The dance program at DBIS ensures that students understand dance as a set of practices with their own histories and theories. Students experience dance as an individual and collective exploration of the expressive possibilities of bodily movement and at the same time create, participate in, and reflect upon dance forms and styles from a range of cultures and traditions, both familiar and unfamiliar.
While the emphasis is on the fact that students enjoy the process of dancing and express themselves on the stage and among their peers, we ensure that children also learn about the cultural aspect of various forms of dances.
Dance forms such as Bharatanatyam and various Indian folk traditions help children understand their own heritage better whereas Jazz and its other western counterparts helps them peek into the Western traditions and empowers them to be global citizens.
The health and physical benefits of practising dance cannot be ignored as fat as children and their upbringing is concerned. Most dance forms, especially the classical ones like Bharatanatyam and Jazz increase strength, flexibility, coordination and endurance in those who practice them regularly.
The ‘Mudras’ that students learn in Bharatanatyam also increases stamina, improves body balance, concentration and provides for a healthy heart. Western dance forms, on the other hand, help in developing core, leg and arm strength because of their full-bodied athletic nature.
Through the PYP dance curriculum at DBIS, children are made to discover that these dance practices integrate physical, intellectual, and emotional knowledge. This results in the children recognising that dance can be used to create dialogue among the various traditions and cultures and also in their school’s environment, their society, and the world at large.