Junior Academy News
14 September, 2026
How Dancing Develops Spatial Awareness
Spatial awareness refers to how well someone understands the position of their body in space. Spatial awareness supports learning, development and contributes to movement skills, coordination, and the ability to participate confidently in physical activities.
This is developed in dancing by teaching children how to stay in their own space while moving, safely travel in various directions, adjust their movements depending on space available, and understand directions such as forward, backward, sideways, and diagonally.
31 August, 2026
SPATIAL AWARENESS SEPTEMBER
September is all about understanding how our bodies move in space. Dancers will be focusing on spacing in recital routines and learning why spatial awareness is one of the most essential tools in a dancer’s toolbox. Teamwork, awareness, and precision take centre stage. 🪐👯↔️
7 September, 2026
Spatial Awareness Tip
How to be spatially aware in dance classes.
Tell your child to imagine a big soap bubble around them. They must dance without popping their bubble or touching anyone else's bubble.
Remind the child they should not touch other children without asking permission first.
Remind them if they can not see the front of the room or the teacher, they can’t be seen!
22 August, 2026
Attendance Habit
Making a habit of attendance is one of the most valuable skills you can have throughout life. Showing up is a skill we do every day, it may be for school, work, ourselves, and our families and friends.
Showing up consistently sets up good routine, trust and creates momentum to achieving our habits. For attendance August we hope to set up strong habits with class attendance to continue excelling our students growth physically and mentally!
24 August, 2026
Boredom Busters
Parents… Are your kids feeling bored at home? Or maybe they are driving you crazy?
Boredom helps children develop creativity, resilience, and independence by encouraging them to explore their own interests and solve problems without constant adult direction. It also teaches emotional regulation and the ability to tolerate discomfort, which are key life skills.
Prompt them to find their own solution first to help them build up their creative thinking skills (don’t just give them a device, no matter how much they beg!).
Here’s a few prompts to use if they need some guidance:
Sort your bookshelf by colours or book sizes.
Find 5 things around the house that you can balance on top of one another.
Build a fort with the couch cushions and blankets.
Lay down outside and see if you can see any shapes in the clouds.
Reassure your child that ‘doing nothing’ and being bored are really important things for their brain’s function. Normalise it in your house, downtime is guilt free and a positive habit to have in everyone’s life!
3 August, 2026
Attendance August
With exams and recital season approaching, attendance becomes extra important during this term. This month we’re focusing on showing up, being prepared, and being on time. We’ll be rewarding dancers who consistently arrive ready with correct uniform and equipment — because good habits build great dancers. ⏰🎒🏅
10 August, 2026
Organisation Tip
Life gets busy, our minds get full and sometimes we need a physical pen and paper reminder. Did you know you can use Canva to create a printable calendar, to do list and planners? See below and give it a try!
20 July, 2026
Hydration
Reminder: Bring a water bottle to dance class. Hydrating during and after physical activity is important… yes even when it is cold and in Winter!
27 July, 2026
Practice makes Progress
There are only 18 more weeks until our recital performances! We are so excited to see everyone beaming on stage in their costumes. Make sure that you encourage your children to practice at home and show you what they learned in class.
Practicing between their classes will help them feel progress and build up their confidence. Having more confidence in knowing what their routine is will allow them to have a much better stage experience and be able to perform to their fullest potential!
16 June, 2026
Training Coordination and Agility At Home
This months theme is “Jumps” and to work on these dancers need to have coordination, timing and agility. For some at home cross training fun see ways you can get your children busy and practicing without them even realising it!
29 June, 2026
Hand Washing
During the Winter cold & flu season we want to see everyone trying to keep everyone healthy. This is a good time to remind your kids to be regularily washing their hands, sanitising and coughing/ sneezing into their arms.
You can use the handwashing song to make it a fun activity!
11 May, 2026
GROWTH MINDSET 🧠
Did you know that a growth mindset (believing and confidence abilities) improve through intentional effort. 90% of brain development occurs by 5 years old.
To ensure that we set children up with a strong mindset, it is valuable to educate children to understand their bodies. The brain is like a muscle that grows with practice. The more we practice something the better we get. By repetitive positive self talk and affirmation it builds resilience, confidence, and a love for learning. This is called neuroplasticity where with repeated effort the brain wires new connections through practice.
Make sure to listen to your dancers and tell them process-based praise by showing them that mistakes are learning opportunities.
Look out for these fixed beliefs in the picture and instead encourage growth mindset thoughts instead. Also watch how you talk to yourselves and make sure you set a good role model for your little ones who look up and copy your behaviours. Children learn behaviour primarily by observing and mimicking their parents actions both good and bad.
Lets be kind and intentional with our words to ourselves! 🙌
5 June, 2026
Jumps, jumps, and more jumps!
This month we’re learning how to travel through the feet, use power safely, and build height with control. We’ll also be running fun jumping challenges in class to keep dancers motivated and smiling. 🦘🚀🦶
23 April, 2026
Kindness and Respect 🌈
Kindness inside and outside of the studio is very important to us. Two of our core values at TDC are Kindness and Respect. We respect everyone and we want everyone to treat one another with kindness and respect in return.
This week to have some fun and educate your children about kindness and respect you can encourage them to sing and dance along with the below video.
5 May, 2026
MOTIVATION MAY 🙌
May is all about setting intentions and taking action. Our dancers will be creating personal goal sheets, working on those goals in class, and building simple at‑home practice plans to help them grow even faster. Small steps lead to big achievements. 🎯📝💪
2 April, 2026
ATTITUDE APRIL
Drumroll please……. 🥁
This months theme is Attitude April!
We want to keep the vibes in the studio positive and encouraging.
This starts with things at home putting into practice encouraging positive reinforcement.
“You got this, I can do this”
Resilience is a learned skill and a key life skill for everyday success!
Comment below some positive reinforcements you can encourage your children to say in the classroom to themselves and others!
26 April, 2026
Bring a Friend 👯♀️🪩
If your child has a friend who they would love to dance with, then now is the perfect time to bring them along with you to a class. You can give them your TDC Friend Pass you received or come see us in the office and we will help arrange this.
Dancing is better shared with friends, family and those we love. Spread the joy of dance this April! We can’t wait to meet your friends in the studio!
19 March, 2026
Whats inside your dance bag? 🩰🎒
Dancers, it is super important that at the start of each week or the night before your classes that you pack your dance bags.
“Failing to prepare is preparing to fail,” and so to set us up for success it is key that we pack our bags. Being organised helps us dance our best by making sure we have all the tools to help us perform.
So what should you pack? Read below and fill out what you need on the checklist attached so that you can double check your bag each week.
1. Dance Shoes 🩰
Check your timetable and list what shoes you need, then pack them in your bag
2. Uniform 👯
If you come from school, this one is very important. Check the uniform guide here to double check what you need. Don’t forget you need a jumper, cross over, or t-shirt to wear to and from the studio. We do not want you leaving in your leotards.
Missing something? Visit the parent portal or visit the office to purchase!
Hair Supplies 🎀
You can’t be focused and dance clean with hair all in your face. Make sure you pack your bun kits, pins, bun net, hair brush, comb, gel etc. We stock these in the office!
Water bottle 💧
Stay hydrated. Make sure you bring a water bottle to sip on through out class, especially during the warmer weather.
1 April, 2026
Holiday Movie Fun!
Heading into the holidays and want something to keep you busy?
Check out the below for some dance movie fun! 🎀🩰