Australia’s most loved preschool ballet program turns 10!

Ten years in business is a marvellous achievement, but what’s most interesting is that Kinderballet was first conceived by founders Sheryn and Peter Zarins when they were expecting their first child, and was subsequently financed by the Australian federal government’s Baby Bonus Scheme. Here’s Sheryn’s story:

For me, dance isn’t just my passion- as a former Royal Australian Ballet teacher and examiner, it’s my profession. However, with impending motherhood, I wanted a career that blended the ballet skills and experience I’d developed over many, many years with the flexibility essential to a growing family’s needs. My business, Kinderballet, born at the same time as my older son, has provided me with a fulfilling, family-friendly and inspiring career, but more importantly has allowed me to share my love of ballet with tens of thousands of Australian families.

Kinderballet came about because I knew that the preschool dance education model at that time wasn’t meeting the specific needs of preschoolers, nor was it giving children appropriate technical ballet skills. My time teaching and examing RAD gave me exposure to the ballet schools operating across Australia, and I knew that whilst many offered preschool ballet classes as an effective recruitment tool, their curriculum and programs, whilst often of exceptional quality, were developed according to the needs of older children. As any parent of a toddler knows, there is a massive difference between a two year old and a nine year old. Preschoolers are often viewed quite rightfully as being the most challenging to teach, and their learning requirements are vastly different to those of children in an older age bracket. Preschool classes were simply adaptations of what the older ballerinas were learning at best, and at worst they were semi-structured classes with little skill development, and had less of an educational focus.
I knew I wanted more for Kinderballet than a simply a place where parents dropped their kids off to be entertained- I wanted the children in our care to learn the fundamentals of ballet, the discipline and self-pride that comes from mastering skills, and I wanted them taught by educators who loved ballet, and took their craft very, very seriously. And of course, I wanted learning to be in the context of fun, joy and happiness.

At the time I was building my business concept (and my baby!) my husband Peter was wanting to escape his work cubicle to embrace parenthood with the same level of career and work flexibility. We took our $1500 baby bonus, and invested it into our business. Ten years later we have 370 Kinderballet classes across Australia, teaching 3500 children the foundational skills of classical ballet each week.  We’re a great team, and together we’ve built a beautiful business, and a beautiful family!

Sheryn Zarins

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Kinderballet's 10th Birthday Party