Friday December 2, 2011 was my first day teaching Mrs. Marvel's 1st graders at Spring Creek Elementary School. I taught them Anne Green Gilbert's Brain Dance which includes 8 movement patterns that are fundamental to human development. The patterns are Breath, Tactile, Head-Tail, Core-Distal, Upper-Lower, Body-Side, Cross-Lateral, and Vestibular.
The students seemed eager to learn and excited to move their bodies. I led them through an exploration of all the patterns separately and then did the whole dance. I found it helpful to have the students close their eyes when as they explored the breath pattern. The image of a potato bug curling up into a little ball, and a dog chasing its tail helped the students understand the head-tail pattern. The Body-Side and Cross-Lateral patterns were the most difficult for these 1st graders. They understood moving one side of their body and holding the other side still but they didn't get the image of folding in half like a book or "eye-tracking" as they folded one side onto the other. The students got a little bit crazy with the vestibular pattern. I think that I could have done better with specific images to help them understand what that pattern is about.
When we finished learning the patterns I asked the students what they thought were the reasons for doing the brain dance. The students mostly thought it was for exercise. I explained that the brain dance does the following: organizes important nerve pathways, increases blood and oxygen flow to your brain and lungs, warms up your body and prepares it for proper dance technique, helps you focus and stay focused.
This was their first experience with dance in Mrs. Marvel's classroom and I'm hoping that she will continue to do the brain dance with them. I'm looking forward to working with them again when school resumes in January.
