Dance Curriculum: Ages Six to Nine

Dance Overview

Learning to dance and learning to appreciate dance are both included in the Montessori creative arts curriculum, and also play a significant role in physical education. Dance is an extension of the many opportunities children in Montessori classrooms have to refine their movement and whole body coordination. Dance is often taught using specialist teachers. In this way children can be introduced to different styles of dance (e.g., folk dance, modern creative movement, jazz dance, bush dance). Children use the knowledge and skill they gain through learning dance in other areas of the curriculum. Dance is also often combined with music and drama performance. For example, the music and dance of different cultures and times may be studied in other areas of the curriculum.

Like other forms of physical activity, dance promotes awareness of the body and its potential. Dance exercises bring the children’s awareness to their body alignment and their breathing, as well as the range of movement of each body part in isolation and together. Expressing oneself through dance requires exploration and the learning of techniques designed to extend range of motion, coordinate movements of different body parts, strengthen muscles and improve self-control in order to move with intent. Activities such as yoga and stretching exercises can be incorporated to draw attention to flexibility, concentration and breathing.

As well as learning about the body and its potential for movement, dance teaches the relationship of movement and space and of movement and time. The elements of dance (e.g., tempo, rhythm, dynamics, level, direction, focus and shape) bring the children into direct contact with their environment in a new and exciting way. The intimate relationship between dance and music makes dance a natural part of both the music and physical education curriculum.

Children of this age should be encouraged to practice what they have learned by creating their own dance compositions, individual, interactive and collaborative. Dance is an area of the curriculum where cooperation is encouraged. Many folk dances are excellent ways to promote social cooperation. Movement games often call for children to maintain their personal space, while respecting other’s personal space (i.e. moving in different ways without bumping into each other). Other movement games require the children to coordinate different movements into a whole (e.g., creating a ‘machine’ with many moveable parts).