Kids dance education can teach them to practice what is usually reserved for older students in other academic subjects. Dance gives the freedom and permission for students to question and explore, "What if?"
From a movement strand to composition structure to the study of alignment, the dance class is a constant set of negotiations happening in real time.
The body is constantly engaged in physical experiments dealing with weight, time, and force with variables shifting day by day or even hour by hour. Students have to be present and aware in a way that traditional classes wish they could engage.
The type of learning involved in dance study engages the whole child: physically, emotionally, and intellectually. As a result, it is also an inclusive environment where students with all types of learning styles can have an equal chance for success.
If we compare Bloom's Taxonomy, a theory about learning styles divided into three main categories (cognitive, affective, and psychomotor), to general approaches to the creative process, we see that they are virtually the same.
The traditions of dance training innately apply these sophisticated goals. Imagine what could be done with attention to teaching details that allow the students to see behind the curtain and have some input in how and why they produce dance.
Creating dance, particularly when involved in the information gathering and decision-making aspects of dance-making, is a direct example of higher order thinking- the most valuable type of learning. Essentially, students are learning how to learn and how to communicate. This is what kids need in order to be able to address a future world we can only dare to imagine now.