Our aim – a magical introduction to dance for parents and children:

As parents, we understand that you are looking for enriching activities for your children that will help them develop the skills they need for success – and that are fun at the same time!

Our dream was to build on our years of experience in early childhood education, dance education and children’s music and create a magical preschool dance experience that would inspire children to become as passionate about dance as we are and help them take their first steps to self-confidence and self-expression. We wanted to introduce preschoolers and their parents to the benefits and fun of dance – in the convenience of your home.

The Time For Dancing DVD is designed to guide the child through the dance class by using a narrator (a child’s voice) and split-screen demonstrations. Parents can either watch and participate or let children explore the experience independently.

The Time For Dancing DVD has been distributed to libraries, kindergartens, schools and dance schools throughout New Zealand. We are delighted to now be able to offer it from sale through Amazon.com.

What parents have told us:

• “This is our first-ever experience of dancing classes and we're very impressed and Mia loves it!”
• “It is magical for little girls to dress up and do dancing. I love seeing the looks on their faces. The DVD has been used regularly at our house – even after 1 ½ years.”
• “It's a chance for my daughter to dress up and dance like a 'proper ballerina'. She's becoming more confident and loves to display her dancing skills and prowess at home!”
• “I am keen to purchase a copy of your DVD. The local library where we originally hired it from has “lost” their copy!”
• “Alicia (22 months) was fascinated watching it. She loves the teddy bear song, and is already starting to imitate some of the moves herself.”
• “Emily loves the DVD, it sounds very professional and the whole look and dancing is excellent”
• “Abbey watches your DVD at least once a day, dresses up in her all her 'dancing clothes' and dances and sings to the music. She is only two and a half and loves it!”
• “I love the concept of learning bits of different types of dancing, and that the children are inspired to try everything and most of all, it is about having fun and learning at the same time! All parts have listening and learning, so I believe the whole DVD is beneficial to Maria's development. Awesome!”

We’d love to hear from you:

We would love to hear about your children’s experiences with Time For Dancing. Please send your comments, pictures or even video links to us at emma@timefordancing.com.

What are the “gifts of dance”?

Dancing is “purposeful movement” and helps develops the brain, nervous system and muscles of growing preschoolers. Dancing and creative movement activities also make children aware of body parts, spatial relationships and muscular control. Offering these kinds of activities to preschoolers over and over again helps encourage healthy physical and cognitive development.

Dancing is an excellent way for your child to develop their coordination and musicality. Research has shown children who begin exploring dance at an early age develop more self-confidence, an increased mental capacity for spatial relationships and are more comfortable expressing their natural creativity.

Dance is also active learning, helping them to keep fit, and giving role models for a healthy, active lifestyle.

About the Time For Dancing team:

Time For Dancing was created by Suzanne Denton (Dancestars) and Radha Sahar (Universal Children’s Audio), two dance and music experts who were inspired to introduce dance to children from two to six years old.

Suzanne Denton (NZAMD Dip (Adv), MNZADT, MTDI)

A dance teacher with over 30 years experience, Suzanne trained as a primary school teacher before choosing dance education as her career. She is a former dance examiner, competition adjudicator and creator of the children’s performance group “Showkids” who complete a national tour each year as the official entertainment of the Radio Network Special Children’s Christmas Parties. Suzanne enjoys introducing others to dance teaching and mentors dance students as they become dance teachers.

Radha Sahar

Radha's outstanding talent in composing and producing music for children has established her as a well respected leader in this field. Her productions won New Zealand Children's Album of the Year in 1995 and 1996. Radha is musical director for the Kiwi Kidsongs series and composer for many other projects funded by the Ministry of Education. Her background includes work as a Kindergarten teacher, performer, music tutor and music therapist.