(1-A&B, 2-A&B, 4-C, 5-C&D)

KEEP instruction focuses on listening, following directions, taking verbal commands, controlling behavior that interferes with learning, sign language cues, friendly competition, rewards, praise, positive reinforcement, sequencing, memorization, right and left proficiency. Dancers must learn to dramatize, mime, express and deliver to an audience. Dancers learn to use their voices, speak up, speak clearly, and mimic Instructor’s pitch, volume, and tone.

Empirical evidence shows the positive effect of dance on reading skills. One study showed that children who cannot cross midline tend to focus on the vertical of the paper, sometimes writing up and down, in a straight line, without writing across the paper. These children also tended to stop reading in the middle of the page. Children who had trouble finding their personal space, as in lining up too close to one another, had the same problem with squeezing letters too close to each other. The study maintains “the omission of gross motor instruction as part of a child’s education may be especially devastating to children who are predominantly kinesthetic learners.”

Limited English Proficiency (LEP) students also benefit from KEEP instruction and gain confidence by counting and repeating instructions in English in a group “call and response” setting—a safe place to explore pronunciation.