• BabyContact: Welcome!

    BabyContact is a form of dance for parents with babies from about two months to two years. The focus of the class is on the contact of a baby and an adult in movement. Our classes is a way to explore moving with your baby in a supportive atmosphere.

    We use methods and ideas from dance improvisation, contact improvisation, developmental movement, dance therapy, combining play, songs, rhymes with movement and dance. In order to better understand a small baby there is a simple way — make a contact through your body in movement. To make this experience enjoyable we create a space where parents can be open, relaxed, free. By dancing together parents can learn from their own kids spontaneity of movement and playfullness, they connect with the babies in a new way, nourishing their emotional bonding.

    Dads are also very welcome at the class, as it creates an opportunity to unite all the family, share dance and fun, cuddle together.

    BabyContact is about many forms of contact: contact with the baby, contact with oneself, with other people. It is about more openness, trust and freedom for parents, and about opening of the new world for the baby — through movement, play, and dance.

    The benefits of BabyContact:

    For parents:
    To find time for oneself, to relax, to dance — at the same time without leaving the child, to better feel the body, and for moms — to get back to the shape after giving birth; to learn new ways to interact with a baby in movement, expand one’s possibilities for the physical contact with him; to share dance with one’s partners, other parents and babies.

    For babies:
    The babies benefit from new visual and sensory information, music, movement, from the deepened bonding time with mom, baby massages and the stimulating environment of new baby friends.

    How does it look like?

    Presentation about BabyContact:

    See some photos in the gallery here and in our blog in Russian.

    What do I do with my baby during class?

    Throughout the class, you can involve your baby in the movements, to hold him or her, or to let your baby crawl/sit/run next to you. Sometimes babies sleep during the class, other times they may want to eat, and other times they are happy to see and hear the other babies around them. Fussing and crying is also totally normal, the babies are welcomed just as they are:)

    According to a psychologist Erik Erikson, whose Eight Stages of Development are widely taught basics to understanding growing children, learning trust is the basis of healthy social-emotional development. The physical contact of a loving adult fosters trust and starts baby on the lifelong journey of learning about relationships—to one’s self, to others, and to the world. This contact can also ease a young child’s nervous system while bolstering his immunity, circulation, and physical growth.

    Enjoy time with your baby while you reconnect with yourself, get back in shape and share the dance with other parents and babies.