Petite Feet: Ballet Adventures with Liz

I originally rented Petite Feet from Amazon streaming on the 3rd day of a rainstorm that wouldn't leave. I was out of ideas of fun, active things for my then 3yr old to do inside, so I thought a ballet video might keep her occupied for a morning. I got MUCH more than I bargained for!Petite Feet was made with high quality production, the kids are cute, Liz is likable and engaging, and your kid will actually LEARN from this video.My daughter had been in ballet for close to a year when we first rented Petite Feet, but knew next to nothing about the fundamental movements or their names. I put it on, and she liked it so much that she demanded it be played on repeat until lunch (and I am still unable to show it without at least 1 encore presentation nearly 2 years later). After that first day, she not only started discussing movements by name, but she also became more body aware while practicing them. And she became OBSESSED with ballet.Our kitchen became her dance studio. She's spent countless hours practicing movements (and singing the Perite Feet songs) between the pantry and kitchen table. She started inviting her little sister to dance with her and helping her say the names and learn the movements, too.I've watched her abilities flourish (despite stopping the studio lessons and not starting with a new one because I have yet to find one that's "as good as Petite Feet, Mom") and a real love of dance take hold in her. The same is happening with my 2.5yr old. What an awesome, awesome gift from what I thought was just a clever way to survive a rainy day.A big thanks to Liz for sharing her gift for teaching dance with kids outside of her studio. Petite Feet has truly unlocked my daughters' dancer hearts - how many 5 and 2.5yr olds request to watch the Royal Ballet of Swan Lake and refer to themselves as Odette?!?If you have a little dancer or just a kid that needs something fun to do on occasion, you need Petite Feet. (And Petite Feet 2 is just as good!)

So, I wanted to see if my daughter would be interested in ballet without shelling out a ton of money on classes. I checked out some videos from the library and they were boring, poor quality (outdated) and too dry. I looked at Amazon Instant Video and didn't like the selection there until I found Petite Feet. I was searching for something that would hold her attention, be entertaining and teach ballet. Liz is engaging and teaches through song and repetition. So why only 4 stars? I wish there was more than one scene on the disc. Price is a little high for such a short movie ~ $20 for 20 minutes of viewing. So like some of the other reviewers, it gets repeated.

This was bought for my four year old granddaughter and made us both really happy.Total enjoyment and easy to follow even without any previous lessons.I especially liked that it started with fun stretching. Highly recommend.

I recommend Liz Vacco constantly to parents interested in dance instruction for their kids. First, Liz really knows how to engage young children by embedding classical dance techniques in playful, imaginative storytelling. Warm-up stretches that could otherwise feel like repetitive drills become fun when they're enacted through songs and stories. Liz's dance instruction makes great use of stories to encourage empathy, expression and creativity through physical movement. (Liz doesn't just know dance, she knows child development-- she's a teacher and is doing graduate work in education. The difference shows!)Second, Liz always uses high quality, non-commercial music. The songs on Petite Feet 2 (and 1) are original and catchy without being annoying. After getting this DVD, my 5-year-old twins started singing some of the songs throughout their day. This aesthetic is also reflected in the overall production-- child-friendly but gentle, almost-old fashioned in its lack of jarring quick cuts, blaring graphics, or unnecessary sound or visual effects that can be annoying in other videos for children.Third, I got both Petite Feet DVD's specifically for two international trips with my twins. It was SO great to have something they could do indoors, in our tiny urban apartment, that was active and creative, as an alternative to passive screen time.Finally, both my kids just flat out enjoy Liz's teaching. We have boy/girl twins. While my daughter is the self-proclaimed ballerina, my son (who wouldn't "do ballet" in front of others) actually loves joining in all the dance songs and activities as well.

For the price, I expected it to be better and longer. Seems like a good, engaging teacher, if you're in the room with her. My main beef is with the camera angles. It zooms in too close frequently, sometimes to the point that she dances from outside the screen on one side over to the outside of the opposite side. While you're trying to follow along, it's hard to know what your entire body is supposed to be doing when you can only see a small portion of her. However, I suppose if you're 4, you're just flailing your arms around like the little ones in the video. I bought this not only for my daughter, but to learn myself, so I could help her with the moves she learns in her weekly dance class.

My 3 year old daughter LOVED ballet class, and is so sad that her ballet studio has been closed due to covid. I wanted to get her dancing again because she just loves it so much, so we bought the “adventures with Liz” DVD. She has done ballet every single day this week and has learned terms that she didn’t pick up from 3 months of ballet classes. After we realized how great these were, we bought the alphabet jungle one too (on prime video) for some variety. She asks to do her “ballet movie” ALL the time and I’m so glad she loves it so much. We’ll probably end up buying the detectives one too since the others are so great! This is as close as we can get to real ballet classes right now and we’re thrilled.