
Dance your way: The development benefits of dance for children
Signing up your little one for dance might start with wanting them to have fun, move, and be with friends. But what you might not realise is how much learning happens at the same time.
Dance is more than just a physical activity - it’s a way for children to navigate and develop their emotional, creative and social selves within a group environment. Being part of a dance class from an early age teaches children to work alongside their friends and have fun, while working on essential developmental milestones that help higher order skills. So it’s a win-win for everyone (and an adorable one at that).
To make the most of those benefits (which we’ll get into in a minute) opt for a dance program that’s built with your child’s development in mind. Ready Set Dance is an award winning preschool dance program adopted by local dance studios all over Australia. It’s backed by early learning specialists with a curriculum focused on development in preschoolers. (As a side note - they make their own music, including a song by Emma Memma herself).
The benefits of dance on children's developement:
Better bilateral coordination
Bilateral coordination is the ability to use the different parts of the body together
smoothly: right and left/ top and bottom/ front and back.
Good bilateral coordination is needed to carry out symmetrical movements such as jumping, clapping, catching and throwing. We also need these skills for things like tying shoelaces, eating with a knife and fork, or cutting.
There are so many tasks during the day that require us to coordinate our body, with correct timing, and dance works on this skill in dynamic ways. During classes, kids time and coordinate stamping their feet with clapping their hands, or using two hands with musical instruments or the big parachute.
Regular practice helps children synchronise their movements, which goes beyond dance to also benefit other sports and activities - enhancing your child’s overall motor skills and balance.
The Ready Set Dance program is underpinned by a core educational curriculum that delivers the three Cs - confidence, coordination, and creativity. It’s designed to support hitting coordination milestones from your little one’s head to their toes.

Higher body and spatial awareness
There are two essential sensory processing systems we rely on daily to understand how we operate in the world.
These are the proprioceptive and vestibular systems.
● The proprioceptive system is found in our muscle spindles and joints. This
system tells us about the rate, speed, force and timing of our movements.
● The vestibular system is located in the inner ear and plays a crucial role in
maintaining balance, posture, and spatial orientation. Without it, we would
have difficulty staying upright, focusing our eyes, and navigating the world
around us.
The Ready Set Dance class allow for these systems to be activated as they have the children move through movements including stamping, twirling, jumping, skipping and running in the classes. Classes also include tipping the head down and lying on backs and tummies which has the body positioning change against gravity. This allows us to feel our body moving in different ways and creates an internal map of where we are in the world. classes allow for movement in all directiona.
It comes in hand for daily play and gross motor play, and even lays the foundation for academic learning such as puzzles, writing on the line and mathematical concepts. It all starts with the body!

Improvement in sequencing and timing
Timing and sequencing comes from the above areas of body awareness, movement processing and bilateral coordination.
Ready Set Dance use fantastic, clear and colourful visual cue cards to have the children flow from one song or movement to the next. These visual cues help children transition and plan for what is coming next. Sequencing skills come to life when children learn to follow dance routines, as they remember and execute a series of steps in a particular order.
We need to integrate our auditory system (the music we hear in class) with our body movements to time our steps appropriately. We also use our visual system to follow the teacher or our friends as we dance and move in time with one another. Ready Set Dance classes use the same movements and songs each week, with changes as needed, to help children integrate these important systems.
This awareness of our sensory systems to generate a smooth sequence of movements is essential for all other aspects of functioning.
Understanding dance and the brain
A recent study found that dance, along with music, supports the development of these crucial cognitive skills.
Enhanced memory:
When a child learns a routine in class and has to recall each step in sequence, they are
working on their memory, concentration and focus.
And as kids grow, they’re expected to remember and execute more complex
sequences of movements for routines that last a few minutes at a time. They go from
toddler ballet (which mainly involves twirling a couple times and waving at Mum) to
3-minute long jazz pieces where they move faster than you thought possible.
At Ready Set Dance, children grow with the programme and expectations increase as they develop. This keeps the classes age appropriate and allows the children to build confidence in their abilities.
This ability to recall sequencing, timing, working solo or as a group can build their memory recall for academic learning.
Improved Communications
Dance provides children with a dynamic platform to develop both verbal and nonverbal communication.
That includes understanding and using body language and facial expressions, and
verbal communication through activities that involve conversation, storytelling, and
role play. The instructors at Ready Set Dance use big facial expressions and whole
body movements to reflect emotions as they doing and dance. The children copy this
and learn through play.
Dance needs no words, so children of all abilities can engage equally in dance and learn to communicate in ways they are able to. The programme is inclusive of all abilities and teachers are supportive of all children in their classes.
Boosted creativity
The way we move our bodies through the world tells a story and helps us understand ourselves in space.
Creativity and imagination are fostered through dance, allowing children to express themselves in unique ways and explore different forms of communication and connection. So in short, dance has perks like:
● Boosting problem-solving and critical thinking skills,
● Promoting spatial awareness and visual-spatial skills, which are crucial for
understanding and interacting with the world around them
● Promoting memory, focus and creativity which we need for story-telling,
studying and problem solving complex idea.
As an Occupational Therapist and ex-dancer, I see the immense value of dance on all children of all ages. Dance has proven an excellent physical and cardiovascular activity, improving our physical health. Moreover, it’s an invaluable activity for supporting a child's overall development contributing to a child’s positive mental health, academic performance and social interactions. And at the end of the day, there’s nothing like seeing your little on up on stage.

About Nicole Katzenellenbogen
Nicole is an experienced and passionate Senior Occupational Therapist who is loved by both the children and their parents. Her special interests lie in working with the younger child through a sensory integration framework, parent support and holistic treatment of children with developmental difficulties. She is passionate about making therapy support and strategies accessible in the home and classroom through realistic programmes and strategies. This empowers those engaging with the child daily and helps the reach their full potential. Nicole has a wealth of knowledge in many areas of child development.
