The Development of Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence in Children:
Implications for Education and Artistry
By Jay.A.Seitz
www.york.cuny.edu/~seitz/HolisticEd.pdf


In this article, Seitz draws attention to the potential of artistic movement, particularly dance, for nurturing intelligence in children. Jay points to the now widely acknowledged problem that traditional intelligence tests, in focusing almost exclusively on linguistic and mathematical skills, have neglected the acknowledgement of many abilities which have been regarded as not relevant for the development of higher-order cognitive skills.

Seitz traces the central role of movement in the development of speech and thinking from infancy. Recent studies have confirmed that the parts of the brain which control voluntary movement are connected by neural pathways to those parts of the brain which manipulate ideas, suggesting that we think kinesthetically.

Seitz supports Gardner’s acknowledgement of a bodily-kinesthetic intelligence as a distinct ability with two components:

1: masterful coordination of one’s bodily movements
2: the ability to manipulate objects in a skilled manner.

The three central cognitive skills in body-gestural expression are highlighted in their relevance for the artistic development of movement. These are:

1: motor logic - the clear ‘ idea ’, or syntax of movement
2: kinesthetic memory – the reconstructing of movement and the positioning in space
3: kinesthetic awareness- the appreciation of posture, balance, symmetry, resistance, tension and weight.
All three elements are important components of dance.
Important too are the abilities to imitate and to understand the expression of ideas and feelings in movement. These latter two skills are located in the special realm of ‘artistic intelligences.’

Seitz points to the ‘problem-solving’ nature of refining artistic movement, whereby the learner matches, to an ever increasing degree, his own movements with an ideal e.g. an arabesque.

Artistic movement is said to develop the learner on the physical, sensory, emotional and intellectual levels. The aesthetic, social and cultural understandings arising from artistic movement have been largely undervalued by educators in western societies, so too the relation to spatial and musical intelligences. Seitz advocates curriculum changes to address a broader profile of intellectual abilities and an earlier nurturing of artistic movement.

My teaching experience has focused largely on a form of artistic movement known as eurythmy (the movement of music and speech) and the teaching of cultural (folk) dance. I have taught all levels from pre-school to year 12.
My work with very young children focuses strongly on movement qualities taken from nature, animals and stories such as fairy tales. The movement is imaginative, free-form and not highly organised. Through the primary years the children bring more conscious awareness into their individual expression, concentration, coordination and increasingly complex spatial and group forms.
The high school years see a refinement of these skills whereby the student is increasingly challenged to become the creator and choreograph of group performances.

I have witnessed the calming, ordering and enlivening effect creative movement has on children’s behavior. My work aims to support and enhance the curriculum in fully integrated way. I have seen ‘cross-pollination’ effects too: one French teacher was certain the children performed far better if her lesson came immediately after a lesson in eurythmy. In accordance with Seitz’s observations, I have become convinced of the value of eurythmy and folk dance in nurturing inter and intra personal intelligence, spatial awareness, linguistic and musical appreciation, social and cultural understanding.

Children are natural movers and it seems a crime that they are made to learn so much whilst sitting still! Adolescents are often chaotic or lethargic in their movement and benefit enormously from balancing these extremes in a soul-enriching form- not just through sport. Like Seitz, I strongly advocate curriculum reform. I am working as part of a creative arts committee to bring about change in my local public school.

Dancing in all its forms cannot be excluded from the curriculum of all noble education; dancing with the feet, with ideas, with words…… ~Friedrich Nietzsche


The Steiner education system has embraced the need for artistic movement whole-heartedly since its inception. The performing arts are seen as crucial for the appreciation of the dignity, worth and beauty of the human being. The effects of artistic movement for broader learning are highly utilized.

Focused, flexible, coordinated and agile movements awaken these qualities in thinking (as supported by Seitz: we think kinesthetically). Movement which reflects both the outer world and the inner experience nourishes emotional development, broadening the depths of feeling in students.(Seitz refers to better interaction with other people and objects in the world). In artistic movement, we see the Waldorf education principle of thinking, feeling and doing exemplified on both an individual and social level.

In addition, Steiner emphasized the spiritual qualities of artistic movement: “Through Eurythmy, man comes nearer the divine than he otherwise could”. As Friedrich Nietzsche boldly expressed: “I would believe only in a God that knows how to dance.” Seitz neglects to refer to this aspect of dance -surprisingly- considering the role dance has played through the ages in religious rites. “Dancers are the athletes of God.” according to Albert Einstein. Here a clear connection can be made to the nurturing of Gardner’s existential or spiritual intelligence. This may seem a difficult avenue to explore in school curriculum, yet I have found that artistic movement to truly great works of poetry and music accesses the existential realm effortlessly…

We ought to dance with rapture that we might be alive... and part of the living, incarnate cosmos. ~D.H. Lawrence