Dancercise Blog

Folks, we are very excited to be able to bring internationally-recognized child education expert Rae Pica to our website with the addition of Body, Mind and Child radio. This internet-based radio station provides frequent interviews with all kinds of child development and education experts on a variety of topics. For 8 to 12 minutes, hear Rae interview her guests on a diverse range of topics from discipline to playtime.

Visit our new radio page here and let us know what you think.

See this wonderful video of Sir Ken Robinson discussing creativity in schools, which I found thanks to the good people at BAM! Street. In particular, listen to the example in the last five minutes about the girl who – today – would be diagnosed ADD, but went on to have a flourishing and successful career in the arts because of the insight of a doctor.

This is what I’ve taken to calling the “Lego Principle” (apologies to the good people at Lego). What I mean by that is that we so easily fall into the habit of telling kids what WE think they SHOULD do instead of letting them explore. Why the reference to Lego? The apparent trend to sell more and more kits that simply put kids through a 75 step instruction book to build the latest vehicle from a movie, including Lego pieces specifically designed for that project, instead of encouraging kids to use their imaginations to create something innovative and new.

We’re passionate about this. Not just dance and movement which, of course, is our at our core, but in what it means for children that are born with such a vast array of promise and talents that, so often in our 19th century education system, are not realized. The solutions to the world’s challenges are unlikely to come from kids educated by system designed to create the industrial workers of the early 20th century.

By the way, please don’t infer from this that I cast blame on teachers. Many many teachers do what they can with the relatively limited freedom they are given. But when our whole system seems geared around passing tests, the rest is so easily lost.