Creative Dance and The Montessori Method

In August 2020, I was out of work. The pandemic was in full swing and anything extracurricular for children was out of the question. Luckily, I was offered a job as an assistant guide at a Montessori preschool called Athena and I accepted immediately.

For a year I worked in a toddler classroom, helping kids with words, using the bathroom, and regulating BIG emotions. There were hundreds of dirty diapers, snotty noses, and meltdowns. But I also got to see the Montessori method in action and how it helped these little ones become extremely independent. “I did it all by myself!”

I began introducing the BrainDance in our circle times, and was amazed with the results. These children were captivated by these movement patterns and the nursery songs that accompanied them. I noticed that some children has less cross-lateral mobility or less body-side mobility. This is pretty common and usually due to lack of floor time in the first year of life. Eventually, the patterns became integrated and they began to move with ease! These sensorimotor patterns of development, practiced daily, helped them with their learning, their sensory processing, and their focus. The body and the mind are connected, and we must move the body in order to unlock pathways in the brain.

After seeing this connection in action, I was so excited to bring creative dance to as many young children and educators as I could. Not only connecting pathways of the brain and body, but also encouraging children to be creative, collaborative, and to think critically.

Although it was challenging, I’m so grateful I was introduced to the beautiful world of Montessori learning. It emphasized my own philosophy of teaching and everything I had learned from children in the past. Creative dance and the Montessori method go together like peanut butter and jelly! In the development of the whole child, movement and creativity must be at the center.