Learning through Dancing

While dancing is a form of physical education or extracurricular activity in schools, the utility of dance as a learning aid and process remains underexplored. Pioneers in Education, Somatic practices, Dance Pedagogy, and Cognitive Science have all demonstrated the benefits and potentials of dance and movement to engage the whole student, and yet dancing in the classroom is the exception, not the norm. Learning through Dancing wants to change that. By collecting, connecting, and developing dance practices for use in primary to tertiary school classrooms, and working on making such practices more accessible and understandable for everyday teachers, Learning through Dancing includes every body in the room.

Learning Through Dancing aims to collect, connect, and further develop dance practices for use in preschool, primary, secondary, and tertiary school classrooms to enhance embodied, enactive, embedded, and extended learning processes. Integrating dance and movement more deeply into teaching methods and curricula for general academic subjects is meant to: reinforce academic concepts and skills through experiential, interactive, and participatory learning paradigms; contribute to integration and collaboration among different types of learners; and support students' overall wellbeing through the social, emotional, and self-regulation skills developed through dancing together. The aim is to develop ways of integrating and activating students’ bodies, minds, and selves in holistic learning processes, through accessible tools and formats that everyday classroom teachers can use.

With research on the integration of dance in education in Sweden, on arts integration at Harvard University, and in progressive education at Bennington College, plus workshops at The Movement Arc and fieldwork at National Dance Institute for bringing dance to public schools, I will combine various knowledges and techniques to innovate learning and teaching strategies for aesthetic and kinaesthetic learning. Continuing my PhD in Choreography research on dancing as a way of thinking, Learning through Dancing also extends my insights on dance as a way of “making sense with the senses” to subjects other than dance. This research applies the sensorimotor, emotional, creative, and social skills advanced by dancing to improve general education. It contributes to progressive education models such as Universal Design for Learning, Student-Centered Learning and Critical Pedagogy. By sensitizing people to themselves, each other, and their environments in agential and empowering ways, dancing can help students become more active within and responsible for their learning, and help teachers reach students who may lose interest in more sedentary learning paradigms. The timely urgence of this research lies in counteracting the proven negative effects that increased screen time, social media, and sedentary classrooms have on youth by foregrounding the body's fundamental intelligence as central in learning and development.

Learning through Dancing includes visiting research posts at Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, MA (USA) and Bennington Center for Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College in Vermont (USA), as well as field work with the National Dance Institute of New Mexico (USA). Further exchange and skill development will take place with The Movement Arc in Vancouver, BC (Canada) and with schools and initiatives throughout Stockholm. The research grant is hosted and administered by Stockholm University of the Arts.

The Swedish Research Council & Stockholm University of the Arts

Cecilia Roos

Lena Hammergren

2025: ground research, field work, and skill development. 2026-2027: Bennington College Center for Advancement of Public Action. 2027-2028: Harvard University Graduate School of Education. 2028: final publication and reporting.

www.eleanorbauer.info