Dance Concept: Levels
There are three different Levels - Low, Middle and High.
These three physical levels corresponds with the three levels of our brain:
Low brain – brain stem & cerebellum – develops rapidly from 0-6 mths
Mid brain – emotional brain – develops during the crawling stage up to 4 years old
High brain – thinking brain – starts to develop when they start being in vertical and continues to develop till they’re 23 for girls and 25 for boys
It is very beneficial for stimulating the brain's three levels with motor movement:
LOW level movements like army crawling organizes the reptilian brain or brain stem
MIDDLE level movements like crawling on hands and knees stimulates the emotional brain
HIGH level movements like jumping and being vertical stimulates the processing, thinking brain.
Besides activating each individual level of the brain, moving THROUGH these different levels:
Helps integrate vertical communication between the different levels of the brain. The more we move up and down, the more connections are created and the more quickly and automatically information will flow up and down the brains. That is what an integrated brain means!
“Massages” the brain stem and helps children regulate their emotions and sleep/wake cycles.
Brings awareness to babies’ upper and lower bodies, helps waddlers figure out how to move from high to low and vice versa smoothly, and teach toddlers how to move their bodies in the different levels (for example they could be lifting their feet up high, and hands down low).
Gives children healthy vestibular stimulation vital for nerve and brain development.
It is wonderful to know that we can have such a positive impact on our baby and child's development dancing and having fun playing!
The Three Levels of the Brain