Movement and Dance

In my expressive arts class the other day we had a guest come in and run us through demonstrations of different ways to get children involved with movement and dance. I had an absolute blast! My classmates and I were making up interpretive dances, contorting our bodies into odd positions, and moving however the music made us feel. We got the chance to partner dance and make-up routines, play with rythm sticks, etc. 

After the demonstration, I decided to do some research of my own to see the benefits interpretive movement and dance had on child development. I found that the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 states that, "Studying music encourages self-discipline and diligence traits that carry over into mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history and geography." Additional research I came across supports that music helps prepare the mind for specific disciplines of learning; skills learned through music carry over into study skills, communication skills and abstract reasoning skills used to all parts of life, according to a 1997 article in the Journal of Neurological Research. Author of The Mozart Effect, Don Campbell, traced neurological development during childhood and found that prior to a major spurt of neurological integration in the brain during elementary school years, learning occurs through movement and quick emotional associations. For example, by age two, the brain has begun to fuse with the body via marching, dancing, and developing a sense of physical rhythm. The more music children are exposed to before they enter school, the more deeply this stage of neural coding will assist them throughout their lives. 

Through the demonstrations and supporting research, I am extremely excited to incorporate interpretive movement and dance into my teaching pedagogy. I now strongly believe that arts education can make a tremendous impact on the developmental growth of every child and can even help to level the "learning field" across socioeconomic boundaries. According the the YouthARTS Development Project of 1996 et. al., arts education has a measurable impact on youth risk in deterring delinquent behavior and truancy problems while also increasing overall academic performance among those engaged in after school and summer programs targeted toward delinquency prevention.