Question regarding dance and my son

[Heavenly]

My 6.5 year old son loves dance. He did a year of ballet/jazz this part year. We are switching dance schools and he would like to do a class in jazz/tap/acro. The problem is the beginner 6-7 year old class is on Wednesdays and he already has gymnastics and AWANA (church club) at that time. There is a 7-9 year old class (he will be 7 in January) but those kids have all had 1-2 years of jazz/tap/acro. The jazz and acro he would most likely be fine in but the teacher said he would obviously be behind in tap because he has never taken it. She said he can try the class if he would like and she can have one of the teenage helpers work privately with him until he catches up. Should I let him go for it? Part of me wants to let him because he really wants to do the jazz/tap/acro and I have checked all the other dance schools and no one has a similar program. But I am also worried about putting him in a position where he will feel really behind. Should I let him do the class or try and find him something similar?

[MeepyCat]

Do you have some kind of contingency plan for in case it doesn't work out? Is he interested in all the parts of the class, or is one particular thing calling to him?

IME, young kids often catch up very quickly to physical things, especially when they think of them as fun. I took dance (ballet) classes as a kid that were entirely age based, and no distinction was made between people who started at age 4 and people who started at age 8, and it seemed (to me, at least) to be okay.

I might be a bit worried about how busy his schedule seems - he has two things on Wednesdays, and he's about to add a dance class. Is he going to wind up tired or stressed? But if you think he can handle the scheduley bits and he wants to do it, I wouldn't worry about him being behind.

I think it's fantastic that you're supporting your son in this exploration. So many parents shut down on boys who are interested in dance, and it's really a shame.

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I would let him do it. He may be one of those kids that does better with a little competition. If he tells you "I'm not as good as the other kids" and he seems to hate it, pull him out.

But, my dd has been dancing since she was four. SHe took tap for a few years, then quit. In fifth grade she was chosen to be on the competition team, but she had NO tap experience in three years.

Not only did she catch on quickly, she turned out to be one of the best, and tap is her best dance.

Now, she is in marching band, and she is picking up on the marching steps faster than the other kids.

(if she could only learn the music so easily)