literature review 2

The next literature review I will be looking at is one one the national dance education organization website;

http://www.ndeo.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=893257&module_id=55419

It discusses the standards of dance with young children.

A quote that stuck out to me straight away is ;

‘Dance embodies one of our most primal relationships to the universe. It is pre-verbal, beginning before words can be formed. It is innate in children before they possess command over language and is evoked when thoughts or emotions are too powerful for words to contain’

I found this quote to be very useful as it states the full importance of dance and that it is not just something that has to be done as a form of exercise but can be done to empower you and express yourself in ways that you may not normally feel you can.

The article then moves on to state that dance is a natural thing and children do It subconsciously as a way to express themselves and that when they begin to structure or group those movements together, that becomes dance.

The article also states ‘’ The physical benefits of dance are widely accepted, but the emotional, social and cognitive attributes have only recently begun to be appreciated.’’

I find myself agreeing with this statement and something that I would look into developing further in the future, I feel a lot in education especially in primary schools dance is put into the sports section and looked at as a way to exercise, where I feel it should be classed with the arts as it is in the professional world, as a way for children to express themselves physically and emotionally.

 Some sources within the article I also found would be useful to my inquire were by john dewey;

Dance is basic to learning. Children learn most readily from experience. John Dewey understood this when he asserted, “Action is the test of comprehension” (Dewey, 1915). To learn by “doing” and to act on knowledge is the basis of kinesthetic learning. Kinesthetic learning is becoming more widely understood through the work of Jean Piaget (1896-1980), Howard Gardner (1944- ), and other cognitive theorists

At the end of the article some standards for a children’s dance class are stated I would like to use these to cross reference with the guidelines I have noted in the previous literature review to see if they co inside with each other and also the research I come up with through my inquiry.