By Terry Goetz, Director of Education and Outreach, Creative Dance Center
During visiting week at the Creative Dance Center
parents see their child dancing, laughing, listening,
sharing, problem-solving, developing movement
skills and technique, building physical coordination,
developing social skills, creating, reflecting, and
responding. Wow! That’s a lot of powerful learning
going on in a dance class. There is a powerful
reason why and it’s called Brain-Compatible
teaching. Our Mission states, “Creative Dance
Center, a non-profit organization, provides brain-
compatible quality dance education for people of all
ages, infants through seniors.” CDC truly is a
mission driven organization. Anne Green Gilbert,
Artistic Director and founder of the Creative Dance
Center has made it her mission in life to educate the
faculty of CDC and dance teachers and educators
worldwide about the profound impact brain-
compatible teaching can have on students in any
setting.
Technology advances have allowed brain
researchers and neuroscientists to discover amazing
things about the human brain, how it develops and
is hard-wired in the early years and how it learns. In
order to learn we need whole brain integration.
Movement in the early years of life sets the stage
for this integration. If the low brain and mid-brain
do not get wired correctly, the upper brain has to
take on tasks the lower and mid-brain should be
processing automatically. This places stress on the
upper brain and impacts behavior and cognitive
development. By incorporating current brain
research into our work, we can approach teaching
and education in a meaningful, cohesive, and
exciting way. Parents shouldn’t feel the need to
become “brain experts,” but some basic information
about brain-compatible teaching and learning is
empowering and can benefit you, your family, and
your community.
And now…
The Top Ten Reasons Why Classes At The Creative Dance Center Are Brain-Compatible
and So Much Fun
1. We provide meaningful curriculum. The brain
wants to learn and make meaning out of
experiences. The Creative Dance Center’s
curriculum is based on 15 dance concepts.
These dance concepts are rich in meaning and
relate to many facets of life. Exploring these
concepts in a variety of ways through the
multiple intelligences means students don’t just
learn dance steps; they make choices, develop
critical thinking skills, and use the concept to
construct their own learning. The curriculum is
supported by the 5 Part Lesson Plan which
allows for teacher-directed movement to
alternate with student-centered activities. A
dance class that includes repetition,
relationships, reflection, and recuperation
supports meaningful learning for all.
2. We provide an enriched environment. A
multi-sensory environment and challenging
curriculum promote the growth of brain cells
that are larger, have more dendrites, and
communicate better with one another. In our
dance classes props and manipulatives, pictures,
music, written language, spoken language,
obstacle courses, movement and motor skill
development all contribute to a stimulating
sensory experience.
3. We give meaningful feedback. Teachers at
CDC give specific, descriptive, timely, and
positive feedback to students throughout the
lesson. Students are able to learn, grow, and
develop with this interactive and meaningful
feedback; the brain needs feedback to make
meaning out of an experience.
4. We include opportunities for emotional
engagement. We strive to create a joyful, fun,
and challenging atmosphere in our classes. This
helps to release the chemical serotonin (a feel-
good chemical). A negative or stressful
environment releases the chemical cortisol,
which in large amounts can actually damage
brain cells. Reflection and sharing thoughts and
experiences after exploring a dance concept,
developing skills, or sharing choreography,
emotionally engages students.
5. We allow for social interaction. Humans are
social creatures and because the brain learns
through social interaction we seek out
relationships. Classes at the Creative Dance
Center include a variety of groupings such as
pairs, trios, and small and large groups. This
allows students to learn from one another,
collaborate, problem-solve, and breaks down
gender, cultural, and learning style differences.
6. We present developmentally appropriate
curriculum. Understanding the developmental
stages of the students in a class is critical to
offering a curriculum that is challenging but
achievable. Bored or frustrated students will
often engage in inappropriate behavior if
inappropriate curriculum is presented. Through
teacher education, workshops, and collaborative
discussions, CDC’s faculty is able to present
developmentally appropriate curriculum to all
ages.
7. We allow students to take control of their
learning. Teachers at the Creative Dance Center
are facilitators who allow students to construct
their own learning and re-create what they have
learned. The brain learns by working out
solutions in order to understand material and
will retain information longer if given this
student-centered opportunity. Exploring dance
concepts and solving movement “problems” in a
variety of ways motivates, engages, and bestows
responsibility on students. Improvising,
creating, and choreographing synthesizes
concepts and makes what has been learned
personally meaningful.
8. We provide both novel and repetitious
experiences. Optimal learning is made up of a
balance of novelty and repetition. Novelty
creates the brain’s synaptic connections and
repetition hard-wires those connections. The
conceptual approach we use at the Creative
Dance Center introduces novelty into each class
by exploring a new dance concept each week.
Repetition is inherent in the structure of our 5-
part lesson. Through repetition, dance skills and
technique can be developed and improved. The
novelty of the dance concept keeps this skill
development from becoming boring or
disengaging.
9. We provide information about proper
nutrition. Our brains need good nutrition,
plenty of water, and oxygen. Without them, our
brains cannot fully function. The importance of
a healthy diet and a hydrated body receiving
plenty of oxygen through breath and exercise is
something we share with students during rest
time and at other valuable moments.
10. We offer a curriculum that is holistic and
sequential. All teachers at the Creative Dance
Center have an amazing tool that makes lesson
planning automatically holistic and sequential.
The 5-Part Lesson Plan gives students the
opportunity to learn about a whole idea in
context rather than in sub-parts and pieces. The
dance concept is the “big idea” of the class and
the (1) BrainDance (warming-up), (2)
Exploration of the Concept, (3) Developing
Skills, (4) Creating, and (5) Closure/Cooling
Down are the sequential pieces that make the
whole so satisfying.
The next time you have the opportunity to observe a dance class at the Creative Dance Center, give
yourself a little test. See if you can identify where brain-compatible principles are being used in the
lesson plan and notice how learning, behavior, skill development, and creating are affected by
putting these principles into practice. Now you know why we say, “The Creative Dance Center
provides the best dance education in the Northwest since 1981!”
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