Teaching Children Dance Can\'t Dance.

Teaching Children Dance can't dance." How many times have you heard an adult say this, at a party or even at a family function like a wedding? Probably many times. How many times have you heard a child say this? Probably never. How do we lose this fluidity of motion and love of our own physical capabilities? Some might say that it is lost because school forces children to sit all day in their seats in an unnatural posture, and hems in their natural, human love of movement. One solution to this dancing dilemma is provided by the engaging, practical and informative text Teaching Children Dance.

The text specifically targets teachers of children from kindergarten to fifth grade, to help teachers help children keep an unself-conscious joy of dancing within their hearts. It contains dance lessons that are simple enough to teach children, but still contains an overview and a philosophical belief in the value of dance as an art form. But dance is not just an art. Dance can be a history lesson, a physical education lesson, a lesson in understanding artistic performance, and thus dance should have a place as an integral part of all children's education. The elements of dance of bodily structure and movement, of space, musical timing, force, and flow can even be used to teach science and mathematics in an engaging and meaningful way to children. Using action verbs or incorporating words and lyrics into dance can be used to teach verbs in an English lesson, the concept of similes or metaphors, and other literary ideas.

Part I is devoted to the teacher in helping him or her justify and define the purpose of teaching children's dance, and answering questions that might be asked by a parent, like' why teach children dance' or 'how can dancing help my child learn when there are already so many subjects crammed into the curriculum for students today'? This section alone justifies the book's price tag of $26. 00 for any educator who desires to explain to administrators, parents, or a questioning school board the need to incorporate the arts into the elementary school curriculum. In deference to this concern, the book contains an overview of how to ensure dance learning experiences help students meet national and state standards, which is of ever greater concern in the current obsession with meeting the standards of 'No Child Left Behind.'

The book also contains suggestions for classroom management, to prevent classrooms from getting out of control yet still keep the atmosphere fun and freewheeling when performing such dances as the "Spaghetti Dance," as well as explanations of how dance experiences can be meaningfully assessed and integrated into the structure of the classroom. Part II is an explanation of the dances themselves. Through this structure, book answers questions that might plague the mind of a new teacher just beginning to teach dance to students, such as taking into consideration classroom and class size, how to address diversity needs and incorporate the children's culture and holidays into the dances that are used, dealing with school administrators and school policies, and dealing with different learning and program styles. An appropriate dance for a small, rural classroom in the Midwest during Christmas would not necessarily be appropriate in a multiethnic and multilingual large urban school, or at very least modifications might need to be made in the lesson plan.

Using the teacher's body as a presentation technique, and observing dances are some of the helpful suggestions offered by the book. Also, using the children's own innate sense of movement is another helpful suggestion. If a child can run, hop, jump and skip, the child can dance! Especially for the lower grades, such as kindergarten to 2nd grade, using fun tactile things like streamers and balloons, dancing in a playground, pretending to be clouds, rain, and waves are ways to use this age group's fluid imaginative capacity. Imagining being at a circus, using percussion instruments like people did in the past to provide rhythm for dance might seem like 'obvious' suggestions to teach dance, but only obvious because the authors show how beautifully they are incorporated into a lesson plan that exploits the children's open love of movement and learning, at an age when school is still 'cool.' teacher can still engage shy students or students beginning to have 'hang ups' about dance with the right types of dance, like using the playground or creating sports dances. Birthday celebrations help children feel special and birthday dances are both appropriate celebration techniques as well as ways of teaching dance that make dance seem like a party, not an assignment in the eyes of the child. And yes, the "Dancing Homework Machine" deserves special mention for its fun use of a subject of frequent debate between children and adults!