At Smart Moves Creative Dance we concentrate on promoting children’s active movement during the critical early years. We provide a fun, engaging and developmentally appropriate dance education programme that emphasises children’s creativity. Babies and young children love to move. Crawling, climbing, skipping and jumping however, is not only fun, it is essential for learning. Research shows the specific importance of movement for the healthy brain development of children from birth to 5 years old.This dance school is based upon a curriculum of brain-compatible dance classes devised by Anne Green Gilbert, artistic director of the Creative Dance Centre in Seattle. It is founded upon an understanding of current research on how the brain learns, so as to ensure that learning dance, developing skills and technique, and creating is both fun and beneficial.Benefits of Brain-Compatible Dance Education:Physical Benefits:? Develop strong and healthy bodies and brains through movement and exercise, ? Increase body awareness, control, balance, and co-ordination & ? Release energy through positive physical activity.Social Benefits:? Learn to co-operate with others through partner and group work, ? Practice self-discipline through sharing space, and interacting safely with other dancers & ? Learn a universal, non-verbal language that is inclusive of all cultures and abilities whilst discovering the value of individual differences.Emotional Benefits:? Become more self-aware by expressing feelings through movement. Contrasting movements help define feelings which lead to appropriate behaviour, ? Gain feelings of validation and self respect derived from having the freedom to express one’s own thoughts through movement and voice & ? Increase self-esteem through positive and non-competitive experiences.Intellectual Benefits? Develop problem-solving skills through the experience of solving movement problems, ? Strengthen the ability to listen, concentrate and follow directions &? Develop neural pathways through movement patterning that are essential to language acquisition, reading readiness, and mathematical ability.SMART MOVES, YOUR CREATIVE DANCE SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN IN CHRISTCHURCH.