Evansville, Indiana is a city full of ballet experiences for youngsters. As home to many fine ballet and dance schools, the city has a well-deserved reputation for highly awarded and trained professional instructors who come from many of the world's outstanding performing organizations. Parents who live in the area are fortunate to have wonderful choices for dance training. Beginning dancers need to have the best foundation possible. Here are a few tips to help newcomers to the dance world look at training with a perceptive eye.

When you are the parent investigating Evansville ballet classes for kids, you should begin by visiting the studios that catch your eye. The study of classical dance techniques will seem strange at first. The steps are all given in French, so your child will also learn a new language. Your job will be to see how the students interact with their teachers. Photos of recent work only shows final results and what you really want to see is how those were achieved.

Call in advance to ask about viewing a class session. You will need permission to be in a class if the studio has no viewing area. Tell the studio representative that you are interested in having your child take classes. Most will help you visit their studio classrooms. Then you can meet with them for further questions you will have.

Before your child attends class, watch a session. You will look for several things. How does the instructor interact with the students? Once the instructor demonstrates exercises to the entire class, does he or she help students individually? Are struggling students encouraged or discouraged? Are students forced to hold difficult or uncomfortable positions? Try to gauge the general classroom mood. Look for happy faces, or concentrated, focused eyes. Ballet study is traditionally formal, so expect that discipline will be exercised. But with very young students whose bodies, minds and emotions are still developing, class should be more relaxed. Showing positions, using hands to guide young hands, arms, legs and feet is quite normal. Forcing young bodies into pain is not.

Once your choice is made, try to schedule a trial lesson for your child. Use that time to evaluate the experience. The teacher will look for signs of readiness, too. Discuss the class together. If all is positive, then you can move ahead to regular lesson times.

When you decide to enroll, the studio may require waiting for the first class in a new series, or you may be allowed to join a class already in session. If you must wait, consider enrolling in a class to explore movement for young ones until the ballet lessons you want are taking new students.

The basic clothing you must wear varies for every studio. Some follow a traditional color coding by levels. The students earn the right to wear the color for each new level as they advance. Others simply have all students wear black leotards on top, pink tights and pink or black ballet shoes, called slippers. Most will have a standard for keeping hair secured up and out of the face.

Expect a registration fee and tuition by the semester or class. This varies by studio. With the basics done, your child may begin a lifetime of dance adventures.