A Conceptualized
Dance Education
At Dance to Learn®, we believe that young children should learn dance through conceptual exploration rather than memorization of steps. While traditional dance classes often focus on repeating skills, young learners benefit most from exploring movement ideas that help them understand how their bodies move through space, time, and energy. This approach is known as Conceptualized Dance Education, and it forms the foundation of the Dance to Learn® Whole Child Dance Method™.
Within our curriculum, children explore five Elements of Dance through eighteen foundational Dance Concepts. Each concept includes Conceptual Attributes that help young dancers experience and understand movement in developmentally appropriate ways. These attributes simplify complex dance ideas into meaningful experiences that children can physically explore, observe, and connect to the world around them.
Through Conceptualized-Thematic learning, dance concepts are paired with thematic imagery, storytelling, and real-world experiences that make abstract movement ideas accessible for young minds. Instead of simply copying steps, children begin to understand how movement works. This process strengthens both their physical coordination and their cognitive understanding of dance.
Dance is built upon five core elements that describe how movement exists and functions. In early childhood dance education, these elements provide a structured way for children to explore movement while developing body awareness, spatial understanding, rhythm, and expressive qualities.
At Dance to Learn®, each element is explored through specific dance concepts and conceptual attributes that allow children to experience these ideas through play, exploration, and creative movement.
- Element of Dance: Action
- Element of Dance: Body
- Element of Dance: Space
- Element of Dance: Time
- Element of Dance: Force
The Element of Dance: Action
The Element of Action explores the idea of movement itself—how the body moves and when it moves. This element introduces children to the difference between stillness and motion, as well as how the body can travel or remain stationary in place. Understanding action helps young dancers develop body control, coordination, and the ability to transition between movement and stillness.
In the Dance to Learn® Curriculum, we explore Action through 2 Primary Dance Concepts:
- States: Refers to the body in either motion (dynamic) or non-motion (static). This concept is often explored through playful activities such as freeze dance, where children learn to stop and start their movement. Exploring States helps children build body control and supports important self-regulation skills.
- Motions: Refers to whether the body travels through space (locomotion) or moves while staying stationary in one place (non-locomotion). Through this exploration, children begin to understand the difference between traveling movements like marching, skipping, or running and stationary movements like bending, twisting, or stretching.
The Element of Dance: Body
The Element of Body focuses on the dancer’s physical instrument—the body itself. Young dancers develop body awareness by learning how different body parts move, how the body can change shape and size, and how dancers relate with one another. This element supports both motor development and spatial awareness while helping children understand how their bodies function in movement.
In the Dance to Learn® Curriculum, we explore Body through 4 Primary Dance Concepts:
- Body Size: Refers to how the body can expand or contract into small, medium, or large sizes. Children explore this concept through movements such as curling into tiny sizes or stretching into big sizes, helping them understand how their bodies occupy space.
- Body Parts: Refers to the awareness and use of individual body parts such as the head, shoulders, knees, toes, arms, and legs. Exploring body parts helps children build coordination and strengthens their understanding of how different parts of the body move together.
- Body Shapes: Refers to the shapes the body can create, including straight, curvy, angular, and twisted forms. Through exploring body shapes, dancers begin to develop creativity and spatial awareness while learning how to control the positioning of their bodies.
- Body Relationships: Refers to how dancers relate with one another with their bodies. Children explore relationships through positions such as facing a partner, standing side-by-side, or dancing back-to-back, which supports both social development and spatial awareness.
The Element of Dance: Space
The Element of Space explores where movement happens. Young dancers learn how to navigate the room, move safely around others, and understand how their bodies interact with the environment. Exploring spatial concepts strengthens coordination, spatial awareness, and classroom management skills.
In the Dance to Learn® Curriculum, we explore Space through 5 Primary Dance Concepts:
- Place: Refers to the difference between a dancer’s personal space (self place) and the larger area of the room (general space). Understanding place helps children move safely and confidently within a shared environment.
- Levels: Refers to the vertical position of the body within space, including high, medium, and low levels. Exploring levels helps dancers understand how movement can occur close to the floor, at standing height, or reaching upward.
- Pathways: Refers to the lines dancers create as they move through space. Children explore pathways such as straight, curvy, zig-zag, or circular patterns, helping them visualize movement trajectories.
- Directions: Refers to the orientation of movement in space, including forward, backward, sideways, upward, and downward. Understanding directions supports coordination and helps dancers develop spatial awareness as they move through the environment.
- Positions: Refers to how the body relates to objects or other dancers through positional words such as on, off, over, under, inside, outside, around, and through. Exploring positions helps children understand how movement interacts with their environment.
The Element of Dance: Time
The Element of Time
explores the relationship between movement and rhythm. Young dancers develop an understanding of musical timing, pacing, and sequencing through playful movement activities that connect dance to music and rhythm.
In the Dance to Learn® Curriculum, we explore Time through 4 Primary Dance Concepts:
- Tempo: Refers to the speed of movement, typically explored as slow or fast. Children experience tempo through music and movement activities that encourage them to adjust their pace.
- Patterns: Refers to repeating sequences of movement or rhythm such as AB, ABA, or ABC patterns. Recognizing patterns supports both musical understanding and early mathematical thinking.
- Sequences: Refers to linking movements together in a specific order. In dance, this is often known as an enchaînement. Exploring sequences helps children understand how movements connect to create choreography.
- Rhythms: Refers to the rhythmic structure of movement within music, including syncopated rhythms, waltz timing, swing rhythms, and other musical styles. Exploring rhythms strengthens musicality and coordination.
The Element of Dance: Force
The Element of Force explores the expressive qualities of movement. Young dancers begin to understand how movement can feel different depending on the energy, weight, and flow used to perform it. These concepts help dancers move beyond mechanical actions and begin to express artistry.
In the Dance to Learn® Curriculum, we explore Force through 3 Primary Dance Concepts:
- Energy: Refers to the quality of movement, often explored through contrasts such as sharp or smooth actions. Children experience these qualities through imagery and expressive movement.
- Weight: Refers to how heavy or light a movement feels. Exploring weight helps dancers understand how different amounts of force influence the appearance of movement.
- Flow: Refers to the continuity of movement. Legato movements feel smooth and connected, while staccato movements feel short and separated. Understanding flow helps dancers develop musical and expressive movement quality.
Teaching dance through concepts allows children to develop a deeper understanding of movement rather than simply copying skills. By exploring the dance elements and concepts of dance, young dancers strengthen their coordination, build cognitive connections, and develop the ability to think creatively about movement.
Conceptual learning also supports whole child development. As children explore dance concepts, they engage their bodies, minds, and imaginations simultaneously. Movement exploration strengthens motor development, spatial awareness, rhythm recognition, and social interaction, while also encouraging creativity and self-expression.
At Dance to Learn®, these concepts form the backbone of our Conceptualized-Thematic Dance Education approach, where movement ideas are paired with imaginative themes that help children connect abstract dance concepts to real-life experiences.
To help dance teachers visualize how the dance elements and concepts work together, we have created a Dance Concept Chart outlining the five Elements of Dance and the eighteen dance concepts explored within the Dance to Learn® curriculum.
Download the chart to see how these concepts support developmentally appropriate dance education for young children and how conceptual exploration creates stronger, more confident dancers.
Discover how the Dance to Learn® Curriculum helps dance teachers bring the Elements of Dance and Conceptual Attributes to life through developmentally appropriate lessons designed for young dancers.
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