Classical dance classes for kids, live online

Around five is the usual starting age. The real sign is not age but attention: a child who can listen and follow for an hour is ready. Some are ready a little earlier, some a little later, and that is fine.

Older children and teenagers start too. Starting at nine or thirteen is fine, and they often move faster in the first year because they can practise on their own.

Each class is one hour, live, four times a month. Arunima watches every child on screen and corrects posture, hands and feet in the moment. Batches are small on purpose, so no child hides at the back.

Children begin with posture and the first adavus, the basic steps. Short items and abhinaya, telling a story with the face and hands, come once the basics are steady. Theory is taught alongside, so children know the names and meaning of what they dance.

If you ask, a recording of the day's class is sent after it, so your child can practise at home during the week.

Many of our online students are Malayali children in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and the Gulf. Classes run in Malayalam or English, whichever your child follows better, and the timing is set around your time zone.

For many families the class is also a weekly link to Kerala: the stories, the music and the language that come with the dance.

Forty-five of Arunima's students have completed their arangetram, the first full solo performance on stage. It comes after some years of steady learning, when the child is ready, never on a fixed calendar.