Brain-Compatible Dance Education

Part I. Foundations of Brain-Compatible Dance Education
Chapter 1. The Body–Brain Connection
Chapter 2. Principles of Brain-Compatible Dance Education
Chapter 3. Planning Brain-Compatible Lessons
Chapter 4. Assessment Strategies

Part II. Brain-Compatible Lesson Plan Sections
Chapter 5. Warming Up
Chapter 6. Exploring the Concept
Chapter 7. Developing Skills
Chapter 8. Creating
Chapter 9. Cooling Down

Part III. Brain-Compatible Lesson Plans
Chapter 10. Ages 2 Months to 4 Years
Chapter 11. Ages 5 to 8 Years
Chapter 12. Ages 9 Years to Adult
Chapter 13. Older Adults
Chapter 14. Bonus Lesson Plans

References
Resources

Anne Green Gilbert’s Brain-Compatible Dance Education, Second Edition, strikes the perfect balance between hard science and practicality, making it an ideal resource for dance educators working with dancers of all ages and abilities.

Gilbert presents the latest brain research and its implications for dance educators and dancers. She makes the research findings accessible and easy to digest, always connecting the science to the teaching and learning that takes place in classrooms and studios.

This new edition of Brain-Compatible Dance Education features Gilbert’s unique BrainDance warm-up, made up of eight developmental movement patterns for people of all ages, from birth to older adults. This BrainDance warm-up helps dancers improve focus and productivity as it invigorates their minds and bodies and gets their synapses firing.

In addition, this edition offers the following new material:

• 24 new lesson plans geared to all age groups, from birth on up
• New tips and tools to strengthen your teaching skills and provide a foundation for advocating for dance in schools and communities
• A new web resource that includes 11 video clips of BrainDance with variations for diverse audiences, as well as printable lesson plans, posters, charts, and assessment templates

The video clips on the web resource are great teaching aids that show you real-world examples of how the movements are done. The clips show dancers from infants to seniors, from beginners to advanced students, and those with special needs.

The text is organized into three parts. Part I presents the theory behind brain-compatible dance education, offering an overview of the latest brain research, outlining the 10 principles of brain-compatible dance education, and exploring how to plan engaging lessons and use tools to assess your dancers. Part II describes the lesson plan elements in depth, including warming up, exploring concepts, developing skills, creating, and cooling down. In part III, Gilbert offers her new sequential and holistic lesson plans for ages 0 through 4, 5 through 8, 9 through 18, and adults.

Brain-Compatible Dance Education, Second Edition, will revitalize your dance classes by improving your students’ focus as they perform the repetitions that are so necessary for skill development. It will help you understand the vital link between movement and cognition, develop holistic lesson plans for any age and population, and bring the joy of movement into students’ lives.

Anne Green Gilbert founded the Creative Dance Center and Kaleidoscope Dance Company in Seattle, Washington, in 1981 and the Summer Dance Institute for Teachers in 1994. Anne has had a varied teaching career. She started as an elementary school teacher and then moved on to dance and pedagogy classes at the University of Illinois at Chicago and University of Washington; she then taught children’s dance classes at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Washington, and at the college’s Bill Evans Dance Theater. She has been an adjunct professor at Seattle Pacific University for many years and taught for Lesley University’s Outreach master’s program for 10 years. For the past three decades, Anne has taught toddlers through adults at Creative Dance Center, trained teachers through her Summer Dance Institute, and conducted hundreds of workshops and residencies across the United States and abroad. Anne developed BrainDance, a focusing warm-up exercise, in 2000. BrainDance is used in many schools, studios, and homes around the world. Anne is internationally recognized for her work with young artists and her creative process. She has choreographed dances for university dance companies as well as Northwest dance companies and Kaleidoscope.

Anne is the author of Teaching the Three Rs Through Movement Experiences, Creative Dance for All Ages, Brain-Compatible Dance Education, Teaching Creative Dance (DVD), and BrainDance (DVD), and numerous articles. She is an active member of the National Dance Education Organization and Dance and the Child International (daCi). Anne served on the daCi board for 12 years. She is founder and past president of the Dance Educators Association of Washington, an organization promoting quality dance education in all Washington state K-12 schools. As a member of the Arts Education Standards project, she helped write the Washington State Dance Standards and Learning Goals. Anne is the recipient of several awards and honors, including the NDA Scholar/Artist Award in 2005, the National Dance Education Organization Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011, the Lawrence Tenney Stevens American Dance Award for her work with boys and men in dance in 2014, and the American Dance Festival Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching in 2016.

Anne is the mother of three Kaleidoscope alums and grandmother of six dancing grandchildren. She lives in Seattle with her husband.