DANZ QUARTERLY - Issue No 8: July, August, September 2007

From DANZ in schools:

Some Practical Considerations for Teaching Dance in schools

by Suzanne Renner, Senior lecturer, University of Otago College of Education

Teaching dance in the curriculum can be a rewarding opportunity for teachers to see their students in a different light.  Away from the confines of chairs and desks, children relish opportunities to move and express themselves in ways that can be both challenging and exciting.  In the planning of teaching dance, not only do teachers need to think about the dance knowledge and skills they wish to develop but they also need to consider factors and issues that impact on how their children will learn in dance.  These include the growth and development patterns of children, their social and emotional needs and safety.     

Differences between Children

Children are in different stages of physical, emotional, social, cognitive development and interests.  These differences need to be taken into consideration when planning and teaching dance.  An activity that appeals to some children may not necessarily appeal immediately to others.  However it is important that children are introduced to and experience a broad range of movements and activities to broaden and deepen their dance skills, knowledge and understanding.

Differences in children’s physical growth require an awareness of the stresses that some movements place on the body, such that vigorous, energetic movements are alternated with slow, smooth or relaxing movements.  Gender differences may be reflected in the movement preferences of boys and girls, but a dance programme that gives opportunities for all children to experience how it feels to move in unfamiliar ways, along with a selection of imagery and stimuli that is relevant to their age will help to extend children’s movement vocabularies for later use in choreography.  Varying abilities within a class can be catered for within structures that encourage co-operation and collaboration, leading to a sense of achievement and success for all.

Dance can be an area in which some children have feelings of self-consciousness and awkwardness that inhibit the extent of their participation.  An enthusiastic teacher, who chooses content that is relevant to the children and creates a positive atmosphere that enables them to talk about their experiences or to have choices within tasks, will help children to appreciate and value dance as an important part of their learning.  Group tasks will support those who feel vulnerable and unconfident in performing in front of others.  Frequent praise to acknowledge accomplishments, no matter how small, and constructive feedback will help motivation and reinforce learning.  With practice and familiarity of performing in a supportive and accepting environment, all children will progress towards being able to show what they can do and have created on their own.

For children with special needs, movement is one of the best ways to express and communicate their ideas and feelings.  Those with attention deficits will need short, focused activities.  Visual and auditory needs may require special starting and stopping signals.  Pairing children with a peer who can repeat instructions may help in the success of tasks. 

Dance classes can be a positive and productive environment in which to explore, experience and discuss cultural differences, practices and attitudes to dance and movement.  Cultural issues of touching and direct eye contact, for example, may provide opportunities for children to reveal their own personal levels of comfort in these situations.  To ensure an atmosphere of trust, a teacher may set some definite rules about what is or is not permitted before proceeding with touching activities e.g. touch only with the tip of a finger.

Safe Dance Practice

Safe dance practice should be a part of every lesson.  The teacher is instrumental in making children aware of how they can prepare the body for activity, how to take care of it when moving and how to contribute to a productive and safe working environment.

Depending on the nature and demands of the activities to follow, a dance lesson should begin with a suitable and relevant warm-up, which may be formally or informally structured.  Simple, gentle and repetitive movements can bring blood flow to the large muscle groups after which stretching and strengthening exercises can be given.  Muscle groups that are likely to be taxed later on in the lesson need to be targeted in the warm-up activities.  Besides preparing the body for activity, warm-ups can be used to introduce the topic for the day’s lesson e.g. moving joints in isolation can introduce a lesson based on marionettes.

Cool-downs in the form of slow stretches are necessary if muscles have been used vigorously and the heart rate has been raised significantly, to minimize subsequent muscle soreness.  Relaxation-type exercises or activities are also useful for easing the transition to the next class of the day.

Ideally, dance classes should take place in a space that has a wooden sprung floor that is smooth, clean and warm and is free from furniture or objects that may injure or impede movement.  It should be of a size that allows the children to move without bumping others, is suitable for the planned activities and is away from noisy distractions.  Working in bare feet is preferable, so that the children can experience the freedom that this brings, move with greater whole body awareness and safety.  In some dance styles, use of special footwear is appropriate however, as a general rule, shoes are not encouraged for dance education classes except perhaps in situations where the floor is concrete-based or cold.

Loose, unrestrictive clothing, which allows children to move flexibly and on the floor, is desirable for dance classes.  Excessively long pants should be rolled up to prevent tripping and slipping.

In anticipation of potential injury in some activities, personal safety and the safety of others need to stressed and reinforced e.g. soft landings, ways of controlling body weight when lowering to the floor, using space without bumping others.  Quick, large movements will need careful management when space is limited or when children still need to develop control and awareness of their own movements.  Taking turns or having children travel in the same direction in lines or circles may be the best choice for keeping the environment safe.  Cones or ropes laid down may be useful markers for defining the dancing space.

Accompaniment for Dance

For maintaining class control when children are moving around the room, a tambourine or portable drum can be an invaluable teaching aid.  One or two short, sharp beats are an excellent STOP signal.  By varying the force, tempo and rhythms on the drum, children’s movements can be supported in both planned and spontaneous ways to suit the objectives or needs of the activities.

Recorded music has a fullness and richness of sound that can be particularly exciting, stimulating and inspirational in a dance class.  Usually, music can create mental images and atmosphere more readily and easily than other forms of stimuli.  Finding just the right music for dance classes however can be a challenge and a time-consuming task.  Current resources for school music programmes may provide some useful tracks, but the range of music may need to be extended through the compilation of a personal library.  Music of different genres should be collected – classical, jazz, pop, ethnic, electronic, percussion, natural sounds. Selections should include (Purcell 1994) music that:

• has a definite beat
• is of different tempos – slow, moderate, fast
• has different rhythms for locomotor movements i.e. running, skipping, jumping
• produces various moods such as peaceful, strong, powerful
• evokes images and feelings e.g.  floating in space
• represents a specific culture or time period

A teacher’s voice is perhaps the most important accompaniment for dance.  Not only can the voice be used to articulate instructions, present ideas for discussion and expand children’s knowledge of dance terminology, but it can evoke quality, mood and action that support movement explorations and experiences.  Often an expressive voice is all that is needed for the class to move in the desired manner e.g. speaking with high and low pitch to suggest moving at different levels.

References:
Boorman, J (1971) Creative dance for grades four to six. Ontario: Academic Press Canada Ltd.
McGreevey-Nichols, S and Scheff.H (1995) Building dances.  Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics.
Purcell, T. M  (1994) Teaching children dance – becoming a master teacher Champaign, Illinois:Human Kinetics.
Thraves, B and Williamson D (1994) Now for a dance. Albert Park, Australia: Phoenix Education Pty Ltd.
Van Papendorp, J and Friedman, S (1997) Teaching creative dance: a handbook: – Capetown, South Africa: Kwlea Books.
Willis, C.M (2004) Dance education tips from the trenches. Champaign, Illinois: Human Kinetics.

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