Superhero. Ballerina princess. Sparkly snowflake. Young children love pretend play, and there’s no better place for them to spread their imaginative wings than a creative movement class. Why choose a creative movement dance program for your child? Beyond the tutus and fairy dust, creative movement dance classes have long-term benefits that help children excel in the dance studio, everyday life and the traditional classroom.
In a recent study “Effects of Pretend Imagery on Learning Dance in Preschool Children,” Tori Sacha and Sandra Russ divided 32 children ages 3-6 into four dance classes. Two groups were taught the traditional way and the other two through pretend play and creative imagery. The results – children in the pretend imagery group had significantly better visual fixation on the instructor and showed more engagement and enjoyment during the task. They also needed less prompting, time to recall and took a shorter amount of time to learn the skill than children in the traditional teaching group.
Creative movement dance classes help young children improve:
- Physical Development: Taking dance class enhances the physical development that occurs between ages two and seven. During this time, important locomotor skills take place such as creeping, walking, jumping and leaping. Also, nonlocomotor skills like stretching, bending, twisting and shaking occur. The more this age group regularly practices these motor skills, the more they improve their balance and stability.
- Emotional Understanding and Social Skills: Creative movement enables young children to express ideas, thoughts, emotions and feelings through movement. Recently, a study found that parents, teachers and caregivers of children enrolled in creative movement dance programs were recognized as being more socially competent and cooperative in groups, could listen, understand and respond to instructions better, and had fewer behavioral problems.
- Sensory Awareness: Children perceive the world through their senses, which leads to a greater understanding of themselves and everything around them. In a creative movement class, all the senses are engaged as children explore different aspects of movement. From a kinesthetic sense, they feel the different shapes and actions their bodies are making. Visually, they respond to the images they see and create. Through sound, they react to the music they hear. A tactile experience might be running around with bare feet or swinging a scarf.
- Self-Esteem: The more young children learn and develop new skills, the greater their self-esteem. Nothing makes a dance teacher or parent smile more than when a child exclaims, “I did it!”
- Classroom Performance: Studies have shown that children who take dance class regularly have better reasoning and problem-solving skills, math, science and social studies skills, and an edge on language and literacy. They also grasp the concept of colors, shapes and opposites better. So enrolling them in a creative movement class might be a smartest move you ever made!
To sum it up, creative movement classes are a non-competitive way for children to explore dance through music, stir the imagination, release energy, improve their physical and mental development, and have plain ol’ fun. Want to introduce your child to dance in a happy, creative and engaging setting? Check out Impact’s First Steps program, which offers everything from Twinkle Tots to Pre-Dance to Kinder Combo and everything in between. For more information, call 708-354-JUMP or visit www.impactdancestudio.com.
