Silly behavior answer:

I can understand your concern. It is always worrying when we see our children misbehaving, particularly if they are being influenced by other children in this way.
What I would say is this: Treat this as a learning experience. Emma is only 4, so she will meet many other people who are likely to influence her in the future. Now is the time to teach her to get along with people, but not necessarily behave like them.

Talk to her about the expected behavior in the class. Make a short list of rules that the teacher has. As Emma is very young, one or two simple rules would be enough. It depends on what the silly behavior is, but one rule could be 'don't talk when the teacher is talking'. Or 'stand still and listen when the teacher is talking'.

You could use a behavior chart (download one from my site for free) and put a sticker on the chart for every time she follows the rule. She can look forward to a really special treat when she has completed the chart.

Role-play is a useful tool as well. You could pretend to be a 'friend' and you could both pretend you are at the dance lesson. You could try to distract her, while Emma has to follow the rules and not be silly. That way she can practise how to react to Sarah (or rather not react) when it matters.

To make the role-play easier, you could start by being Emma, and she could be the distracting friend, so you can demonstrate how you would behave yourself without having to be nasty to the friend.

I hope that helps. Try not to worry too much, your daughter's personality won't be changed by this other girl, she is probably just 'experimenting' with the silly behavior.

Good luck!
Cathy.

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