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Can Dance Improve Your Child's Communication Skills?
Gallery of Dance talks about the many ways that dance can make children into better communicators.
Much like laughing, loving, and learning, dancing is an integral part of being a human. While we express many of our thoughts, ideas, and emotions through spoken word and writing, we also express these things through movement and body language. For thousands of years, cultures around the world have performed dance as a form of expression, social interaction, and communication.
Through dance education, youngsters develop an understanding of the mechanics of body language and nonverbal communication. Children learn about different ways of moving their bodies, and how these motions can express different feelings and thoughts. By training in dance, students can become better at both interpreting and communicating nonverbally. Interpersonal nonverbal communication is essential for building personal and professional relationships, and can be a powerful tool for connecting with others at school, home, and in future careers.
Why Is Nonverbal Communication Important?
As humans, we are constantly communicating messages without saying a word. We send signals through a variety of nonverbal behaviors, including gestures, touch posture, facial expressions, eye contact, and position. In many cases, we communicate one message orally while saying the opposite nonverbally. Since nonverbal communication is often natural and unconscious, physical messages are often more truthful and genuine than the words we speak.
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Mastering the art of nonverbal communication is essential to becoming a powerful communicator in academic, work, and personal settings. Dance training can help your student gain an understanding of nonverbal communication at a very young age, thus equipping her to become a successful communicator for the rest of her life.
You can encourage the development of nonverbal communication and many other life skills—including fitness, discipline, and confidence—by enrolling your young student in dance. At Gallery of Dance in Freehold, NJ, we are still accepting kids for our fall semester classes, including hip hop, lyrical contemporary, tap, and more.
