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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with your host Jessica Strong, the creative director & owner of Dance to Learn®
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Teaching the Dance Concepts: Tempo
Tempo refers to the speed of which dancers move. While there are numerous tempos we start with the basic: Fast & Slow

How to Teach the Concept:

I love to include props when teaching about tempo! Some of my favorite props include:

🔴 Music Makers such as egg shakers, maracas, drums or jingle bells
🟠 Scarves! Scarves are a great way to play and explore tempo
🟡 Parachute! The parachute is a great prop for tempo exploration as you shake the parachute fast or slow!

Music!

Finding the right music is important when teaching tempo! Some of our favorite songs for each prop are:

🟥 Egg Shakers: I know a Chicken by The Laurie Berkner Band

🟧 Scarves:

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with your host Jessica Strong, the Creative Director and Owner of Dance to Learn®

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5 Eye-Tracking Exercises we should be incorporating into every preschool dance class!

Eye-Tracking is an important skill required for success in reading & writing. In the book Balanced & Barefoot by Angela Hanscom studies by therapists show that children today, in comparison to children from 30 years ago, are having more difficulty using the muscles of their eyes in unison which is required for scanning a room, locating an object & reading.

Dance provides children with the opportunity to improve eye-tracking & focus skills. These skills are required of more advanced movements such as pirouettes, fouettés or even judging how far the dancer is from the ground after a leap!

Here are 5 easy eye-tracking exercises we should be incorporating into every preschool dance class! It will help our students not only with reading & writing preparedness but also for those more advanced technical skills later in their dance training.

1️⃣ Seated Butterfly Stretch with Eye-Hand Connection. Sit in a butterfly stretch. I usually have my dancers pretend to be a bird. We fly following our wings with our eyes & head. Oh no! There’s a cloud! Duck under the cloud & sniff your toes!

2️⃣ Scarf Tracking. Give your dancers a visual to track with their eyes (I like scarves). I just do a simple wave the scarf up & down 3 times following the scarf with our hands & eyes. Then we do a turn focused on the scarf.

3️⃣ Bounces with Focused Direction Change! For super young kids, you may want to hang some pictures or foam shapes on the wall to give them something to focus on. As they stand parallel, hands on their hips. They do 2 bounces. Turn their head sharply to focus in one direction. Then jump for the rest of the body to change directions. This is a great introduction to spotting exercise.

4️⃣ Consecutive Twirls Changing Directions. The goal is to see how many times they can twirl without falling down. Start with a small number (3 twirls) as your session progresses see if you can make it up to 10! Incentivize it to discourage falling down as a lot of kids like to fall down for attention.

5️⃣ Popping Bubbles! The easiest & most fun! Incorporate popping bubbles in your free dance.

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits! I'm your host, Jessica Strong, the Creative Director and owner of Dance to Learn®!

This description includes Affiliate Links

Teaching the Dance Concepts: SPACE

Space is broken down into two general ideas:

🟥Self Space - I’m standing or sitting on a place or spot within Space

🟧 General Space - I’m traveling through or around the Space

To teach the idea of both spatial concepts I like to give my dancers spots they can stand or sit on in self space those could be:

🟥 Poly Dots

🟧 Floor Tape

🟨 Balance Stones

🟩 Fun foam shapes like my Turkey Feathers

🟦 Hula Hoops

You can also use props to indicate general space! Some of my favorites are:

🟥 Balance Beams! Especially build a beam brands that allow different pathways through or around space

🟧 Tunnels

🟨 Floor Tape Pathways

🟩 Rows of Poly Dots or Balance Stones to jump across

Empty space is also great to explore general space and allowing dancers to move through the general space on their own!

Space Activity:

Place poly dots or balance stones around your room. Leave your general space empty. The dancers can move like different animals or bugs in general space. When the music stops they must find a poly dot or balance stones in their self-space and perform a balance on one or 2 legs. Say the concepts as you explain each new animal or insect for example:

“Now I would like you to fly like butterflies in general space. When the music stops find a spot in the room to balance in self space. That’s your flower. I want you to show me how your butterfly would sip nectar from the flower”

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits! I'm your host Jessica Strong, the Creative Director and Owner of Dance to Learn®!

This Description includes Affiliate Links

The first dance concept we explore is the concept of Action! A body in action vs a body in non Action commonly referred as Locomotion (Traveling) and Non-Locomotion (Stationary).

When teaching these concepts I try to use props to help my dancers visualize their own Action. For Locomotion I try to use Props that dancers Can travel down, through our around. Some props I’ve used:

🟥 Floor Tape

🟧 Jump Ropes

🟨 Tunnels

🟩 Balance Beams (Pictured)

🟦 Hula Hoops

🟪 Cones

For Non-Locomotor (Stationary) Movements. I look to use props they can stop and balance, jump or twirl on or inside:

🟥 Poly Dots

🟧 Balance Steps/Stones

🟨 Hula Hoops

🟩 Theme Shaped Foam Mats (Pictured)

How I taught the Dance Concept:

This week we did our Thankful Tree Lesson Plan 🌳

🌳Locomotion: Dancers tip tied up the tree trunk. Then chose a Branch to tip toe down.

🍁 Non-Locomotion: When they got to the leaf, they performed a First Position Plié on one and a Second Position Plié on the other.

🌳 Locomotion: They continued to walk up the tree.

🍁 Non-Locomotion: They got to pick up and throw leaves from 3 different hula hoops as they said what they were thankful for.

Get the Thankful Tree Lesson Plan:
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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with your host Jessica Strong, the Creative Director and owner of Dance to Learn®

Let’s Talk: Classroom Management!

A major change I made to my classroom years ago was to eliminate standing & waiting in line to go across the floor. When I was a new teacher, I would get frustrated that dancers would start running around the room as soon as the music played instead of waiting their turns to dance. It was a huge distraction & took so much time to get them refocused & back into a line. One day I decided to have them sit & wait their turn. It was a game changer.

To ensure this works for you:

🟥 Find a wall in your classroom that is free from distractions ie: no barre to hang on or mirror to touch.

🟧 Give each dancer a poly spot to sit on.

🟨 Give clear expectations of how they should sit to wait for their turn (criss cross applesauce spoons in the bowl).

🟩 For large classes, to avoid dancers sitting too long, consider multiple dancers going across the floor or completing an obstacle course at one time.

✨Magic Super Glue Game✨

Each dancer holds their hand out to get magic super glue from their teacher. They can pick what color super glue they want (rainbow sparkle is pretty popular). They rub the super glue on their hands, backs & bottoms & glue themselves to the wall & poly dot. Only the teacher can un-glue them when it’s their turn. If a dancer comes un-glued too soon it’s an easy reminder to say “oh no you ran out of magic super glue! You’d better get some more!

Having our dancers sit & wait for their turn to dance also teaches them some important social-emotional skills:

🟥Patience! We live in a world of instant gratification. It’s important to remind our little ones that sometimes they have to wait for their turn. Knowing how to wait is important for self-regulation.

🟧 More Focused. I’ve noticed my dancers have a better chance of following directions when expectations or combinations are demonstrated while they are sitting down, focused on the teacher rather than standing.

🟨 Fewer conflicts. When dancers stood in line, they were also more likely to touch other dancers, try to “cut” in line or would stand too close to someone even with a spot to stand on.

🗣 Do your dancers sit or stand for dancing across the floor? Join the discussion here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/preschooldanceteachersforum

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with Jessica Strong, the Creative Director and Owner of Dance to Learn®.

One thing I strive for in my classes, is to be sure that my students are having fun while also following rules and being safe. So I have a lot of silly things I’ll say/do to help them exhibit appropriate behaviors throughout class.

When it’s time to watch Miss Jessica demonstrate going across the floor I want them to do a couple things:
🟥 First Sit Criss Cross Applesauce
🟧 Eyes on Me
🟨 Listening Ears On
🟩 Quiet Mouths

Here’s an example of how I “teach” these expectations in a fun way. Here’s what I did for Cinderella Week:
🟥 Let’s all sit on our dots. Take your big spoon mix it all up (butterfly stretch) what are we making today??? Criss Cross PUMPKIN sauce! (Kids sit criss cross)
🟧 Put on your binoculars and say “I see you Miss Jessica” (Hands over eyes like they are looking through binoculars)
🟨 Oh my goodness something is clogging up our ears! What could it be! PUMPKINS! Quick pull those pumpkins out of our ears!
🟩 Hold a finger in front of your mouth and say “Bibbidi Bobbidi Shhhhhhh”

Then I demonstrate the exercise and if someone forgets what they are doing I just repeat any one of these silly steps to remind them what they should be doing while Miss Jessica is demonstrating!

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with your host Jessica Strong, the Creative Director and Owner of Dance to Learn®️!

In the Dance to Learn®️ Program, we follow the BrainDance Warm Up. BrainDance is a whole Brain and Body warm up created by Dr Anne Green Gilbert that follows 8 patterns of movement we explore naturally from birth:

Those patterns include:

• Breath

• Tactile

• Head/Tail

• Core-Distal

• Upper/Lower

• Body-Side

• Cross Lateral

• Vestibular

The next Pattern in BrainDance is Head/Tail. This pattern is important to build the flexibility of our spine as well as create a pathway for brain-body connectivity. Our spine is our body’s central support structure that connects different parts of our musculoskeletal system. We must keep our spines strong and healthy to do simple everyday tasks including standing, sitting and walking.

Having a healthy spine is important!

🟥The spine is the pathway from the brain to the rest of our body. Spinal exercises allow these messages to flow safely and easily by strengthening the brain-body connection.

🟧 Spinal flexibility allows our body to bend, twist, and reach more easily.

🟨 Spinal exercises can improve our posture. Poor posture can change the weight loading of our spine and interfere with our brain’s ability to communicate to all parts of our body.

Popular exercises for the head/tail pattern could be:

🟥Cat/Cow Stretch

🟧Head/Hip isolations both individually and together

🟨Downward Dog Stretch

🟩Sphinx

🟦Cobra/Child pose stretches

Here’s how we taught this pattern for our Pumpkin Pie BrainDance:

We made a bowl 🥣 with our legs by sitting in a butterfly stretch. We pretended to pour in our ingredients (reach hands up & look at hands). We then stretch forward towards our feet and pat the floor like we are filling up our bowl. Repeat 2-3 times. Next, remain seated in your butterfly stretch, and take your pretend spoon and mix up your ingredients. Rock your pelvis side to side as you mix with your hands circling. Repeat to the other direction.

Learn more about BrainDance by enrolling in our BrainDance Master Class on Demand:
https://learn.dancetolearnuniversity.com/courses/braindance-master-class

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with Jessica Strong the Creative Director and Owner of Dance to Learn®️!

In the Dance to Learn®️ Program, we follow the BrainDance Warm Up. BrainDance is a whole Brain and Body warm up created by Dr Anne Green Gilbert that follows 8 patterns of movement we explore naturally from birth:

Those patterns include:

• Breath

• Tactile

• Head/Tail

• Core-Distal

• Upper/Lower

• Body-Side

• Cross Lateral

• Vestibular

The second pattern in BrainDance is Tactile!

Developing our dancer’s tactile touch is important because many young children learn best through their sense of touch which is why the use of props & toys in early childhood dance classes is so important. Exploring Tactile experiences with just their fingertips is also important!

Did you know? Your fingertips are full of some of the most sensitive nerve endings in your body? These nerve endings help us feel vibrations & light touch. Understanding these sensations are important for determining if something is hot, cold, sharp or dull etc & can impact our reflexes when our sense of touch tells our brain something may be causing pain.

That’s why when teaching BrainDance, I try to focus on different tactile touch using our fingertips & hands (sometimes even our feet).

Some different types of touch we may explore:
🟥 Pats
🟧 Rubs
🟨 Tickles
🟩 Brushes
🟦 Squeezes
🟪 Gentle Pinches

We can perform these touches on our heads, faces, legs, arms, stomachs & backs. It’s important for our dancers to learn how these different tactile experiences feel to them so they can learn appropriate force to use when touching others. All the tactile experiences we explore with our own bodies, we can also explore with partners. If you have Dancers who struggle with partner or group activities (think of the kids who hold their friends hands too tight when making a circle, or the ones who push & pull in a chassé circle). Taking a pause to explore some tactile activities on their own bodies, may help them learn how to touch & dance with their friends appropriately.

Try this Tactile Activity:
Hug your legs, close your eyes. You’re a tiny seed. Your seed is dreaming about growing into a tall tree. Using soft pats, bury your seed in the dirt starting with your head, shoulders, tummies, knees & toes.
Hug your knees. Now think of rain clouds forming. Your seed now feels cold raindrops falling. Using tickle fingers, they fall on your head, your nose, shoulders, back, legs & toes.
Hug your knees. Now the seed feels the warm sun peeking out. Begin rubbing your face, your ears, your arms, & your legs.
Now your tree is ready to grow!

Learn more about BrainDance in our BrainDance Master class on Demand!
https://learn.dancetolearnuniversity.com/courses/braindance-master-class

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with your host Jessica Strong, the Creative Director and Owner at Dance to Learn®️!

In the Dance to Learn®️ Program, we follow the BrainDance Warm Up. BrainDance is a whole Brain and Body warm up created by Dr Anne Green Gilbert that follows 8 patterns of movement we explore naturally from birth:

Those patterns include:

• Breath

• Tactile

• Head/Tail

• Core-Distal

• Upper/Lower

• Body-Side

• Cross Lateral

• Vestibular

The first pattern, breath, is important for dancers to learn because without it, our bodies would never reach release and fluidity which are very important dynamics in dance.

To explore breathing, we play fun games in class like this one from the Pumpkin Patch! 🎃

🎃 First, curl up like a small little pumpkin

🎃 Close your eyes and imagine you are a little pumpkin in the pumpkin patch waiting for a little girl or boy to pick you for their Jack O’Lantern.

🎃 Take a breath in through your nose and out through your mouth and say “Ahhhhh”

🎃 Now you hear the feet of little boys/girls running through the patch (tap feet on the floor)

🎃 Curl up like a pumpkin and take a breath in through your nose and out through your mouth and say “Ahhhhh”

🎃 Now you feel the hands of a little boy/girl picking you from the pumpkin patch! Take a breath in through your nose and out through your mouth and say “Ahhhhhh”

🎃 It’s time celebrate! Hold on tight and do a big pumpkin roll and say “Wheeeeee”

Learn more about BrainDance with our BrainDance Master Class! https://learn.dancetolearnuniversity.com/courses/braindance-master-class

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with your host Jessica Strong, the Creative Director and Owner of Dance to Learn!
Here's today's tidbit:
Featured Prop:

Little Steps by @lilyandriver

What are They?

The Little Steps are high quality wooden balance stones that allow our dancers to explore both dynamic & static balance. The stones have a non-slip rubber sole which allows them to be used on any type of flooring or stack them on top of each other without slipping!

How We Use Them:

First we use them to help our dancers perform static balance movements. We place them throughout our Story Dance Pathways as a resting point to stop & balance on one or two foot.

We have also used them for dynamic balance activities where dancers have to walk across them or jump over them! We’ve placed them together to build rainbows & even a caterpillar that our dancers can dance on.

Musical Instruments! We’ve also used them as a musical instrument component. We’ve tapped egg shakers, rhythm sticks or just our hands & feet to hear the sounds they made.

We’ve also stacked them on top of each other to build steps for our dancers to explore moving on or over different levels!

We also use these as place markers to mark self space areas for freezing or balancing during free dance exploration.

How have these props benefited our dancers?

Multi-Sensory! Their different colors captivate our visual learners! Our auditory learners love that they can turn these into an instrument. Tactile learners love exploring different touch such as taps, rubs, tickles or pats. Kinesthetic learners love dancing on, off, over, around and through them.

Improve Balance! We are always trying to improve how long our dancers can balance on one leg because then we can start teaching more advanced movements such as skips! These allow us to practice both static & dynamic balance.

Conceptual! We have used these to explore dance concepts such as space, action, levels, pathways, directions, & positions!

Add the Little Steps to your Prop Bag

https://shrsl.com/39175 (Affiliate Link)

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with Jessica Strong the Creative Director and Owner of Dance To Learn!

Parachute play is not only a lot of fun, but it provides numerous benefits to our dancers!

🟥 Promotes Teamwork! The parachute doesn’t work unless all participants are actively engaged. Participants must learn how to use the appropriate amount of force to manipulate the parachute so everyone can enjoy the activity.

🟧 Equal Abled Activity. Parachute play does not require any specific skill or technique. It’s a great way to include everyone regardless of age or development.

🟨 Improves social skills. Parachute play promotes collaboration. Students will learn how to work together to manipulate the parachute.

🟩 Strengthens hand eye-coordination. Watching the parachute float, pop, or shake. Hand-eye coordination is an essential skill for reading & writing development.

🟦 Improves Balance, Mobility & Gross Motor Development. While you can sit & play, you can also move, jump, dance, run, crawl or stop & balance!

🟪 Improves Musicality. Playing games where participants shake the parachute on a beat. Or shake when the music plays and stop. These games help participants build a sense of rhythm.

🟥 Strengthens the Trunk & Upper Body. Grasping the handles of the parachute & making little or big waves is a great exercise for our grasp reflex & fine motor development. It’s also giving our biceps, triceps & shoulders a good work out. Adding those gross motor skills with it & you have a full body activity!

🟧 Improves Communication skills. A big part of parachute play requires active listening & cooperative participation from everyone. Communicating expectations & rules is an important part to ensuring everyone has fun!

🟨 Encourages Active Listening! All participants must be engaged & listening to the instructor or song to know how to play!

🟩 Multi-Sensory Experience. Visual learners are stimulated by watching the parachute & the different waves & shapes it can make. Auditory listeners love hearing the song & teacher directions. Tactile learners love the feel of the air as the parachute makes different waves. Kinesthetic learners love moving with the parachute!

🟦 Improves Camaraderie! It’s an easy & fun game for everyone!

Shop our Top Parachute Picks: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-f486dbba?listId=253DNSOE02QHY
Listen to our Parachute Play Playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5HfcmRxgaxqJSFwPWQsyKw

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with Jessica Strong the Creative Director and Owner of Dance to Learn!

Featured Prop:

Jingle Bell Bracelets!! 🔔

These super fun wearable musical instruments will Immediately have your dancers making music by waving arms & feet!

How to Use them:

🟥 Use these to help dancers differentiate their right side from their left side. In the pictures, the dancers had jingle bells on their right wrist & right ankle. So when dancing I could say okay let’s move our right side with Jingle Bells or let’s move our left side without jingle bells!

🟧 You can also explore Upper Body vs Lower Body. Wear the Jingle bells on the wrists & make music with your upper body then switch to your feet & make music with your lower body

🟩 For the more advanced movement, you can also explore Cross-Lateral movement by placing a bracelet on the right wrist & left ankle (or vice versa) & practice movements where you touch your jingle bells together crossing the body (ie high knees, kicking & touching opposite hands, crawling with a focus on opposition etc)

🟨 Musical Instrument Play! You can use these as a way to teach rhythms & beats just by holding the bracelets & shaking them!

How can these fun props benefit our dancers?

🟥 Helping them learn their body hemispheres (Right/Left & Upper/Lower) is really important for their brain & body connection. The more we can get all the hemispheres to communicate & work together, the more coordinated our movements will become. Dancers will also strengthen their non-dominant sides of their body to match their dominant side.

🟧 Crossing the midline is an advanced exploration of the body-hemispheres when we cross two opposite hemispheres together. This type of movement practice is essential for our dancers learning how to do everyday tasks such as putting on shoes & socks, writing & using scissors. It improves coordination & strengthens communication between the left & right hemispheres of the brain.

🟨 Multi-Sensory! They come in different colors so they can attract the attention of our visual learners. They also make sounds to captivate our auditory learners. Tactile learners will enjoy the feel of wearing them. Kinesthetic learners will love making music with their body!

Add Jingle Bell Bracelets to your Prop Bag!
https://amzn.to/3C5rVVr

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with Jessica Strong, the Creative Director and Owner of Dance to Learn.

Here's today's tidbit:
Preschool Dance Theme Idea:
Baking Pumpkin Pie 🥧

In the Dance to Learn®️ Program we enjoy teaching sequencing and processes through dance and movement! One of our favorite types of sequences to teach is a recipe! With Thanksgiving fast approaching, we danced out the process of baking a pumpkin pie!

Conceptually, this theme explores the concepts of Shapes (Circles & Triangles) & Sizes (big or small slices).
We explore Port de bras, coupé and passé.

We complete a full BrainDance warm up. We also perform a standing warm ups. We use our pumpkin pie slices to help us make first position.

Dancing out the process is fun with a Story Dance Pathway™️ a trademarked obstacle course that takes them through the process of Baking a pie.

Our featured props is our curve a beam by www.autismproducts.com We shaped the beam in a circle and tip toed around to pretend we were sprinkling in our ingredients.

Also the Little Steps by Lily and River were the plate where we cut out a little piece of pie (coupé) or big piece of pie (Passé).

Get the Shapes, Sizes and Pumpkin Pie Slices Lesson Plan Here:
https://learn.dancetolearnuniversity.com/collections?category=dance-giving-lesson-plans

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with Jessica Strong the Creative Director and Owner of Dance to Learn! Today’s Tidbit:

Preschool Dance Theme Idea: Thankful Tree

This November, it’s important we start talking about gratitude with our dancers and the people and blessings to be thankful for this season.

In the Dance to Learn®️ Program, we have a whole week devoted to being Thankful where we grow a Thankful Tree!

We start by partnering up (you can also do this entire breath and tactile exploration individually). We bury, water and warm up our seeds with different tactile touch and breath meditation. Then help our seed grow.

Next we complete a full BrainDance warm up complete with leaf play.

We build a tree using some balance beams and develop some simple locomotor skills walking up the tree.

We add Branches where we can practice some non-locomotor movements like Pliés.

Then we travel to the top of the tree where we can throw our leaves in celebration after sharing what we are Thankful For

Get the full Thankful Tree Lesson Plan here: https://learn.dancetolearnuniversity.com/courses/lesson-plan-thankful-tree-creative-dance

Thank you for listening to Today’s Dance Teacher Tidbit! For more follow Dance to Learn on Instagram and Facebook!

Happy Dancing!

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with Jessica Strong the Creative Director and Owner of Dance to Learn! Today’s Tidbit:

DanceTeachesMe - Visuomotor Skills

Visuomotor integration is a complex skill that requires control of eye movement & tracking with the combination of strong motor control & coordination. Visuomotor integration is the ability of our brain to translate a visual image or cue into an appropriate motor movement.

Why is this skill important?

Visuomotor integration supports complex, coordinated movements & teaches our brain & body how to translate visual cues into movement. Strengthening our Visual-Motor connectedness is going to improve our child’s writing skills. It will improve complex fine motor skills such as tying shoes or performing complex scissor cutting. Daily tasks such as eating with utensils will improve. Our students will have more successful independent play.

How can Dance strengthen Visuomotor Skills?

🟥 Visual aids. In the Dance to Learn®️ Program, we teach conceptually. Dance concepts are abstract concepts that may be challenging to understand without multi-sensory integration. Therefore we always include a visual aid or manipulative to help introduce the concept. Be sure the imagery is easy to recognize for example, this week we taught the concept of Size by comparing a small piece of pumpkin pie to a large piece.

🟧 Props! Props are so important for early childhood dance education. One way we use props is to provide a visual to help them learn how to shape their body. For example using an image of a piece of pumpkin pie to help learn the shape of our feet in first position.

🟨 Obstacle Courses. A growing trend in early childhood dance classes is the obstacle course. In the Dance to Learn@ program we teach Story-based obstacle courses that we call Story Dance Pathways™️ - we combine props together in a way that allows our dancers to dance out a sequence, process or story. This week we danced out the process of baking a pumpkin pie.

🟩 Visual Cueing. The process of using props or imagery to cue dancers as to what comes next. Obstacle courses are a great way to combine props together as a visual cue to what comes next in the movement series. We also use images from our introducing the concept within the course as an additional visual reminder.

Thank you for listening to Today’s Dance Teacher Tidbit! For more follow Dance to Learn on Instagram and Facebook!

Happy Dancing!

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Welcome to Dance Teacher Tidbits with Jessica Strong the Creative Director and Owner of Dance to Learn! Today’s Tidbit:

DanceTeachesMe - Eye Tracking

Eye Tracking is the ability of the eyes to follow and track a moving object without losing focus. It’s required to successfully read lines of printed or written text. The ability to track objects is essential to becoming a successful reader and improving reading comprehension.

How can dance improve Eye-Tracking❓

🟥 Activities such as Crawling, Swaying, Twirling can improve our dancers’ horizontal eye-tracking and eye focusing.

🟧 Hand-Eye Foot-Eye Coordination. Many activities in dance promote hand-eye or even foot-eye coordination. Playing and dancing with props such as toy scarves, shaker eggs, parachutes, stretchy bands or bubbles can improve a dancers ability to track those moving objects with their eyes, hands and feet.

🟨 Obstacle Courses. A feature growing more popular in dance classes are obstacle courses. These fun movement agility games require the dancer to focus on props and objects throughout the course to remember what movement comes next. This improves their eye-tracking and eye-focus.

🟩 Multi-Sensory Experiences. Dance classes that create multi-sensory experiences can help strengthen eye-tracking. For example, providing visual aids with items dancers can manipulate with their hands. Musical games where dancers may be tasked to track and follow musical sounds with their eyes and bodies. Creating tactile experiences with props that dancers can touch and manipulate and track with their eyes. Many kinesthetic movements in dance will strengthen both horizontal and vertical eye-tracking which is essential for reading readiness.

🟦 Observations. Watching their teachers and peers. The simple task of watching and observing their dance teacher and dance friends move through the studio while they wait their turn to dance requires the ability for their eyes to focus and track their movements.

🟪 Freeze Dance and Partner Dancing. Dancing and moving with others simultaneously in and through space with a simple game of freeze dance will strengthen their near and far eye-tracking and depth perception to determine how close or far they are from each other to move safely within the space.

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