Teaching Dance to Kindergarten Children through School Concert Dance Performance: A Self-Review

Abstract

This paper examines the dance pedagogy for children in six kindergartens from 2005 to 2015 by using the approach of auto-ethnography. It analyses the design of dance activities in two stages: the early stage, which emphasises learning outcomes, and the later stage, which emphasises the needs of children from the affective and cognitive aspects. It also discusses the challenges of developing a child-centred approach while fulfilling the expectations of parents and kindergarten principals, ultimately arriving at a balance between product- and process-based approaches. Finally, this pioneering study provides suggestions for ways to improve dance education for children in Malaysian kindergartens.