Pitter Patter Dance NZ

Pitter Patter Dance Ltd. is a Christchurch based dance company bringing the opportunity to learn dance to children aged from 2 – 7 years, both recreationally and within Christchurch preschools.

Our programme has been carefully developed, specifically for preschoolers, by its director and instructors, whom have been involved in the dance industry and have worked with children for many years. The Director, Emily Taylor, has been teaching for twenty years now and developed this programme specifically with shy children in mind after her daughter was too shy to participate in the more structured ballet classes that are widely available. We allow children to go at their own pace and work in closely with parents to ensure that students get the most out of their dancing experience.

We also wanted to be able to cater to children from homes with two working parents. So many parents wanted to enrol their children in our classes, but working full time made it nearly impossible, especially with our Saturday classes being so popular. So, we approached some preschools and our onsite classes were born. Now we can offer dance instruction to students who normally wouldn’t get the opportunity and our classes are being offered to more and more centres every term.

We focus on what we call ‘The 5 C’s’ (Confidence Building, Cognitive Development, Crossing the Midline, Coordination Skills and Creative Movement). We also work on Spacial Awareness, but we are yet to figure out a way to make this start with ‘C’! These are all skills that not only aid a child’s natural development and dance technique, but will also prepare them for school. It reflects learning expectations within the ECE dance curriculum and is a great way for preschools to offer something different to prospective students.

It is a fun learning environment where children will learn a variety of dance techniques at their own pace within a gentle, encouraging and professional class. We cater to all children, regardless of their level of skill, confidence or physical ability and parents are welcome to either watch or participate along with their child.

Our recreational classes are held in several locations around the city throughout the week, and we have at least two options for each age group with new classes frequently being added. We are currently in over 20 preschool centres Christchurch wide and with our reputation growing fast, we will be in heaps of new centres very soon.