Preschool Dance Curriculum
Welcome To
Small Fry Dance Club
We are a dance school based in the SF Bay Area. Founded in 2027 by Jana Chapeton, Small Fry Dance Club has had over 5000 kids come through our programs. This website is for dance educators looking to create a solid preschool dance curriculum for their dancers.
Welcome To Small Fry Dance Club!
Mission Statement
Small Fry Dance Club’s mission is to instill a love of dance in children, their family, and their community. Each dancer will be challenged to strengthen their body awareness, spatial awareness, flexibility, balance, creativity, movement technique, and appreciation of the performing and creative arts.
About Us
Founded in 2007 by Jana & Carlos Chapeton, Small Fry Dance Club, started as an on-site preschool dance program. We began with a handful of classes at a couple of preschools centers. In 2010 we began renting space from one of the preschools on the weekend to offer lessons to the general public. By 2011 we had enough of a following to open our first dance studio in Foster City, Ca. We were there 3 years before moving to our current, larger location in San Mateo, Ca. What started as a handful of classes, quickly grew to over 500 actively enrolled preschool dancers between our studio and preschool locations. Along the way we have won several awards, and we were named to Bay Area Parent Magazine’s Hall of Fame for being named best dance school in our region 7 consecutive years.
Today, we continue to operate our preschool classes, but have also expanded to offer classes to kids up through age 18. To do this we launched www.PrincipalArts.com. Principal Arts is a program of Small Fry Dance Club and is part of the same school/location.
How it Works
Our curriculum is designed to be developmental by nature and does not revolve around a specific style of dance. It is suitable for dancers as young as 18 months, and up through 5 years of age. Everything we do is designed to meet the preschool-age dancer at their level and meet their needs in an age appropriate manner. This helps prepare them to move up to our traditional studio class when they turn 5 years of age. Our goal is to create a love of dance that will last a lifetime. To accomplish our goals we have developed two curriculum tracks, Body Language©, and Motor Muscles©. See their descriptions below.
Music & Movement 18-24 mo.
Our Music & Movement class is designed for toddlers 18-24 months. These classes are similar to a “Parent & Me” class. These classes emphasize developing motor skills, learning in a group setting, socialization, and creative dance. It’s a great way to expose your student to dance and to other toddlers their age.
Dance & Performance 2-4 yrs.
Our Dance & Performance Class introduces dance basics in a variety of dance styles in a fun and age-appropriate manner. Motor skills are still emphasized and the class becomes more structured for the older groups. This is a parent-optional class. Ballet, tap, jazz, musical theatre, and hip hop are all explored in this class.
Dance & Performance 3-5 yrs.
Our 3-5-year-old Dance & Performance Class uses the same curriculum as our 2-4 class but builds on the motor skills and classroom structure. This is a dancer-only class, parents may observe from the lobby. Ballet, tap, jazz, musical theatre, and hip hop are all explored in this class.
Curriculum
Curriculum
Our Music & Movement classes use our Body Language Curriculum (BL). BL provides monthly themes that we incorporate into our weekly lesson plans. The focus of this class is to develop motor skills, introduce music, get comfortable in the class setting, and of course, have fun!
Our Dance & Performance classes use the MotorMuscles curriculum. We provide bi-monthly themes that you can incorporate into your weekly lesson plans. These classes also add performance material (choreography) that focuses on a specific style of dance for 6 months at a time. The 6-month increments culminate with our bi-annual performances. The styles we rotate through include ballet, tap, jazz, hip hop, and musical theatre.
No Performance Option – All Done In Class
Optional Bi-annual Performances
If you have questions about any of our curriculum or need someone to bounce ideas off of, let us know.
director - Jana chapeton
chapetonj@smallfrydanceclub.com 650-393-5593
