Do we realise the benefits our students gain in our classes and studios?

 I have found myself interested in many directions with regards to philosophy and dance, from Katahrine Dunham and her racial, anthropological acceptance and equality to Sondra Fraleigh and her links with movement and healing.

With looking at what other practitioners have achieved as they have looked outward at the communities, countries and philosophical and political effects. I found my self wondering why I was unfamiliar with some these practitioners as they have paved the way for my own learning and teaching. Martha graham and her manipulation of gravity and use of breath has been the foundation of what I was taught and performed and now pushes through within my own teaching, yet I was unaware of the origin. As i start to delve into other literature and start to look at my own interests, the possible effects we have on a child's development keeps pulling me back, I wonder what and how exactly it does benefit the children I teach, if at all?

I think it's something we can overlook as we focus on the routines, the spacing, their technique and how well they're advancing and how to help their progress it can all become localised to within the classroom.
Yet to explore the possibility of developmental benefits as a direct result of what happens within Dance classes is a wondrous concept to me.

This is an article, one of many, that has lit a dozen light bulbs within my own mind triggering heaps of questions and a want to explore these avenues further. Are there any direct developmental effects from my own classes? and is it a direct causation? If their are developmental benefits then would this be enhanced as I am made aware of them and can work towards or enhance any qualities found? Are their exiting methods to use dance as a tool to enhance development? Would that make a difference or would does it occur naturally and exist with no causation to individual teacher?

http://www.ndeo.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=893257&module_id=55419