Image credit: Turned on its Head dance company Children love to move! In fact, we were all born to do it. Dance is a fun and creative way to get young children connecting with their bodies. Research has demonstrated it also directly helps with young children’s physical and sensorimotor development. However, while many teachers and parents know that children’s creative movement is important, many are hesitant to do it as they don’t think they are good at it! I recently spoke with Liz Clark, an English early years dance artist, about the importance of dance and creative movement in children’s lives. Liz is the Artistic Director of the Turned on its Head, a dance company that has produced popular children’s dance performances including Sponge and Shiny. In our conversation, Liz shares some fantastic ideas for how adults can do creative movement at home with little ones – no fancy equipment…
How to teach creative movement to children
Dance is an important part of both early childhood education and visual art. This post talks about why creative movement is important in children’s learning and introduces the work of Rudolf Laban, one of the pioneers of dance education. Dance in education and art In tribal societies, where no formal education existed, dance was used to tell stories and educate children. Like other art forms, it has also provided a means for people to come to terms with and express difficult feelings that could not be communicated through words. Dance is also a very important part of contemporary art with many major art museums staging specialized performances like you can see in the video below of Tate’s ‘If Tate Modern was Musée de la danse?’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaYSTQGDK7s Why is creative movement important in children’s learning? Anyone who has spent time with children will know that kids love to move and jump around.…