Dance And Grow

Next time your child decides that dinner time is the appropriate venue for an unedited rendition of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (which is Romanian for "incredibly long drum solo") on the kitchen table, consider this: your offspring is actually practicing what we in the child development business call an "isolation movement." In other words, the child is using one part of his body (the arms) to perform the movement (ruining dinner). In addition to isolation movements, Dance and Grow, based on Betty Rowen's book of the same name which covers developmental dance activities for 3-8 year olds, also features "axial movements," "signature movements," and "animal movements," among others. Three instructors take turns guiding a class of 6 and 7 year olds through a series of stretches and steps designed to provide a rudimentary appreciation of the three main attributes of dance: rhythm, quality of movement, and use of space. Although parents are included in the intended audience, the mostly unnarrated and technically uninspired format is unlikely to interest or encourage parents. An optional purchase for elementary school libraries. (R. Pitman)