Even for prima ballerinas, first position is hard to master.

That’s why Lana Davison’s ballet class for 3-year-olds starts with something a little simpler: sitting on the ground in the circle.

“What kind of apple do you have?” Davison asked her class of five blonde toddlers at a recent class at the Fair Oaks School community center last week.

They looked at her with wide eyes, fidgeted with their tutus and curls, then one by one answered the question.

“A blue apple,” one said, smiling a little.

The class moved on quickly from there, the circle of cherubs becoming a stampede.

“Wiggle to the beat!” Davison told her dancers. “Stomp your feet!”

Most of the dancers complied, though a couple wandered around the classroom, distracted by their own fingers or a grandparent peeking in the window in the door.

Andrea Startz of Montville was waiting in the hallway outside the classroom while her daughter Camille peered at the piece of tape on the ground that she was supposed to be standing on.

Camille’s older sister had been taking Davison’s classes through Montville Parks and Recreation Department since she was 3, and Camille had been anxious to put on a leotard on herself.

“She was like ‘when do I get to go?’ Startz said. She said both daughters have learned to follow directions in the classes, which Davison has been teaching for nearly years.

“I think it’s good self-control for them,” Stratz said.

Davison teaches ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop classes to kids between the ages of 3 and 8 for the Montville Parks and Recreation Department, and also teaches dance at the Naval Submarine Base’s youth center. The town’s recreation department offers a variety of low cost classes to residents, including dance, karate and special events with holiday themes.

Davison said that while the toddlers can’t necessarily pirouette or leap across the stage, they are still old enough to absorb the discipline and technique of ballet.

“They’re learning the terminology from age three all the way up,” she said.

Inside the classroom last week, the dancers were trying to remember how to stand in first position. They wobbled, looked at their feet in a mirror at the front of the room, and told Davison that they just couldn’t do it.

Several attempted a classic move: bending over and using their hands to push their heels together and their toes facing opposite direction. It was largely unsuccessful.

One student walked up to Davison and pulled on her shirt, looking up at her teacher with an urgent question.

“Can we do Elsa?”

Davison smiled. “In a little bit, we can do Elsa.”

Elsa, of course, being the Disney character that sings the most popular song in the most popular movie among three year-olds at the moment, Frozen.

Davison eventually played the song from a CD player on a shelf in the classroom. In a frenzy of glitter and color, the class chose tiaras to wear and scarves to wave around while they pranced around the room.

They ended the class with a curtsy – and only one student fell over.

m.shanahan@theday.com