Dance: The Magic Of Free Body Movements

Human movement occurs in time, through space, and with some kind of force, effort, or energy. All movement and stillness occur in time. It is remarkable how differently people sense time, either as a very precise monitor or a very loose construct. It should not come as a great surprise, therefore, to discover that in working with time as an element of dance, people have different preferences and strengths. Children naturally communicate through movement.

They express their fears, excitement, and all their other emotions with movement. Dance for the young children is a focus on developing creativity, expressing emotion, building social skills, encouraging independence, building their self-confidence, stimulating mental processes, enhancing their physical development, and expanding their rhythmic and body awareness. The connection between movement and child development is obvious. A number of studies have proven the benefit of dance and a child's overall development with regard to the mental, physical, and emotional faculties.

Children who have participated in dance from a young age have better attention spans, are creative problem-solvers, and are more well-balanced and adjusted. When it comes to dance, it can be tremendously helpful for physical development. Clapping of the hands, moving along with music, and stamping the feet are movements that aids in developing large muscle control in children. Children can learn important concepts of moving up, down, left, right, slow, or fast when they are dancing to the music. Although it is surprising, music and dance can help with the development of math skills as well.

The beats in dance are basically patterns, which is an important part of math. Kids learn to count with the beats, they can learn about sizes and shapes, and even measurements are often involved in dance. Many people have found that children can more easily learn mathematical concepts, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division when it is set to dance.

Dance therapy is an expressive psychotherapy that combines the theories of psychoanalysis and early child development to facilitate and foster positive psychological and emotional growth for an individual. With the help of dance therapy, emotions are accessed and then released through expressive movement. Here a positive transformation takes place to facilitate the overall well being of the child. Through dance, children understand diverse positions and steps, which utilize all parts of their body. They learn about proper postures, head and body alignment and moving with their whole body to produce a flow of movement. Children can use the skills acquired not only in dancing but also in games, sports, and activities of everyday living.