym, and their offerings of classes is much more diverse than The Little Gym. The Dance Connection website is very impressive, and their schedule has many more classes for my daughter and son that fits our needs better than The Little Gym.

I decided to drive by and see the facilities that The Dance Connection offers. I was very impressed by the facilities that are offered at The Dance Connection. There are very large viewing windows into the two studios and since there were classes going on at the time of my visit I was able to see what was going on in the classroom. My children and I sat down on the benches in the waiting room and observed the class going on. The class going on was for children who were about six years old. It was a high energy class with had a mix of boys and girls. I was impressed with how the teacher was able to keep the attention and momentum going with the children. I was also struck by how much fun everyone was having, the teacher and the children, in the studio.

We then walked and sat on another set of benches located outside the other larger studio and through the viewing window we saw a classroom of girls in black leotards taking ballet class. The girls looked to be about eight to ten years old. The teacher was in front of the class showing how to perform each step with her feet and arms as the girls stood at the barre located in the center of the room observing her. After a couple of minutes she puts on the music and began to dance at the barre with the students. After another minute the teacher walked around the barre making foot technique and arm position corrections on the girls.

I made my way into the office to obtain some information on The Dance Connection. I was very impressed with what I had seen so far, and since The Dance Connection is my local dance school, I think this may be a better fit for my daughter and son than The Little Gym. The office staff was very happy to give me a schedule and highlight the classes which are appropriate for my son and daughter. New this year is Dancing Together which is a class that you can take with your son or daughter if they are under age 3. The Dance Connection offers many classes for my daughter such as Fairy Princess and Nursery Dance while she is still young. These classes focus on ballet and tap, but when she gets a little older she can decide to take ballet, tap, hip hop, or jazz. She may even decided to take more than one style of dance. Any of these classes will not only teach a style of dance but will give a life long gift of social skills, body awareness and will help her exceed in other areas such as sport because it teaches flexibility and stamina. Dancing is also a great form of exercise.

The Dance Connection has many more diverse offerings than The Little Gym. The teachers credentials and professional training is another reason that I have decided to have my children take dance classes at The Dance Connection instead of The Little Gym. Since the Dance Connection is also local, it is a much shorter drive from my home than it would be to go to The Little Gym.