10.7: Supporting Dance

Dance and movement are an inherent part of life and are as natural as breathing. Dance is an elemental human experience and a means of expression. It begins before words are formed, and it is innate in children before they use language to communicate. It is a means of self-expression and can take on endless forms. Movement is a natural human response when thoughts or emotions are too overwhelming or cannot be expressed in words.

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Figure 10.18: Dancing with wings[1]

Dance

  • Movement: The use of the body to move to music and express oneself.

Indicators

Children may….

Examples

Children may….
  1. Safely practice simple locomotor and non-locomotor movements.
  2. Explore movement in time and space using shape, size, level, direction, stillness, and transference of weight (stepping).
  3. Explore movement to encourage (kinesthetic) body awareness.
  4. Explore simple phrases of movement to experience rhythm, clapping, and moving to music in relationship to others.
  1. March and dance to music or rhythmical sounds.
  2. Suggest a way to move (e.g., like a butterfly) during the transition from outdoors to indoors.
  3. Participate in jumping/leaping over “rivers” spread around the room.
  • Create, Compose, and Choreograph: Using the dance elements of space, time, and energy to explore, improvise, and develop movement phrases, sequences, and dances.

Indicators

Children may…

Examples

Children may….
  1. Create movements in response to sensory ideas (e.g., textures, colors, smells) and images from nature.
  2. Move to express different feelings in personal and general spaces.
  3. Explore movement while moving with objects (e.g., scarves, feathers, balls).
  4. Transfer the same movements to different body parts and use repetition.
  1. Describe why they chose those specific movements to express a certain emotion.
  2. Demonstrate a creative movement in pretend play (e.g., a cat pouncing on a ball, a fish swimming in the classroom aquarium, a rocket ship lifting off).
  3. Move creatively to instrumental music.
  4. Lead a simple movement pattern for others to copy.
  • Historical and Cultural Context: Understanding the global and cultural relevance of dance.

Indicators

Children may….

Examples

Children may….
  1. Explore how dance expresses ideas and emotions.
  2. Explore occasions for dance across different cultures.
  3. Explore shapes, levels, and patterns in a dance, and describe the actions.
  1. Bring in a photo to show and/or talk about an occasion in which they experienced dance.
  2. Watch a performance with interest and begin to copy a movement observed in a dance.
  • Reflect, Connect, and Respond: Reflecting upon dance, connecting it with other disciplines, and responding to it to discuss and analyze dance as art.

Indicators

Children may….

Examples

Children may….
  1. Experience the joy of seeing and responding to dance.
  2. Demonstrate movement to express emotion.
  3. Express what is seen and felt in a movement with different tempos,
    rhythms and genres.
  4. View a performance with attention.
  5. Describe a dance in their own words.
  6. Show their favorite dance move to the performers or each other. [2]
  1. Clap following a dance performance by a classmate or guest.
  2. Imitate a movement seen in a dance performance.
  3. Tell what was enjoyed in a particular dance.
  4. Show excitement to watch a creative movement or dance performance.
  5. Comment on or imitate a movement that was observed in a dance.
  6. Explore the process of creating an artwork in response to a dance performance (e.g., drawing, painting, invented movement).

There are many ways to describe each dance element. Teachers and children can add their ideas to this chart.

Table 10.5: Elements of Dance

Body

Space

Time

Energy

Body parts: Head, torso, shoulders, hips, legs, feet

Body Actions: Nonlocomotor

Stretch, bend, twist, circle, rise, fall

Swing, sway, shake, suspend, collapse (qualities of movement)

Locomotor

Walk, run, leap, hop, jump, gallop, skip, slide

Size: Big, little

Level: High, medium, low

Place: On the spot (personal space), through the space (general space)

Direction: forward, backward, sideways, turning

Focus: Direction of gaze

Pathway: Curved, straight

Relationships: In front of, behind, over, under, beside

Beat: Underlying pulse

Tempo: Fast, slow

Accent: Force

Duration: Long, short

Pattern: A combination of these elements of time produces a rhythmic pattern

Attack: Sharp, smooth (qualities of movement)

Weight: Heavy, light

Strength: Tight, loose

Flow: Free-flowing, bound, balanced, neutral

Teachers can support children’s development of dance foundations with the following:

  • Help children become enthusiastic participants in learning dance.
  • Warm up! Even though preschool bodies are much more resilient than adult bodies, they should still be gradually prepared for any vigorous activities.
  • Use play with games that require dance movements and cooperation.
  • Be aware of cultural norms that may influence children’s participation.
  • Create environments and routines conducive to movement experiences.
  • Consider the space, music, costumes, and props you provide.
  • Establish spatial boundaries to ensure children have personal space when engaging in movement and dancing.
  • Use children’s prior knowledge.
  • Structure learning activities so that children are active participants.
  • Introduce the learning of a dance skill by using imagery.
  • Draw on children’s interests in dance making.
  • Plan movement activities appropriate for various developmental stages and skill levels.
  • Incorporate dances that can be performed without moving the entire body.
  • Encourage variety in children’s movement.
  • Teach rhythm using traditional movement games.
  • Use the “echo” as a helpful rhythm exercise.
  • Use dance to communicate feelings.
  • Use movement to introduce and reinforce concepts from other domains.
  • Provide opportunities for unplanned, spontaneous dancing[3]
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Figure 10.19: These children are dancing at group time.[4]
Table 10.6: Suggested Materials for Dance[5]

Types of Materials

Examples of Materials

Found or Recycled Materials

Boxes, wheels, chairs, hula hoops, balloons, umbrellas, scarves, and other found objects can be used for choreographic variety. Costumes can be assembled from fabrics or donated by caregivers or the community.

Basic

Open rug space; outdoor environment with a defined dance space

Enhanced

Piano, drums, maracas, tambourines, claves, triangles, cymbals, woodblocks, or music system. A local dance troupe may donate children’s costumes that are no longer used in productions.

Natural Environment

Palm leaves, feathers, sand, water, and sticks can be used in movement activities.

Adaptive Materials

If a child has a prosthesis, he or she can decide whether to dance with it on or off. If a child uses a wheelchair, props can be useful to extend what the body can do; a few possibilities are balloons tied to a stick, crepe paper streamers, and scarves.

Research Highlight

Research supports the inclusion of dance in a preschool curriculum for a number of reasons, not the least of these being the social–emotional benefits gained from dancing at an early age.

In The Feeling of What Happens, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio describes the body as the theater for emotions and considers emotional responses to be responsible for profound changes in the body’s (and the brain’s) landscape. Damasio creates three distinct classifications for emotions based on the source of the emotion and the physical response to the emotion: primary, secondary, and background emotions. The primary emotions are the familiar emotions recognizable in preschoolers and adults alike: happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and surprise. Damasio describes secondary emotions as social emotions, such as jealousy or envy when a child is eyeing a friend’s toy, or feelings of pride when accomplishing a difficult task. And of particular interest in a discussion of dance are the background emotions, much like moods. These refer to indications that a person feels down, tense, cheerful, discouraged, or calm, and others.

Background emotions do not use the differentiated repertoire of explicit facial expressions that easily define primary and social emotions; they are also richly expressed in musculoskeletal changes, for instance, in subtle body posture and overall shaping of body movement. Movement and dance are natural vehicles for the expression of these emotions.[6]

Source:

A. Damasio, The Feeling of What Happens: Body and Emotion in the Making of Consciousness (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1999), 51–53.

Vignettes

Sammy, a four-year-old in Ms. Huang’s class, pulls a top hat off the hat rack and begins to perform controlled balances high on the balls of his feet. Two other children become interested in this performance, and suddenly three children are using hats as creative props to stretch high into the air, with their arms, as they rise up on their toes forming a chorus line; Sammy continues to play the lead, placing a hat on a foot and balancing on one leg like a bird; the other children imitate. The movement progresses to a balancing game, and the children occasionally tumble to the floor, giggling.

Ms. Huang observes the movement game for several minutes and notices the children have taken to making the same shape of the lifted bird leg. She recognizes the children’s imagination by commenting on their creative play with the hat; she then suggests to Sammy that he attempt to bring his leg behind him (in a pose resembling a ballet arabesque) while keeping the hat balanced on his foot. The trio becomes more focused with their balances and inventive with the shapes, moving the legs from the front to back and even experimenting with lowering the torso while lifting the leg.

Mr. Soto leads the children in a lively singing and dancing performance of Juanito (Little Johnny). The children shake and twist their bodies while clapping their hands as they sing. “Juanito cuando baila, baila, baila, baila. Juanito cuando baila, baila con el dedito, con el dedito, ito, ito. Asi baila Juanito.” (When little Johnny dances, he dances, dances. When little Johnny dances, he dances with his pinkie, with his pinkie, pinkie, pinkie. That’s how little Johnny dances.)

In the first verse, they wiggle the pinkie back and forth; in the second, they shake the foot and then wiggle the pinkie. Each time a new verse is sung, a movement is added until the children’s bodies are in motion, from head to toe!

Even Matthew, who is generally reluctant to dance, picks his knees high up and waves his arms exuberantly. Mr. Soto changes the character of the song to Mateo, and Matthew dances into the center of the circle.[7]

References

[1] Image by Quinn Dombrowski is licensed by CC-BY-2.0

[2] (n.d.). Colorado Early Learning & Development Guidelines. Retrieved June 22, 2025, from https://earlylearningco.org/

[3] Source of text in black: The California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 2 by the California Department of Education is used with permission; Source of text in blue: Clint Springer; Source of foundations: The California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 2 by the California Department of Education is used with permission

[4] The California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 2 by the California Department of Education is used with permission

[5] The California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 2 by the California Department of Education is used with permission

[6] The California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 2 by the California Department of Education is used with permission

[7] The California Preschool Curriculum Framework, Volume 2 by the California Department of Education is used with permission

This page titled 10.7: Supporting Dance is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Erin Jones, EdS, ECSE, MBA.

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Introduction to Curriculum for Early Childhood Education Copyright © by Erin Jones, EdS, ECSE, MBA. All Rights Reserved.

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