For most elementary age students around the country the core subjects such as science, math, and reading are separated from the arts. However, schools across the country are slowly combining the arts with the other subjects and are finding success. Dance is one form of art that would have multiple benefits for students. Dance and physical movement should be incorporated into elementary education because it improves students’ attention and interest in learning, improves learning in core subjects, and promotes a healthy lifestyle in students.
The first reason why teachers should integrate dance into education is that dance increases students’ attention and reaches students of different learning types. One study was done to determine whether lessons that incorporate movement were effective at generating student’s situational interest. They compared the outcomes of movement and non movement lessons in second and third grade reading and math classes. The teachers provided one week of lessons that included movement and one week of lessons that did not. Students were asked to use their bodies to illustrate specific concepts they were taught. At the end of the study, the teachers rated students’ interest levels, and they found that students were more excited by and engaged in the lessons that integrated movement than those that did not. Surprisingly, they also found that the dancing did not hinder the amount of content learned during the lesson (Lindt and Miller). Dance could be a
Students will gain an understanding of how form in dance and music relate. They will increase their knowledge of movement vocabulary by applying it through choreography. Weekly exposure to new movements
Dance is one of the most beautiful, expressive forms of art known to mankind. It expresses joy, love, sorrow, anger, and the list truly goes on for all the possible emotions that it can convey. Dance not only can express how one feels, but it can tell a story or even be used to praise a higher power. Dance has intricately played an important role to every culture over the course of time. Two forms of dance that have not only stood against the test of time but have influenced the development of other various styles of dance is none other than Classical Ballet and Modern Dance.
Many people consider activities such as, football, baseball, volleyball, and track to be a sport. The qualities that tend to make these activities considered sports are, running, tackling, hitting a ball, participating in relays, and so much more. Not mentioned in this list of sports is dance. People tend to believe that dance is nothing more than moving your body to some music, it is also very mentally engaging as well as being a physically demanding activity. The question that many might ask: Why is dance not classified as a sport? Dancers that compete in competitive situations do not get off as easily as people may think. These dancers require countless hours of exercising, training, and stretching, just as much, if not more, than other sports. To perfect the art of dancing comes with years of training and dedication. With this explanation of the art of dancing, it can be concluded that dance is in fact a sport.
Endurance, discipline, focus, commitment, and responsibility are just a few of the qualities of an athlete (PhraseMix). By definition a sport is an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment (Hacker). Dance pushes dancers physically and mentally, to be a great dancer and have a successful team everyone needs to be at their physically best. “Dancers train every morning and some evenings, stretching, doing technique, some weight lifting and core strengthening workouts, and learning, polishing, and critiquing dances” (McNitt-Gray). Doing all of those things builds up the skill not only as an individual, but as a team working together to look their best when they perform.
If “a dance is like a conversation,” as is wonderfully expressed by the broadway musical Disney’s The Little Mermaid, then why, for school dances, don’t we actually dance? There’s nothing wrong with it, at all, so why don’t we do it? School dances have become more like social get-togethers where people bring a date and listen to the most popular music of the day. The problem with this is that it creates a very bad environment, and students lose a valuable social skill, but, if we gave instruction of how to dance and the opportunity to dance, these problems would be solved and school dances would be safer and more fun.
‘Children’s ability and need to express feelings fully and freely with their bodies makes movement and dance a vital part of any educational program.’ (Cecil-Fizdale 1991 in The Arts and Early Childhood )
I attended DancePlus show On Friday December 2, 2011 at 7:30pm at night. It was performed in the Victoria K. Mastrobounno Theater in New Brunswick, New Jersey. There were four different parts that I saw that day. All of the dances were very interesting and very different from each other. All of the dances had its own unique key factor that separated it from each other. I enjoyed the entire show very well. Out of all the dances I had strong reaction to “Lapa’s Lament”. I believe this specific dance stood out to me compared to the other dances from the show. This show had many different factors that stood out from other shows in the entire performance.
Dance can be considered as a form of learning, and it is one which most children will not only enjoy, but also find it a fun way of learning by doing (kinaesthetic learning). Best of all, with the increasing statistics of child obesity, dance represents an excellent form of exercise!
Ever since I was little I was told that I was adopted. At first I did not want to contact my mom because I was afraid that she did not want know me. I asked my adoptive mom if there was anything about my birth mom at out house. My adoptive mom had some papers on her but not a lot and the information may be not correct since it may have changed over the years. The birth dad was not a part of the picture. From those papers, I learned a little bit more about her but not a lot. Some information that was on the paper was her favorite classes were math and dance. I found that interesting since I do not like math but I love to dance. Dance is one of my passions. I was surprised that she did not graduate from high school. She only got through 10th grade. She has some qualities that are similar to me, which I like.
Activities such as art and dance take place in classrooms, both of which consist of very different environments. In an art classroom dull wooden tables and chairs occupy the room stained with thousands of different paint combinations. Usually a sink can be found in the back of the room filled with dirty paintbrushes and murky water occupying the filthy art tools the artist before had used. On the other hand, a wide open room surrounded by mirrors with polished shiny wooden floors (not stained with paint), is known as a dance classroom. Nothing more but mirrors is required in a dance classroom, giving the dancer the opportunity to focus and observe themselves, allowing them to recognize different skills they can accomplish through body movement. The dance classroom is a perfect place for those looking to get out of their comfort zone and just let go and have fun.
New York City in the 1970’s was a time of glitter, groovy music, and disco. I am Tim Arnold and I attended LaGuardia High School school in the borough of Manhattan. We live in a small apartment as a middle class white family with my mother, my older sister, and myself. My father ended up dying in 1971 during the Vietnam War. After that my mother was never the same. She took to dance to get her mind off of the loss. In my opinion she has actually become really good at dance and I think she is starting to come to peace with the tragedy.