Why dance?

At the beginning of semester 2, I had my first dance workshop. The idea of this was quite daunting as I had not participated in this subject since primary school. However, it really gave me an insight into the different activities I could involve children in without making it complicated. We worked in pairs and groups where we thought of steps and moves, discussed this and then implemented this into a routine. This process was very effective, as we were able to negotiate with our peers before we concluded which one we liked the best.

I enjoy dance as a hobby. Through the use of technology, I am able to watch videos or solo dancers and groups where I can try to adapt the dance routine that they do to suit me. I feel as if this really helps not only myself, but in school it helps children make choices for themselves. What aspect of the routine do they enjoy? How could they challenge this? Can they put this into practice by working in groups? It helps not only their physical health and well being, but also the mental and social aspects of this curriculum.

One of the outcomes is:

Developing the skills and attributes which I will need for learning, life and work. I am gaining understanding of the relevance of my current learning to future opportunities. This is helping me to make informed choices about my life and learning.
HWB 3-19a

When the children are physically moving, they are developing their control and balance. They are making decisions mentally whether or not their movements are safe or not. This is used in everyday life and work as they will need to think about the health and safety aspect within what they do. They need to be assertive and conscious of others thus developing their social skills. Working with others allows different ideas to bounce off further developing their team working skills. I realised that when I cover this aspect of the curriculum, it has to be child centred and child led rather than me telling them what to do just as in the workshop, we were given instructions but how we implemented this was entirely up to us. As every group shared their routine, I observed and came to a realisation that not one group was the same. Why? Because dance is so broad. It is a subject where there is no right or wrong, rather only areas of development. Children are social beings who like movements therefore I believe through dance, they are able to put their creativity into use.

 

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