Minute Masterclass Episode 124

  Welcome to your one-minute masterclass. I’m Andrea Trench, founder of DiscoverDance and creator of the Foundations Course for Early Childhood Dance Educators and the DiscoverDance Experience Membership. We have many DiscoverDance studios that are moving away from the traditional dance shoe requirement and opting for their dancers to dance with bare feet instead. Whether you have ditched the shoes for sensory sensitivity reasons, to eliminate classroom distractions, or are following the research on the benefit of being barefoot, this episode is for you! Today we are answering the frequently asked question: why are the children dancing with bare feet rather than in dance shoes?

 Offering a brain-based dance education means we rely on brain science and the research on child development to guide the practices implemented in our dance programs. Early childhood development specialist, Rae Pica, writes in her article, “Being Barefoot Boosts Brain Development”, “… the feet are the most nerve-rich parts of the human body, which means they contribute to the building of neurological pathways in the brain. Covering them in shoes, therefore, means we’re eliminating all kinds of opportunities for children’s brains to grow new neural connections.” In addition to this research, sensory sensitivities and distractions such as ties becoming untied or being upset because shoes were forgotten at home, can all be eliminated by not requiring them in the first place. This allows us to maximize our time together with dancing, learning, and growing. For more information, to enroll in the Foundations Course, join the DiscoverDance Experience, or to find the text version of this minute masterclass, visit DiscoverDance.com.