Primary school: the place where children spend their days learning key skills, making friends, writing in books, working together, and slowly preparing for the big wide world. Dance has always been a way to let children express themselves and celebrate creativity, but why is it so important in primary school?
From our own primary school days, we all remember the brightly decorated walls, the multi-coloured books, too-cold halls and row upon row of lunchboxes. The playground games, sports fields, forgotten gym kits and lost property clothes. Back when we were in school, PE was the hour or so each week in which we took part in physical activity, from gym to dance to football and hockey. It was separate from other subjects, and especially in the pre-digital age, it remained the task of the teacher to inspire a classroom full of children to get moving. This often meant that subjects like dance fell by the wayside: if a teacher hated busting a move, it was back to the athletics track.
Now, how things have changed: in the digital age, teachers have access to products that allow them to take a break as children learn from professionals. Our new teaching tool, Street Dance Superstars, is tailored for primary school key stages and teaches the dance class for you. For teachers who already love to dance, they can join in with the class and eventually lead the lessons themselves. For those who would rather train for an Ironman than dance in front of students, the professional dancers in each video give all the instructions necessary for the kids to enjoy an engaging, inclusive dance class. It’s accessible, it’s fun, and it invites children of all abilities to fall in love with physical activity.
Not only that, but street dance can be used for the new movement breaks encouraged by teaching organisations such as the Thrive Approach. Unheard of back in our day, the movement breaks Thrive suggest get children up and about in the classroom every day, as they engage in a quick physical exercise to get the blood pumping. This not only improves mood of the children, it also stimulates brain activity, all while contributing to children’s physical and mental wellbeing. The benefits are abundant: obviously dance gets the children moving, concentrating, exercising, but it also teaches determination, passion, and above all, confidence.
All in all, bringing dance into the classroom helps achieve the long-term goal of developing healthy, confident individuals. Whether that’s through daily movement breaks, or through building self-esteem in PE class, children can progress their street dance ability in an accessible, interactive setting. We love to see more and more active classrooms welcoming street dance, and we can’t wait to fully launch our new teaching product.
For more information, please contact kate@theudogroup.com
