Gone are the times where your local library was a place of hushed tones and reminders to 'be quiet'. These days they're a hive of activity, with tech classes for seniors and homework clubs for teens. And in some regional Queensland libraries, they've also become a hub for special dance classes.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00You may think a library is the last place you'd expect to see toddlers donning their
00:06ballet vest and practising their perfect point.
00:11But it turns out it's the perfect location to mix ballet and story time.
00:16I think ballet is a beautiful way to tell a story and when you read a book as well and
00:22you're exploring that book, being able to tell that story through your body is fundamentally
00:27the same way of how we tell stories in ballet.
00:30This unique program of dance and stories has been developed by the Queensland Ballet as
00:34part of a literacy program.
00:36You get children that want to stand up and embody all of the things that are happening
00:40in the story straight away.
00:42So they really get into it and they really are active and involved.
00:46So by the time you get up and you're dancing around, they're still on that journey, they're
00:50with you.
00:51For this excited bunch of youngsters, they're eager to get into it.
00:56Crocs Don't Do Yoga is a beautiful book by a Makai artist and I'm very excited to deliver
01:01it today.
01:02It's got a beautiful storyline of, I guess, holding on to your calm as well as the alternative
01:10of that.
01:11Parents say programs like this are key to helping foster a love of reading.
01:16Yeah, if they're able to feel things, hold things, move, it just helps them to retain
01:22their knowledge and retain what they're learning a lot better.
01:26If you can do anything to get them to connect to a story or to connect them into reading,
01:33music, song, dance, movement, you name it, it's such a great mix to have for sure.
01:39And how do you think Lola went today?
01:41She was a vibe today.
01:43She was totally immersed in it all.
01:46She just loved it.
01:47It was wonderful.
01:48It's so great of our library to have things like this on too.
01:51Yep, awesome.
01:52And for two-year-old Lola, the special ballet session was the best story time ever.
01:58I did ballerinas.