Education is important in the growth and development of children. Education is continuum that cuts across the whole span of life but intensive education takes place during early years of life. The aim of any education is to foster wholesome growth including intellectual, spiritual, physical, and emotional growth. A good education system should be able to meet the physical, intellectual, cultural, emotional, and spiritual needs of students. However, developing an education system that meets these needs has been challenging and our education system has been undergoing changes over the years. During the education reforms that started in 1980s, there were calls to implement changes in different spheres of education to meet the changing needs of the job market. Over the years, dance has emerged as one of the most important component of education. Historical records show that dance has been recognized as an important activity that fosters physical, emotional, and intellectual growth. There have been calls to integrate dance as a core subject in our education system. It is believed that dance promotes personal emotional and physical growth, technical skills, relax, and relieve stress related to education and real life situation, and helps to create unison between the mind and the body. This study looks into the prospects of integrating dance in education.
Dance in education
Creative dance is a form of dance that is usually taught in elementary schools. This form of dance differs from others in the sense that this form does not require many years of training. It is made of simple movements that do not require great efforts to master but mainly aimed at harmonizing the movements between the body and the mind (Bergmann 157). Creative dance is mainly composed of elements of movements which tend to express thoughts and feelings. Creative dance is perceived to be an interpretation of childs ideas, feelings, and sensory expressions. These interpretations are expressed through body movements that encompass unique movement of body parts. Creative dance may be created by an idea from the instructor or through use of a stimulus like music, poem, and others.
However, creative dancing is viewed as a form of art. This means that like other arts, it has its aesthetic values. It is how the student moves in line with these aesthetic values, as emphasized by Laban (98), which stimulates the learning process.
The development of dance education within the mainstream education curricula has been a long journey. Dance education movement, in the United States started way back with 1980s education reforms that called for inclusion of engaging and integrating ways of delivering curricula. Dance was identified as one of the interdisciplinary curricula that could play a key role in the learning environment (Carr 70). However, analysts argue that dance is underutilized resource that could be playing a major role in education reforms and change the learning environment completely.
Dance was identified as a core subject in learning and together with music, theater and visual arts, it was included in bipartisan education reform legislation, Goals 2000 Education America Act (1994) (Hanna 59). For a long time, dance has been considered as a part time activity and only those who were interested, talented and those who could afford had access to dance. For example, Ballet has been taught to handful of students who could afford lessons offered in studios or school of arts. It is evident that dance education is not cheap as it requires intensive daily classes which mean increased cost for the student and the school.
A report on arts education prepared by the National Endowment for Arts, 1988, laid down the framework for inclusion of dance in education as a core subject. The report put forward rationale and legitimacy why dance should be an integral part of K-12 arts education (Hanna 60). According to the report, dance is not just dancing but plays other important roles like physical fitness, development of technical skills, self expression, and provides a therapeutic avenue for escaping other the demanding intellectual work and hence relaxing the mind. The report showed that dance is a meaningful way of counteracting education and real life stress which weighs heavily on student performance. In additional, dance also provide clear understanding of civilization, assist student to develop creativity, acts as a medium or tool for communication, and helps students to develop judgment in reference to images which are powerful methods of learning (Fiske 38). Moreover, dance provides and avenue for subject integration.
The ensuing education reforms are calling for instituting better ways of teaching students. The new vision in teaching encourages methods which involves student in the learning process in a way that they also enjoy learning (Graham 72). Dance has been recognized as one of the engaging, constructive, and active approach to meet the changing needs of education. Research findings shows that the best way to assist students in learning is one which assist students to connect more than one subject. The strongest way for students to learn is through images. Images form the core of learning as they evoke thoughts and also activate mind capacities. They assist in optimizing all what a student can learn.
Teachers are in a better position to use dance as a unique way of integrating teaching and learning in the curriculum (Fiske 59). This means that dance integrate well with other curricula subjects. Connecting dance and learning to real life activities makes other curricula subjects compelling and interesting to students. Dance is important in learning as it enhances learning integrated with other subjects. Dance should therefore be emphasized in education as a part of interdisciplinary learning.
The role of dance in education has been appreciated in work of many scholars. German educator, Friedrich Froebel who came up with the concept of kindergarten believed that physical education was important for child growth and development. He asserted that physical activity helped in stimulation of mind and the body to work in unison and hence foster growth and development. Another 20th century scholar, Swiss musician Emile Jaques-Dalcroze developed eurhythmics, a dance exercise that was mainly based on spontaneous body rhythms which were believed to draw synchronous mental rhythms (Hanna 54). He transformed music rhythms into dance and the resultant body movements were transformed to music again.
Rudolf Laban, who was a known dancer and educator, is credited with having developed stimulus for dance education movement. He developed Labanotation which was to become an integral part of physical education and has been used for a long time in teaching creative movements and analyzing dance movements (Hanna 55). Laban (137) is also credited for having systematized dance education through structures. He asserted that students needs to understand body movement, (what moves), space (where body moves), dynamic (how body moves), and the relationship al all these structures.
In United States, earlier scholars like HDoubler showed how dance can be used to express emotions. She believed that dance is a part of human development and contributed in various facets of development, both physical and emotional. She showed that dance stimulate creativity, which is an important element of any education process. Her work reaffirmed the importance of dance in education as a part of whole human growth. The goal of any education is to foster whole human growth and this call for multidisciplinary approach, where dance is central to integrating all these approaches.
John Dewey was a 20th century philosopher who emphasized the importance of dance in education settings (Hanna 57). Dewey showed that children learn better by doing. He contemplated the notion of action as a test of comprehension where he showed that physical health stimulates mental activity. Dewey was a critic of child centered model of learning that left student will little time for physical activity.
His work was further emphasized by Jean Piaget who showed the process of learning in children. Jean argued that children tend to learn their world in a concrete manner and he recognized how children physically express thoughts and ideas (Hanna 57). This elicited the need to give children a chance to learn about and through dance. Since then, there has been a lot of research work that has emphasized the importance of dance in learning including Howard Gardners theory of multiple intelligences which supports the existence of different intelligences that need to be taken care of in education (Hanna 58).
Howard Gardner work on multiple intelligences has been a focal point of education. His theory has gained widespread acceptance in education circles. In his theory, dance is posited to be body-kinesthetic intelligences and also cognitive skills. This implies that dance should not be taken only as a physical activity but also a way of knowing and something that students need to know about (Hanna 58). Dance stimulates cognitive growth and also addresses the concerns for motor activity and inner expression of emotions.
Gardners work was expounded by David Perkins who argued that dance can help in transfer of skills and knowledge from one core subject to another (Hanna 58). Perkins stressed the potential reverberation of dance education showing that it is core to transferability of knowledge and skills between subjects.
In her work on Taking Root to Fly Articles on Functional Anatomy, Dowd (39) assist the reader to understand how dance and education are related. In this poetic work, Dowd (53) shows how anatomy of movement is related to individuals whole growth. She uses functional anatomy to refer to a set of body-alignment practices which can be related to Alexander Technique referred to as Feldenkrais method. This was an ancient method of meditative mindful movement that encompassed ecstatic dance. Unlike the current western view that shows how mind command the body, Dowd (87) gives complete interpenetration of the relationship between mind and body. She takes time to make the reader understand mind and body unity as inspired by activities like dance, physical sports, and others.
According to Dow (60) movements like dance or other physical activities are vital for mind and body development. Uniform movements helps to connect the mind and the body so that they function as once. This framework has been used in understanding the role of dance in education. In broader perspectives, education is perceived as wholesome growth of the body. This means that education should not only foster intellectual growth but also physical growth as well.
This premise is also clearly illustrated in a study by Pelc (847) who looked at the value of dace movement in psychomotor development. This study was aimed at understand how aesthetic education through dance could influence socialization of a deaf person. The study verified the effectiveness of dance theatre in J. KorcZak Special Training and Education Center through diagnostic soundings. The study used sound materials like chronicles, press articles, and interviews with instructors. Young deaf people were recruited to participate in the dance practices and they seemed to take it with pleasures and their motivation to participate in the dancing activities was considered mature. 70 participated in the dance because they loved to dance, 20 participated due to instructors engagement, while 10 participated for health aspect. The effectiveness of the therapy was pegged on the how long student participated in the dance group activities. The study revealed that students who had participated in the dance for a longer time, 70 for 3 years, 20 for 1 year, and 10 for 2 years, showed mature outlook in life and 80 had better grades. They were also able to initiate conversation with other people easily as given by their instructor. Participants also became self consciousness through relaxation (50) and decision making (15). It was only 5 of the participants felt tired and fed up with dance practices.
The above study showed that dance plays an important role in psychomotor development. Dance relaxes the mind and creates unison between the mind and the body. In the study, it was revealed that 80 of the students, who participated in dance groups, though deaf and hence not able to recognize sound but only dance movements, recorded improved grades and had a positive outlook of life.
According to Tsompanaki and Tsompanaki (16) dance is an important part of education and teachers have to be aware of the role of dance in multifunctional cultivation of personality that can be achieved mainly through interpersonal communication. They showed that dance is an art that mainly leads children to actions and in the process it provokes creativity, imagination, intuition, and awareness. This emphasizes problem solving and decision making methods and skills that assist students to learn different ways they can use to express their thoughts and emotions. Through dance, students learn to accept the differences in communication, cultural values, and in the process learn how to cooperate and harmonize their body and mind. Therefore, Tsompanaki and Tsompanaki (19) asserts that dance in education and curriculum results from aesthetic cultivation and this can only be achieved when dance enters into the education curriculums.
Dance has been recognized as an important part of education system. Historical records show that dance has developed a long different continuum to gain acceptance in elementary education. Creative dance, which is used in education, differs from other forms of dances in the sense that it does not encompass complex movements that takes years of practice to perfect. It is made of unique simple movements which assists students to express ideas. Research shows that dance play important part in learning. Dance stimulates creativity, which is important in learning. Dance helps to stimulate the relationship between mind and body. Uniform movements in creative dances stimulate the unison between body and mind, making learning interesting and meaningful. Based on this theoretical framework, dance is being accepted as core subject in education curriculum. However, there are major challenges to overcome if dance is to gain meaningful role in education.
Dance in education
Creative dance is a form of dance that is usually taught in elementary schools. This form of dance differs from others in the sense that this form does not require many years of training. It is made of simple movements that do not require great efforts to master but mainly aimed at harmonizing the movements between the body and the mind (Bergmann 157). Creative dance is mainly composed of elements of movements which tend to express thoughts and feelings. Creative dance is perceived to be an interpretation of childs ideas, feelings, and sensory expressions. These interpretations are expressed through body movements that encompass unique movement of body parts. Creative dance may be created by an idea from the instructor or through use of a stimulus like music, poem, and others.
However, creative dancing is viewed as a form of art. This means that like other arts, it has its aesthetic values. It is how the student moves in line with these aesthetic values, as emphasized by Laban (98), which stimulates the learning process.
The development of dance education within the mainstream education curricula has been a long journey. Dance education movement, in the United States started way back with 1980s education reforms that called for inclusion of engaging and integrating ways of delivering curricula. Dance was identified as one of the interdisciplinary curricula that could play a key role in the learning environment (Carr 70). However, analysts argue that dance is underutilized resource that could be playing a major role in education reforms and change the learning environment completely.
Dance was identified as a core subject in learning and together with music, theater and visual arts, it was included in bipartisan education reform legislation, Goals 2000 Education America Act (1994) (Hanna 59). For a long time, dance has been considered as a part time activity and only those who were interested, talented and those who could afford had access to dance. For example, Ballet has been taught to handful of students who could afford lessons offered in studios or school of arts. It is evident that dance education is not cheap as it requires intensive daily classes which mean increased cost for the student and the school.
A report on arts education prepared by the National Endowment for Arts, 1988, laid down the framework for inclusion of dance in education as a core subject. The report put forward rationale and legitimacy why dance should be an integral part of K-12 arts education (Hanna 60). According to the report, dance is not just dancing but plays other important roles like physical fitness, development of technical skills, self expression, and provides a therapeutic avenue for escaping other the demanding intellectual work and hence relaxing the mind. The report showed that dance is a meaningful way of counteracting education and real life stress which weighs heavily on student performance. In additional, dance also provide clear understanding of civilization, assist student to develop creativity, acts as a medium or tool for communication, and helps students to develop judgment in reference to images which are powerful methods of learning (Fiske 38). Moreover, dance provides and avenue for subject integration.
The ensuing education reforms are calling for instituting better ways of teaching students. The new vision in teaching encourages methods which involves student in the learning process in a way that they also enjoy learning (Graham 72). Dance has been recognized as one of the engaging, constructive, and active approach to meet the changing needs of education. Research findings shows that the best way to assist students in learning is one which assist students to connect more than one subject. The strongest way for students to learn is through images. Images form the core of learning as they evoke thoughts and also activate mind capacities. They assist in optimizing all what a student can learn.
Teachers are in a better position to use dance as a unique way of integrating teaching and learning in the curriculum (Fiske 59). This means that dance integrate well with other curricula subjects. Connecting dance and learning to real life activities makes other curricula subjects compelling and interesting to students. Dance is important in learning as it enhances learning integrated with other subjects. Dance should therefore be emphasized in education as a part of interdisciplinary learning.
The role of dance in education has been appreciated in work of many scholars. German educator, Friedrich Froebel who came up with the concept of kindergarten believed that physical education was important for child growth and development. He asserted that physical activity helped in stimulation of mind and the body to work in unison and hence foster growth and development. Another 20th century scholar, Swiss musician Emile Jaques-Dalcroze developed eurhythmics, a dance exercise that was mainly based on spontaneous body rhythms which were believed to draw synchronous mental rhythms (Hanna 54). He transformed music rhythms into dance and the resultant body movements were transformed to music again.
Rudolf Laban, who was a known dancer and educator, is credited with having developed stimulus for dance education movement. He developed Labanotation which was to become an integral part of physical education and has been used for a long time in teaching creative movements and analyzing dance movements (Hanna 55). Laban (137) is also credited for having systematized dance education through structures. He asserted that students needs to understand body movement, (what moves), space (where body moves), dynamic (how body moves), and the relationship al all these structures.
In United States, earlier scholars like HDoubler showed how dance can be used to express emotions. She believed that dance is a part of human development and contributed in various facets of development, both physical and emotional. She showed that dance stimulate creativity, which is an important element of any education process. Her work reaffirmed the importance of dance in education as a part of whole human growth. The goal of any education is to foster whole human growth and this call for multidisciplinary approach, where dance is central to integrating all these approaches.
John Dewey was a 20th century philosopher who emphasized the importance of dance in education settings (Hanna 57). Dewey showed that children learn better by doing. He contemplated the notion of action as a test of comprehension where he showed that physical health stimulates mental activity. Dewey was a critic of child centered model of learning that left student will little time for physical activity.
His work was further emphasized by Jean Piaget who showed the process of learning in children. Jean argued that children tend to learn their world in a concrete manner and he recognized how children physically express thoughts and ideas (Hanna 57). This elicited the need to give children a chance to learn about and through dance. Since then, there has been a lot of research work that has emphasized the importance of dance in learning including Howard Gardners theory of multiple intelligences which supports the existence of different intelligences that need to be taken care of in education (Hanna 58).
Howard Gardner work on multiple intelligences has been a focal point of education. His theory has gained widespread acceptance in education circles. In his theory, dance is posited to be body-kinesthetic intelligences and also cognitive skills. This implies that dance should not be taken only as a physical activity but also a way of knowing and something that students need to know about (Hanna 58). Dance stimulates cognitive growth and also addresses the concerns for motor activity and inner expression of emotions.
Gardners work was expounded by David Perkins who argued that dance can help in transfer of skills and knowledge from one core subject to another (Hanna 58). Perkins stressed the potential reverberation of dance education showing that it is core to transferability of knowledge and skills between subjects.
In her work on Taking Root to Fly Articles on Functional Anatomy, Dowd (39) assist the reader to understand how dance and education are related. In this poetic work, Dowd (53) shows how anatomy of movement is related to individuals whole growth. She uses functional anatomy to refer to a set of body-alignment practices which can be related to Alexander Technique referred to as Feldenkrais method. This was an ancient method of meditative mindful movement that encompassed ecstatic dance. Unlike the current western view that shows how mind command the body, Dowd (87) gives complete interpenetration of the relationship between mind and body. She takes time to make the reader understand mind and body unity as inspired by activities like dance, physical sports, and others.
According to Dow (60) movements like dance or other physical activities are vital for mind and body development. Uniform movements helps to connect the mind and the body so that they function as once. This framework has been used in understanding the role of dance in education. In broader perspectives, education is perceived as wholesome growth of the body. This means that education should not only foster intellectual growth but also physical growth as well.
This premise is also clearly illustrated in a study by Pelc (847) who looked at the value of dace movement in psychomotor development. This study was aimed at understand how aesthetic education through dance could influence socialization of a deaf person. The study verified the effectiveness of dance theatre in J. KorcZak Special Training and Education Center through diagnostic soundings. The study used sound materials like chronicles, press articles, and interviews with instructors. Young deaf people were recruited to participate in the dance practices and they seemed to take it with pleasures and their motivation to participate in the dancing activities was considered mature. 70 participated in the dance because they loved to dance, 20 participated due to instructors engagement, while 10 participated for health aspect. The effectiveness of the therapy was pegged on the how long student participated in the dance group activities. The study revealed that students who had participated in the dance for a longer time, 70 for 3 years, 20 for 1 year, and 10 for 2 years, showed mature outlook in life and 80 had better grades. They were also able to initiate conversation with other people easily as given by their instructor. Participants also became self consciousness through relaxation (50) and decision making (15). It was only 5 of the participants felt tired and fed up with dance practices.
The above study showed that dance plays an important role in psychomotor development. Dance relaxes the mind and creates unison between the mind and the body. In the study, it was revealed that 80 of the students, who participated in dance groups, though deaf and hence not able to recognize sound but only dance movements, recorded improved grades and had a positive outlook of life.
According to Tsompanaki and Tsompanaki (16) dance is an important part of education and teachers have to be aware of the role of dance in multifunctional cultivation of personality that can be achieved mainly through interpersonal communication. They showed that dance is an art that mainly leads children to actions and in the process it provokes creativity, imagination, intuition, and awareness. This emphasizes problem solving and decision making methods and skills that assist students to learn different ways they can use to express their thoughts and emotions. Through dance, students learn to accept the differences in communication, cultural values, and in the process learn how to cooperate and harmonize their body and mind. Therefore, Tsompanaki and Tsompanaki (19) asserts that dance in education and curriculum results from aesthetic cultivation and this can only be achieved when dance enters into the education curriculums.
Dance has been recognized as an important part of education system. Historical records show that dance has developed a long different continuum to gain acceptance in elementary education. Creative dance, which is used in education, differs from other forms of dances in the sense that it does not encompass complex movements that takes years of practice to perfect. It is made of unique simple movements which assists students to express ideas. Research shows that dance play important part in learning. Dance stimulates creativity, which is important in learning. Dance helps to stimulate the relationship between mind and body. Uniform movements in creative dances stimulate the unison between body and mind, making learning interesting and meaningful. Based on this theoretical framework, dance is being accepted as core subject in education curriculum. However, there are major challenges to overcome if dance is to gain meaningful role in education.
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