Amazing Apps: Toca Dance

Toca Dance lets kids explore their creativity through dance and music. No technical skills are required — Toca Dance is all about wacky, fun and expressive movement.

Inspired by the high-energy style of that found in J-pop and dubstep, as well as the quirkiness of creators like Michel Gondry, Toca Boca made Toca Dance to feel relatable for all kids. It's designed for kids to embrace the simple joy of dance and explore the fun and silliness of it. I had a chance to review the app, and it is fun, especially for my music-loving kids.

With Toca Dance, kids are in full control as the dance instructor. They pick three characters for their dance squad before going wild in the costume closet and selecting their song. Once that’s done, the squad scrambles off to rehearsals. Kids teach the dancers their moves with six sequences to create and string together — shake the choreographer’s head and the characters will mimic, swing her arms and the characters will follow. When it’s time to head to the stage, kids can change the backdrop and use special effects and pyrotechnics. Hit play and watch the show. If kids want an encore performance, they can simply save the video to their device’s camera roll and show it off to their friends.

The app features five songs, ranging in style from pop to dubstep, created specifically for Toca Boca by long-term musical partner Håkan Lidbo. All five songs will be available on Spotify so kids can take their onscreen experience into the real world. The musical genres are intentionally broader than the typical nursery rhyme or simple tune often found in kids’ products.

As with all Toca Boca apps Toca Dance features a kid-friendly interface with no in-app purchases or Third-party advertising, free of rules levels or high scores. Toca Dance is $2.99 on the App Store.

About Toca Boca

Toca Boca, the No. 1 mobile-first kids brand in the App Store, is a play studio that makes digital toys for kids. Since its first product launch in 2011, Toca Boca has released 31 apps that have been downloaded in 215 countries worldwide. With more than 100 million total downloads to date, Toca Boca apps focus on stimulating kids’ imaginations so that they can play and have fun in a safe digital environment. With offices in San Francisco, Stockholm and New York, Toca Boca is part of The Bonnier Group, a family-owned business that includes newspapers, magazines, television, cinemas and digital media. For more information, please visit www.tocaboca.com