Comprehensive Study Guide: Dance Integration and Kinesthetic Learning in Schools

The Cultural and Educational Context of Dance

• Modern Cultural Phenomenon: Dance has transcended the school environment, fueled by television programs like Dancing with the Stars, Take the Lead, Shall We Dance, and the Learning Channel's Ballroom Bootcamp.

• Growth in Membership: Domestic interest is reflected in the skyrocketing membership of the U.S. Amateur Ballroom Dancers Association.

• Documentary Success: The documentary Mad Hot Ballroom, which follows New York City fifth graders in a dance competition, is the tenth highest-grossing documentary of all time.

• Higher Education Trends: Universities ranging from Harvard to Wittenberg see students engaging in ballroom styles including waltz, tango, samba, and salsa.

• Arts Integration (AI): In American schools, AI is used to rescue curricula from "flat, dull routines" (Grumet, 2004) that cause emotional disengagement. By integrating dance, learning is literally "brought to its feet."

The Nature and Lexicon of Dance

• Dynamic Language: Dance is unique as it functions as both a noun and a verb. Examples include bop, boogie, cavort, dart, flick, frisk, frolic, gambol, groove, gyrate, hop, jig, jump, leak, mosh, pirouette, prance, rock, shimmy, sway, trip, twirl, and whirl.

• Figurative Language: Common idioms derived from dance include "shake a leg," "get down," "hoof it," "cut a rug," and "trip the light fantastic."

• Comprehensive Development: Dance optimizes all aspects of human growth, specifically emotional, physical, social, cognitive, and aesthetic development (College Board, 2012a; NCAS, 2013).

• Thinking Beyond Words: Dancers use movement to communicate messages that eclipse words. While artists think visually and musicians think in sound, dancers think in body movement and space. Movement is not a substitute for words but a way to express ideas and feelings that words cannot fully capture.

Dance in Early Childhood and Cross-Curricular Learning

• Waldorf Schools Example: Geometry concepts are first experienced through movement. Six-year-olds walk or run shapes (triangles, circles, squares, pentagons) to understand aspects like right angles and equal distance from a center point.

• Hands-on and Feet-on: While education often emphasizes "hands-on" learning, dance is "feet-on," engaging the whole body.

• The Goal of Integration: Dance integration is not about "loosey-goosey" creative expression or simple recreation. It is a vehicle used to create and show meaning, challenging students physically, cognitively, and emotionally.

• The "Bum Goes Numb" Rule: Educational engagement decreases when students are sedentary. Dance increases motivation and engagement, leading to gains in basic skills such as reading and math (Rabkin & Redmond, 2004).

• Low Achievers: Arts integration effects are most significant for hard-to-reach or low-achieving students.

Classroom Snapshot: Science and Skeleton Dancing

• The Instructor: Wrenn Cook, a dance education expert, demonstrates two-way integration: using dance in the classroom and bringing academic subjects into dance lessons.

• Instructional Sequence: The lesson begins with a physical warm-up to engage thinking and utilizes inquiry throughout.

• Choreography Problem: Students are divided into heterogeneous groups (mixed gender, race, and ability) to create a group dance about the skeletal system based on a handout of seven "commands."

• Commands and Solutions:

  • Command: "Touch some phalanges to a patella."

  • Solution 1: A boy poses with fingers touching his kneecaps.

  • Solution 2: A girl balances on one leg, touching toes to the opposite knee.

• Coaching and Feedback: Wrenn circulates, using descriptive feedback and coaching questions to scaffold students toward higher and more original thinking.

• Creative Inquiry Responses: Students suggest specific moves, such as moving the pelvis left and right while raising up and down on the metatarsals, combined with solo shapes where others freeze.

Pillar I: Why Integrate Dance and Movement?

1. Indispensable Communication: Movement is a universal language with "dialects" across cultures (Hanna, 1999). Renowned dancers like Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham emphasized that movement reveals what cannot be said.

   • Baby Sign Language: Infants can use gestures as young as nine months. Using "baby sign" can lead to a $12$-point IQ advantage and higher reading scores (Hochman, 2005).

2. Developing Complex Thinking: Thomas Edison famously stated, "Great ideas originate in the muscles." Artists think "out of the box," seeking alternative solutions and working collaboratively.

3. Integral to Real Life: Dance is present in religious rituals, social lives (proms), weddings, and funerals. States like North and South Carolina have official state dances (clogging and shagging).

4. Soft Skills Development: Ensemble work teaches responsibility and respect. Students learn to manage their bodies and commit to rigorous, hard work.

5. Increasing Sensitivity and Cooperation: Group inquiry provides a context for active listening (paraphrasing, eye contact) and nonverbal response. There is no "right" or "wrong" body shape, allowing all children (including those labeled hyperactive) to find success.

6. Building Focus and Concentration: Humans generally cannot concentrate for more than $15$ to $20$ minutes without movement. Exercise releases endorphins that block distractions.

7. Self-Control and Confidence: Controlling the body helps students control their lives. Jacques D'Amboise is cited as an example, using ballet to stay off the streets of Harlem.

8. Integrated Brain-Body-Soul Work: Robert Sylwester notes that emotion drives attention, and attention drives learning. Dance activates body-kinesthetic intelligence plus all seven other intelligences (Gardner, 1996).

9. Promoting Health: Physical activity is critical as obesity levels skyrocket.

   • TV and NAEP Scores: One hour of TV/day results in a score of $224$; $4$ to $5$ hours results in $213$; $6$ or more hours results in $196$.

   • Neurochemistry: Dance triggers endorphins (painkillers) and catecholamine (alertness hormone).

10. Aesthetic Need for Beauty: Maslow placed the need for beauty near the pinnacle of his hierarchy. Neurologist Mark Hallett claims brain use is maximized ($100\%$) during peak athletic work.

11. Cultural Understanding: Dance reflects the time, place, and values of its creators.

    • Examples: Clogging reflects ruggest mountain life; Shag reflects beach life; The Ghost Dance of the $19$th-century Native Americans was an effort to conjure ancestral spirits.

12. Cross-Curricular Tools: The part of the brain that processes movement is the same area that processes learning.

13. Fun and Emotional Context: Active learning induces memories that last a lifetime. Deep breathing increases oxygen intake, and laughter releases endorphins.

Research Update 10.1: Dance and Achievement

• Problem Solving: Keun & Hunt (2006) concluded problem-solving is intrinsic to dance making.

• Academic Gains: National Dance Institute (NYC) participants showed improved achievement in all subjects (Hanna, 2001).

• Literacy Statistics:

  • First graders with $20$ dance-based reading lessons scored higher in phonetic skills (MacMahon, Roe, & Parks, 2003).

  • Reading in Motion (RIM): $60\%$ of RIM students reached grade-level reading benchmarks at the end of third grade, compared to only $19\%$ of the control group. $75\%$ of RIM kindergartners achieved requirements compared to $17\%$ of the control.

• Math and SATs: Students with four or more years of dance background scored higher on math and verbal SATs (College Board).

• Physical Activity: Walking is linked to better attention and academic performance (Hillman & Castelli, 2009).

• Social Benefits: Dance provides an "emotional safe haven" and serves as an assimilation tool for immigrants (Fiske, 1999).

• Science Scores: Third-grade science scores on the water cycle improved to $97\%$ when dance was the vehicle (Baron, 1997).

Pillar II: Dance Literacy - The BEST Elements

• Dance vs. Movement: Movement is functional (e.g., typing). Movement becomes dance when the purpose transcends task completion and communicates "spirit" (Murray, 1975).

• Creative Movement: Modern dance genesis lies in exploring natural movements rather than specific genres like ballet.

• The BEST Acronym:

  • BODY: Includes body parts and body shapes (curved, sharp, symmetrical).

    • Non-locomotor (Axial): Movements in place (stretch, bend, twist, rise, fall, circular, shake, suspend, sway, swing, collapse).

    • Locomotor: Movement through space (walk, run, leap, hop, jump, gallop, skip, slide).

  • ENERGY: The force/mood intended. Includes attack (smooth/sharp), weight (heavy/light), strength (tight/loose), and flow (sudden/sustained).

  • SPACE: Personal or shared area. Includes levels (low-middle-high), directions, size, pathways (direct/indirect), and focus (concentration).

  • TIME: Includes rhythm, pulse/beat, speed (tempo), accent (emphasis), duration, and phrases (dance "sentences").

Music for Dance Integration

• Selection Criteria: Music should promote creative, not stereotyped, movement. Avoid electronic or loud music that promotes "bump and grind."

• Recommended Artists/Works:

  • Classical: Brahms' "Fourth Symphony," Debussy's "Clouds," Wagner's "Forest Murmurs," Copeland's "Billy Kid."

  • Children's: Ella Jenkins.

  • Modern/Atmospheric: Enya.

  • Folk: Putamayo's "A World Instrumental Collection."

• Judicious Use of Pop: Pop music must be school-appropriate and clearly connected to the topic.

• Music for Creative Dance (Vols 1-4): Available at the Ravenna Ventures website.