The Holistic Benefits of Dance Education

By Kelly Peckholdt

I have been a dancer my entire life.  I have been trained in all dance disciplines, have danced competitively, and have auditioned on the professional level. Dance is one of my first loves and my favorite way to express myself, and now I am devoted to passing that passion onto my dance students.  While it is common knowledge that dance is a great form of exercise and an even better creative outlet, few people are aware of the holistic benefits of a quality dance education.

Children naturally love to move. As the owner of Positions Dance Studio in the village, I speak to many new clients who register their two- or three-year-old for dance because he or she “loves to dance around the house.” Children move to achieve mobility, to express a thought or feeling, or because it simply feels good.  Small children, however, are not aware that learning movement is also helping their language acquisition, social skills, self-esteem, physical health, and cognitive development.

Studies show that dance helps children develop literacy skills and language acquisition. When you teach preschool age dancers, this is something you see firsthand on a weekly basis.  In one of my three-year-old classes, I once had a student who was two when she began in September – on the younger side for the class. When she started classes in September, she was essentially nonverbal and had a difficult time coordinating her little body to perform the necessary movements.  Literacy involves the translation of movement and communication into words, so over time young dancers internalize the necessary movements as well as learn how to articulate themselves more clearly.  By January, this particular student was already noticeably more coordinated and verbal.  Through teaching young dancers the correct terminology that corresponds with the movements they are performing and by teaching it through fun songs and games, dance fosters children’s cognitive development from an early age.

According to the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, not only is dance great physical exercise, but it also has a significant impact on higher-level thought processes.  The brain learns fastest and most efficiently between the ages of four and twelve.  As we move, our muscles produce proteins that travel through the bloodstream and support the mechanisms necessary for higher level thinking and creativity. Additionally, practice, discipline, and focus are required skills for a dancer, and these skills are useful across many other areas of children’s lives. Since dance helps to develop many essential life skills and foster creativity, students who regularly participate in dance classes tend to perform better academically than some of their peers.

Dance class is also a great way for children to learn a routine, develop various social and communication skills, learn to be part of a team, and make sometimes lifelong friends. One of the girls I started dancing with when we were three years old is still one of my good friends. I now watch my dance students forming the same kinds of friendships.  My performance groups, in particular, are so supportive and welcoming, and it is refreshing to see. Girls who may be more shy and reserved fit right in and everyone learns how to be part of a team – so there are also self-esteem and emotional benefits, too.  For these reasons, dance is great outlet for students who are physically or mentally disabled. At Positions, we started a Special Needs class this year, and it has been enormously successful.

Despite all of these wonderful, often unknown benefits of dance education, dance is very often overlooked in the public school system. Unfortunately, there is often a lack of funding for extra programs like this. Some schools in our area have tried to have a dance program as part of the Physical Education requirement, but with budget cuts the dance program is one of the first things to go.  There are ways to incorporate this kind of movement into our education system, however, without requiring funding for separate facilities and programs. There are many ways in which dance can be used as part of an interdisciplinary education in our schools.  Dance can be used to enhance lessons in history, language and culture, math, and science. I am also a high school social studies teacher, and dance can be used to teach about various artistic movements throughout history as well as about different cultural traditions. When we dance, our bodies move through space in arcs, circles, and patterns, so dance movements can be incorporated into math lessons, too. Dance is also useful for children to learn anatomy. Especially with my older dance students, I always teach them the names and uses of the muscles that we use for our good, ballerina posture and the various movements we perform throughout class. Overtime, they start to consciously think about the muscles that they are using and how to manipulate their bodies to perform certain movements in class.

As childhood obesity rates remain high in this country, consider a more holistic approach to your child’s development. The physiological, social, intellectual, and aesthetic benefits of a dance education are limitless. I do hope that more and more teachers and leaders in education begin to see the value in dance education. No additional funding is necessary – only teachers with a creative vision and willingness to incorporate some movement into their students’ day.