Parent Circle / January 201226

Creative movement uses body actions to communicate an image (eg: the wind), an idea (eg: a journey) or a feeling (eg:

strength). It uses dance, drama and music as a form of expression.

For children, creative movement is a way to start the process of understanding themselves better and the world that they live in, through activities that enhance all areas of their growth and development.

It helps them understand their environment and develops physical skills and creative skills. Sensory skills are enhanced through visualization, hearing and touch. Social skills are broadened, even as every child realizes his own uniqueness. The child learns to respect himself and others. Creative movement also increases the child’s concentration.

As children grow, they become

such as cognitive learning, and motor skills, guided by the mother’s active participation. Neural pattern formations are actively altered.

A theatrical movement class for 3 to 5 year old children This enables children to become excellent story-tellers expressing themselves through movement and themes based on age-appropriate concepts. This class supports their formative ideas.

Ballroom Buddies This allows for partnering across age groups, particularly within extended families, to make it a great family bonding activity. Parent and child, grandparent and child, including babies take part in the class as a pair.

Other Movement and Fitness classes Kalari is an ancient Indian martial art form that is regarded as the basis of

more aware of themselves and their bodies. Creative movement activities help with a better body-language-expression which in turn, helps in the understanding of the body language of others. It leads to considerable motor skill development, and a good understanding of rhythm.

Apart from the highly evolved forms of classical dancing which allow for creative movement, there are various less imposing creative movement classes, combining fitness with dance and fun for children of all ages. Some programmes are outlined below. (Please see resource box for more information.)

Creative Movement ClassesMovement sessions for mothers and babies of 6 to 18 months This helps enhance the mother-child relationship, where they discover the world through each other’s eyes. Several facets of growth for the baby are addressed,

Creative Movement

BY MRINALINI SEKAR

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all martial art. Learning the basics of Kalari improves physical, emotional and mental agility, strength and stamina. Some of the choreography, such as sparring in kalari payat can be applied to classical dance forms. Kathakalli dancers who knew martial arts were believed to be markedly better than the other performers. Some traditional Indian dance schools still incorporate kalari payat as part of their exercise regimen.

Miming is talking with your whole body, a universal language that everyone understands. Mime brings to life, fantasy and illusion using one’s whole body to form a picture.

Dance aerobics is one of the commonest forms of aerobics that can be seen today around the world. It is a good way to utilize time, an even better way to lose weight and an excellent way to increase the oxygen intake in the body.

Zumba the largest dance fitness program in the world, based on a Latin-inspired dance fitness program created by dancer and choreographer Alberto “Beto” Perez in Colombia during the 1990s. Zumba involves dance and aerobic elements. Zumba’s choreography incorporates hip-hop, samba, salsa, merengue, mambo, martial arts, and some Bollywood and belly dance moves. Squats and lunges are also included.

What you can do for children at home Everyone can enjoy a sense of well-being and develop finer sensibilities through simple acts of creative movement at home.

Parents can encourage creative movement and participate with their children towards different goals, from

physical development to bonding and communication, and resolving emotional issues.

For infants: The traditional massages that our grandmas advocated helps the mother move the child’s limbs which is good for joint development. Baby games that involve small movements while the mother chants a rhyme, is important for both - physical development and mother-child bonding. The mother can croon lullabies to the baby, which will help the child feel secure. Refrain from playing recorded music. The mother’s voice off-key is still better than professionally choreographed songs!

For young children: Play different kinds of music and watch the child’s response. Some may break into a free spirited dance, some may jump about and others may clap or thump their feet. Allow each child to move freely to her favourite music. Make it an everyday ritual of playing music and moving. You can give her a theme by asking her to do only hand movements or you can join her in a game of mirroring her movements.

For siblings: Your children can be encouraged to practise creative movement together. In the absence of competitive ‘win or lose’ situation, there is less scope for quarrels in such an activity. Give them a topic, say, an

animal. Ask them to make up a story based on this animal and act it out through gestures and movement. Ask them to experiment with role reversals. For instance the more aggressive child can take on the role of a gentle deer and the quieter one can be the lion. This will help them to look at the world from different perspectives.

For hyper-active children: Creative movement offers great opportunities to channelize the energies of hyper-active children and help them stay focused. Offer a restricted area, say within four squares of floor tiles and ask them to move to their favourite music. They will jump, kick air and move wildly. Ask them to pick any four moves and repeat the same in a pattern. Say, two jumps, followed by three kicks in the air and so on. This will make them focus on remembering a sequence, while expending energy. Hyper-active children, despite hectic activities during the day, cannot settle down at night. As a bed-time ritual, for the first five minutes, get them moving to really fast music; then gradually introduce slower music, more conducive to sleep. In 2 to 3 weeks, they will be able to sleep.

For older children: Parents often have trouble reaching out to their adolescent and teenage children. Creative movement helps open a window of communication between the parent and child in a non-verbal manner. When you feel your teen is upset, hold her gently and sway to melodious music. The child gets a great sense of security and a feeling that ‘mom is there, no matter what’, while the mother gets to relieve all the repressed tensions.

MRINALINI SEKAR IS A BHARATHANATYAM

DANCER WHO CONDUCTS CREATIVE

MOVEMENT CLASSES FOR CHILDREN AND

ADULTS.

SOME RESOURCES

Chennai: Creative Movement www.bluemovementcircle.in

Kalari www.shajikalari.com

Other www.o2healthstudio.com,

www.oxygen6.net

Mumbai: www.wavesgym.com, www.dancewithemdc.com

Bengaluru: Navarasa 97412 90592