-
Connie Bergstein Dow
If you were to peek into my creative daneeclass , you might see
a teacher and preschoolers sit-ting with their legs crossed,
swaying from side to side.This activity in itself may not look
particularly exciting.However, if you realized that we are
imagining ourseives ona boat trip, riding the ocean waves, each
carrying differentcargo in our boats and visiting exotic
destinations along theway, you would understand the enthusiastic
smiles on thechildren's faces.
Or you might see us walking very slowly and quietly.However, in
our imaginations, we are creeping through thejungle, trying to spot
different animals. We move like eachanimal we encounter—swimming,
crawling, galloping, andsoaring. This is a glimpse of the
excitement in store foryoung children who experience creative
dance.
Children move the instant they are born and the momentthey wake
up every morning. Moving is one of the firstand most important ways
infants and toddlers explore andlearn about the world, and this
process continues as theygrow and develop. Why, then, is creative
movement notan integral part of every early childhood curriculum?
Mytheory is twofold.
First, teachers and society at large are less familiarwith dance
than with the other performing arts. Second,because some teachers
may not have experience withdance, they may be uncomfortable
offering creative move-ment. They may think that bringing dance
into the class-room will result in children moving randomly and
withoutnoticing the other children. However, one of the gifts
ofguided creative movement is that it helps children iearn
tocontrol their bodies and develop awareness of moving in aspace
with other chiidren. As children learn awareness andbody control
through movement, they become familiar withfollowing instructions,
iistening for cues, and respectingothers as they move together in
the shared space. Creativemovement can be a guidance tooi teachers
use in manyways during the day (Gilbert 2002).
What is creative movement?
Teachers and parents often ask this question. The termsdance and
mouetnetit are interchangeabie when referringto creative movement.
Creative movement is an art formwhose medium is the human body in
motion. The fourbasic elements of dance are the body and its
differentparts and range of movement, and space, time, and
energy(Stinson 1988). Understanding and using these four ele-ments
can open up a range of imaginative possibilities.
For exampie. teachers can enliven marching, a basic loco-motor
movement, by varying the four elements:
Young Children
The Power ofBody part movement varfations; "Can you march with
your
arms up high?" "Can you clap? Touch your knees?" "Canyou march
bending one knee and keeping the other legstraight? On your
tiptoes? Lying on your back with yourfeet in the air?"
Spatial variations: "Can you march backwards? Low? High?""Can
you turn?" "Can you march in a square pattern onthe floor?"
Time variations: "Can you march in slow motion?" "Canyou march
for seven steps and then freeze? Let's counttogether." "Now, march
as fast as you can!"
Energy variations: "Can you march as if your feet are caughtin
quicksand?" "Can you march and stomp through mudpuddles?" "Can you
march as if you are in bare feet on a
Connie Bergstein Dow, MFA. has performed and taught dancein the
United States and Latin America for 38 years. Connie is theauthor
of Dance, Tum, Hop. Learn! Enriching Movemetit Activi-ties for
Preschoolers, [email protected].
Photos © Kevin Wauiigman. Illustrations © Diane Greenseid.
9
30 Young Ch/Wren* March 2010
-
Performing Arts: Music, Dance, and Theater in the Early
Years
and Movement
Creative Dgncehot blacktop driveway on a summer day?" "Can you
marchwithout making a sound when your feet touch the floor?"The
possibilities are endless. Children can perform the
variations according to their individual abilities and
imagi-nations. Creative movement gives children opportunities
tomove in new ways and helps them learn that there can bemore than
one solution to a question, a problem, or a task.
Benefits of creative movementDance can have a powerful imi)act
in children's daily
lives because it is both a physical activity and a vehicle
forself-expression. It offers the rich experience of exploringand
creating, with the added benefits of lively movement.Here are some
reasons to encourage children to dance.
Access for aii chiidrenEquipment. Movement activities require
little in the way
of equipment, and most items are available in early child-hood
classrooms. The ideal space, such as a gym or indoorplay area, is
clear of obstacles and well defined. However,with some advance
planning, teachers can adapt movementactivities to smaller,
irregular spaces—even those with
obstacles such as bookshelves, chairs, or play equipment.In
these situations, choose activities that children can dowhile
staying within their own personal spaces, such aslearning about
opposites: "While staying in your spot, canyou show me the
opposites, backward and forward? Highand low? Straight and crooked?
Little and big? Tired andenergetic? Hello and good-bye?"
Incorporate the obstacleswhen the children move out of those
spaces: "Let's marcharound the bookcase!"
Other requirements are a small drum, tambourine, orother device
for giving auditory cues and one for giv-ing visual cues, like a
drawing of a stoplight or stop sign.Musical accompaniment enlivens
a dance session, so a CDor MP3 player is beneficial. Given these
few requirements, itis easy to include movement sessions in every
early child-hood setting.
Accommodating children with speclai needs. Most move-ment
activities can be modified to allow all children toparticipate.
Children can approach movement in individualways, according to each
one's imagination, ability, andexperience. For example, in a
greeting activity that involveswaving different parts of the body,
children with physicaldisabilities can move the tongue, eyelids,
fingers, or toes. Ajumping activity can include children in
wheelchairs whenthey move their head, shoulders, arms, or fingers.
In analphabet game in which children use their bodies to formletter
shapes, the teacher can guide children with specialneeds in using
part of the body, like the fingers, instead ofthe whole body. Or a
child can hold up or point to a pictureof the letter in order to be
an active participant in the expe-rience. Dance stories, during
which children use movementto explore ideas and elaborate on a
book, story, poem, orsong, let children of all abilities respond to
the events andcharacters in a story, (For more information, see
"CreativeDance Starters for Young Children," page 35.)
Movement specialist Rae Pica emphasizes the impor-tance of
making movement accessible: "Given the increas-ing emphasis on
accountability and academics, physical
Creative movement gives ciiiidrenopportunities to move in new
waysand helps them iearn that therecan be more than one solution to
aquestion, a problem, or a task.
Young Children'tAarch 2010 31
-
activity is in danger of falling by the wayside in the
earlychildhood curriculum. Indeed, more and more early child-hood
professionals say they have trouble fitting movementinto the
program because they're too busy preparing chil-dren for academics.
Developmentally appropriate practicedictates that we educate the
whole child. Furthermore,academics and physical activity are not
mutually exclusive"(2006, 12).
Curriculum enrichment
Movement sessions provide the perfect forum for inte-grating
physical activities with other areas of the curricu-lum. Because
children can approach many subjects throughmovement, it is a good
vehicle for teaching themed ses-sions, such as weather, animals,
transportation, and colors,and encompassing all learning
domains—physical, social-emotional, and cognitive—and potentially
addressing earlylearning standards. Here are some examples.
During an exploration of shapes, children can use theirbodies to
form circles, squares, triangles, or other shapes;walk or march
making floor patterns such as figure eights,straight lines, and
zigzag lines;or jump and make shapes inthe air, like an X or Y.
Whileplaying a dance/freeze game,children can dance freely untilthe
teacher stops the musicand calls out instructions:"Freeze in the
shape of the let-ter 7!" "Freeze while balancingon one straight
leg, with theother leg crooked!" "Freeze ina twisty shape!" "Freeze
in awide shape!" "Freeze in a lowshape!"
When children are fidgety, try integrating movementinto a
learning game, like a counting game: "Let's count tofive while we
fidget. Now let's count to seven" or a gameof opposites: "Fidget as
much as you can. and when 1clap my hands, freeze!" "Don't move a
muscle! Now fidgetagain as fast as you can!" "Can you fidget in
slow motion?"Fidgeting can become a vocabulary game: "Whatis
another word forfidget? Squirm! Jiggle!Wiggle!" Interspersemovement
games likethese throughout thechildren's day for richlearning
opportunities.
Dance and movementeducator Mimi BrodskyChenfeld
addressesintegrating movementand curriculum, stating,"Every idea is
a universeof possibilities. Everyidea, lesson, concept
can be enriched bymovement, by dance.Connecting movementto all
areas of the cur-riculum, to ail skills, isnatural. The arts are
theconnective tissue thatholds our spirits
intact"CChenfeld2005,51).
Physical developmentWhile participating in
creative movement activi-ties, children learn to con-
trol their bodies. They become aware of how fast they aremoving,
how to speed up and slow down, how to stop andstart, and how to
control their bodies when they changedirection. They learn
important spatial concepts as well.Creative dance helps children
learn to move in their ownpersonal spaces, to be aware of other
children's personalspaces, and to respect others as everyone
together movesin a shared space. When children become used to
theseunwritten understandings about space and movement, theycarry
them over to other daily activities (Stinson 1988).
Guided creative movement helps young children learnnew motor
skills and practice, reinforce, and build on thosethey already use.
Because children especially love usinglarge, expansive movements,
they enjoy practicing largemotor skills such as walking, marching,
galloping, tiptoeing,hopping, jumping, turning, and moving across
the floor in
32 young Children'tAarch 2010
-
The Performing Arts; Music, Daiiœ ^m Years
many other ways. Children who are 5 and 6 can addskipping and
leaping to their repertoire of gross motorskills.
As you become comfortable leading children increative movement
and borrowing ideas from dance,you will find that children look
forward to repeating,
changing, and discovering new ways to approachbasic motor
skills. In doing so. they improve theircoordination, body control,
balance, stamina, andoverall strength,
Movement as anantidote to obesity
Health experts have been sounding the alarmabout the obesity
epidemic among children In the UnitedStates. First Lady Michelle
Obama has introduced a majorinitiative to address this problem,
"calling obesity an expi-demic and one of the greatest threats to
America's healthand economy" (Hellmich 2010, D-4). In 2005, the
Institute ofMedicine (lOM^ reported that "one-third (33.6 percent)
ofAmerican children and adolescents are either obese or atrisk for
becoming obese. . . . Overweight and obese childrenand teens are
much more likely to become overweight orobese adults. These kids
also have greater risk for highcholesterol, high blood pressure,
bone and joint problems,poor self-esteem and other health, social
and psychologicalproblems" (RWJF 2006, 1).
Listening and responding to direc-tions, offering suggestions,
exploringothers' ideas while waiting for a turn,and simply moving
in a shared spacetogether are opportunities for learn-ing and
practicing social skills.
Experts ofíer many ideas for tacklingobesity, including creating
task forces
at the state, local, and national levels tostudy and coordinate
efforts and establish-
ing policies on the types of food and bever-age advertising
aimed at children age 12
and younger (RWJF 2006). Doctors and otherhealth experts present
two practical recom-« mendations: teach children about healthyfood
choices and offer opportunities for physi-cal activity. The lOM
report recommends man-
dating dally physical education in all schoolsRWJF 2006).Keeping
children active is a crucial part of
addressing this health crisis, and the good newsis that teachers
don't have to find extra time to
add dance to the day. You can incorporate it anytime, in alarge
or small space, for greetings, circle time, transitions,or waking
up from a nap. For example, "Let's wake up ourbodies! First let's
yawn and stretch, . . . Now let's wake upour faces. Open and close
your eyes, then your mouth.Stick out your tongue and move it
around. Can you circleyour head one way, then the other?" (Continue
with shoul-ders, arms, upper body, and legs.) "Now let's stand up
andshake out all the parts at once!" Incorporating active,
enjoy-able, creative movement into classroom routines is justwhat
the health professionals ordered!
Social and emotional developmentCreative movement is a great
medium for working with
children as a group. It is one of the best ways for childrento
learn the social skills needed for working together(Gilbert 2002).
A teacher can offer movement tasks andproblems for children to
solve individually: "How manyways can you move from sitting to
standing?" "How manyways can you make a big curve like the letter C
with yourbody?" and as a group: "Imagine we are back in the daysof
the dinosaurs. What would we see? Can you move like
apterodactyl?"
young Children*March 2010 33
-
Children learn that they each can contribute to the groupand
that they can ail work together to find a solution.Listening and
responding to directions, offering sugges-tions, expioring others'
ideas while waiting for a turn, andsimply moving in a shared space
together are opportunitiesfor learning and practicing social
skills.
Children can express themselves in movement sessions.A child who
caiinot express his feelings verbally may findan outlet in
movement. The National Dance EducationOrganization states, "Dance
promotes psychological healthand maturity. Children enjoy the
opportunity to expresstheir emotions and become aware of themselves
and oth-ers through creative movement. A preschool child enters
adance class or classroom with a history of emotional experi-ences.
Movement within a class offers a structured outlet forphysical
release of feelings and emotions" CNDEÜ 2009).
Creativity
In the years ahead, children will enter a global workforce.We
need to teach children to look at problems in new ways,to practice
critical thinking skills, and to learn collabora-tion and
cooperation in finding new solutions. The NationalCenter on
Education and the Economy states. "Whereas formost of the 20th
century the U.S. could take pride in havingthe best-educated
workforce in the world, that is no longertrue" (NCEE 2007, 24). In
proposing solutions, the authorspoint to the development of
creative thinkers as one of thekeys to success: "Seeing new
patterns and possibilities is tbeessence of creativity" (WCEE 2007,
24).
in a speech at the 2006 TED (technology, entertainment,and
design) Conference. Sir Ken Robinson, an author andinternational
leader in educational and industrial reformand innovation, said,
"We are educating people out of theircreative capacities. Picasso
once said that all children areborn artists. The trick is to remain
an artist as we growup. I believe this passionately: We don't grow
into creativ-ity; we grow out of it. Or. rather, we get educated
out of it.Creativity now is as important in education as literacy,
andwe should treat it with the same status" (2006).
The creative arts, by definition, nurture these aspects
ofdeveloping children. Movement allows young children toapproach
tasks through the body, or kinesthetically, andcome up with new
questions, new answers, and innovativesolutions. (For more ideas
for integrating movement intoyoung children's day and nurturing the
creative spirit, see"Creative Dance Starters for Young
Children.")
The mind-body connection:Movement and the brain
Research shows that movement and exercise can sparkthe growth of
new brain cells and facilitate learning (Ratey2008). In Snwrt
Moves: Why Learning fs Nol All in Your Head,neuropbysiologist Carla
Hannaford explores the role ofthe body and movement in tbe learning
process. She con-
cludes, "Movement, a natural process of life, is now under-stood
to be essential to learning, creative thought, and highlevel formal
reasoning. It is time to consciously bring inte-grative movement
back into every aspect of our lives andrealize, as 1 have, that
something this simple and naturalcan be the source of miracles"
(Hannaford 1995. 214).
In his book. Spark: The Revolutionary New Science ofExercise and
the Brain, Ratey states, "Exercise improveslearning on three
levels: first, it optimizes your mind-set toimprove alertness,
attention, and motivation; second, it pre-pares and encourages
nerve cells to bind to one another.which is the cellular basis for
logging in new information;and third, it spurs the development of
new nerve cellsfrom stem cells in the hippocampus" (2008, 53).
Ratey saysabout physical activity. "Building muscles and
conditioningthe heart and lungs are essentially side effects. I
often tellmy patients that the point of exercise is to build and
condi-tion the brain" (p. 3).
Evidence is mounting about the benefits of movement inthe
learning process. Creative dance is the perfect vehiclefor
enhancing the mind-body connection in young childrenand an
important part of early education. Once educatorsbecome familiar
with movement and its many benefits,instead of asking. "What is
creative movement?" the ques-tion will be, "Why not creative
movement?"
ReferencesChenfeld, M.B. 2005. Education is a
moving experience: Get movin"! InSpotlight on young children and
thecreative arts, ed. [). Koraiek, 50-51.Washington. DC: NAEYC.
Gilbert, A.G. 2002. Teaching the threeRs through movement
experiences.Silver Spring, MD: National DanceEducation
Organization.
Hannaford. C. 1995. Smart moves:Why learning is not all in
yourhead. Arlington, VA: Great OceanPublishers.
Hellmich,N. 2010. MichelleObama to fight child obesityat grass
roots: New initiativewill empower (ainilies and communities to
livehealthier. USA Today, .lanuary 21.
NCEE (National Center on Education and the Economy.) 2007.
Toughchoices or tough times: The report of the New Commis.uon on
the Skillsof Ihe American Workforce. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
NDEO (National Dance Education Organization;). 2009. Standards
fordance in early childhood Silver Spring, MD: Author.
Pica. R. 2006. Physical fitness and the early childhood
curriculum.Young Children B\ (3): 16.
Ratey. J.J. 2008. SPARK: The revolutionary new science of
exercise andthe brain. New York: Little. Brown.
RWJF (Rohert Wood Johnson Foundation). 2006. Institute of
Medicinereport: Progress in preventing childhood obesity: How do we
measure£/p.''www.rwjf.org/childhoodobesÍty/product.j.sp?id^l8250'íí.2(l
Robinson, K. 2006. Schools must validate artistic expression:
Creativ-ity is a key part of the educated mind. Speech presented at
the TEDConference, February, in Monterey, California,
www.edutopia.org/take-chance-let-t hem-dance.
Stinson. S. 1988. Dance for young children- Finding the magic in
movement.Washington, DC: American Alliance for Health and Physical
Education.
Copyright © 2010 by the National Association for the Education
of Young Children. See Pemiissions and Reprints online at
www.naeyc.org/yc/pemiissions.
-
The Performing Arts: Music. Dance, and Th
Creative Dance Starters for Young Children
Just about anything can be an impetus for children to moveand
dance, creating a learning experience as well as a play-ful and
lively physical activity.
Greetings and helio games
'Let's wave to each other withour hands. What other parts ofyour
body can you use to wave?""Can you wave with all the partsat
once?"
Circie timemovement games
"Do you knowthe game Tele-phone? You whis-pgP g word in your
neighbor's ear. and shepasses it along to the next person. This
move-
ment game is like that, except we will be passing
alongmovements. I will think of the first one."
Begin with something simple, like crossing anduncrossing your
arms. The next person watches, turnsto his neighbor, and performs
the same movement.Children pass it along till it goes all the way
around thecircle. Repeat until everyone has had a chance to
intro-duce a movement.
At the end, review all the movements with the childrenin the
order they created them, and do them sequentiallyall together. Try
them standing, play some music, and per-forming the movements
together becomes a dance!
Dance stories from booifs, songs, and poems
Descrtptions of movement images abound in children'sliterature.
Here are guidelines for creating a dance story:1. Select 5-7 images
in a book (or song, poem, or story) thatcould spark movement ideas,
such as descriptions of a char-acter, pictures or words that depict
action, or other images tospur the imagination. Through the
expioration of movements,children can bring the story to life.
2. Choose music for the dance story. Use a quiet piece,
pref-erably an instrumental, for the background, and then
inter-sperse it with a more upbeat song or instrumental
selectionfor the more active sections of the story.
3. Read the book aloud to the class. Then ask the childrento go
to a personal space. Before you begin reading again.
remind them to be aware of othersin the shared space.4. Play the
music. In the order theyhappen, retell the highlights of thestory
(using the 5-7 images youchose) and call out movementprompts. Allow
each section todevelop. The children will naturallythink of
variations as they relivethe story through movement. Pickup on
these, and add your ownideas, so that each section is
fullyexplored. Then, move on to thenext movement prompt.
5. Bring the story to a conclusion. You can do this
throughmovement by asking them to hold a final position that
relatesto an idea in the story, to come together in a circle, or
toreturn to their original spots. Hold a follow-up discussionabout
the story or about their movement experiences.
Themes
Pick up on your daily and weekly themes, and add move-ment to
any topic the children are exploring. For example, forthe theme
spritig. prompt children to dance the making of agarden: dig the
holes, plant the seeds, water and weed, watchplants grow, and
finally harvest the vegetables or flowers.
Transitions
"Today we are going to think about how animals move. Thinkof
your favorite animal, and I am going to ask you one by oneto move
like that animal as you go to your cubby to put on yourcoat." Use
cues for signaling the start and stop for each child'smovement. For
the next several days, continue this activityduring transitions.
Try narrowing the choices each day: animalsthat fly. animals in the
ocean, animals that live in the jungle.
Props
Scarves, streamers, shakers, costumes, small musicalinstruments,
small flashlights or fiber optic lights, stuffedanimals, pipe
cleaner bracelets with colorful ribbons tied tothem, pompoms, hats,
and any items the children make.
Quiet-down activities
Bring each activity to a quiet conclusion. You could askthe
children to freeze in a shape (connected to the theme) atthe end of
a dancing session. For example, to finish an activ-ity about
winter, prompt: "Can you freeze in the shape of asnowflake? Try to
hold that shape as you melt to the floor!"
Youtig Children'March 2Q^Q 35
-
Copyright of YC: Young Children is the property of National
Association for the Education of Young Childrenand its content may
not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv
without the copyrightholder's express written permission. However,
users may print, download, or email articles for individual
use.
