The Instrumental Value of Education in the Art of Dance  

The intrinsic value of dance is not separate from its instrumental benefits. The byproducts of learning dance include the instrumental benefits of physical health, emotional maturation, social awareness, cognitive development, and academic achievement. Learning and growth in each of these areas are embedded in the standards. 
  
        Physical Health: Dance was first included in educational curricula at the turn of 

        the century to promote physical well being. It found its home in girls’ physical

        education as a non-competitive activity that promoted flexibility, strength, 

        coordination, and gracefulness. Today, we know dance also beneficially 

        addresses cardiovascular health, childhood obesity, bone formation, joint 

        stability, neurological development, and other physical childhood issues. 
  
        Emotional Maturation: Participation in dance is an enjoyable experience for most 

        students, and it promotes self-confidence, self-esteem, and a strong sense of 

        self-identity. When students are able to express feelings and ideas through 

        artistic movement, they gain self-awareness and often self-acceptance. Creative 

        movement experiences promote both self-reflection and a deeper appreciation for 

        others. The communal nature of dance learning often helps students who might 

        otherwise feel isolated or alienated in group settings. 

  
        Social Awareness: Studying dance increases students’ social awareness and 

        skills on many levels. Students become more aware of the values and beliefs of 

        their own and different societies by performing and analyzing diverse dances. 

        When dancing together, students learn to be united as a group through 

        coordinated action and rhythms. Students learn to cooperate with one another 

        toward mutual goals when working on collaborative movement projects. They 

        learn to respect one another’s efforts and appreciate one another’s diverse 

        cultural heritages. 
  
        Cognitive Development: There is anecdotal evidence that early motor 

        development involves sequences of movements that develop neurology for later 

        learning. As infants roll, sit, crawl, and walk, cross-lateral movement patterns 

        engage cross-hemispheric brain functions that stimulate vestibular activities in 

        the brain and the growth of the corpus callosum. Skill in spatial patterning and 

        even reading has been known to be affected by this development. 

  
        It is now recognized that core dance experiences involve understanding 

        the “language” of movement. As an artist, a choreographer makes sense of the 

        world, organizes it, and communicates a point of view through movement. 

        Content is embedded in the form and structure of the dance and clear meaning 

        is developed through the creative process and expressive movement. Students of 

        artistic dance learn how to both create and communicate meaning through 

        movement and understand and respond to meaning in the dance of others. The 

        uniquely human capacity to understand and create symbols matures gradually 

        from the concrete and physical expression of a child—the infant’s first symbol 

        system being bodily movement—to the abstract conceptualization of adults. 

        Experience creating and interpreting movement vocabulary promotes learning 

        and maturation in these higher-order thinking skills. 
  

        Students of artistic dance also develop and use creative higher-order thinking 

        skills while inventing solutions to movement problems. Just like an artistic 

        choreographer has to be an inventive problem solver, weaving aesthetic 

        movement to find logical solutions to kinesthetic issues, students of artistic 

        dance have to engage higher-order thinking skills when completing 

        choreographic movement assignments and exercises that present kinesthetic 

        and spatial problems. 
  
        Academic Achievement: A correlation has been observed between students who 

        dance and higher standardized test scores (College Board statistics). Through 

        dance education, students develop focus, concentration, discipline, creativity, 

        problem-solving skills, self-assessment skills, and the desire to do well. In 

        addition, students learn to remember patterns, sequences, relationships, forms, 

        and structures. These transfer into other areas of learning and achievement. 
  

        Many of the Multiple Intelligences proffered by Howard Gardner are addressed in 

        the core dance experience. It has been demonstrated that children who are 

        kinesthetic learners learn effectively through movement experiences. It has also 

        been found that many children from multi-cultural or minority populations are 

        kinesthetic learners (Park, 1997, 2000, and White, 1992). As these populations 

        expand in American schools, dance education can help close the gap to 

        equalize academic achievement among students.

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