Parenting Children's Talents

Ballerina: A Documentary That Is a Jewel To Help Dancers Learn

The dance documentary called Ballerina can be a jewel to help dancers learn about other dancers and themselves.  Many of my counseling clients benefit greatly from learning about the journey that other dancers experience.  One of the most important mental aspects of training and sacrificing is knowing you are experiencing the same highs and lows as others before you and around you.  This documentary can be inspirational and help dancers remember that they are not alone in their journey, but are a part of a unique group.

Documentary "Ballerina" Opens Tomorrow

From Meryl Cates at Dancer Blog
January 15, 2009

 After an appearance at the Dance On Camera festival, "Ballerina" will be opening at a limited number of movie theaters tomorrow, January 16th.  The film, shown alongside a number of dance-related movies, documentaries, and features, will now stand on its own as an intimate look into the lives of five Russian ballerinas.

For the ballet aficionados who are interested in the in-depth journey of a dancer, or for the ballet admirer who lusts after the glamour of the stage, the film intends to satisfy with their unique stories and experience...if nothing else, the dancing will be worth the watch.

Directed by Bertrand Norman, he sought to tell the story of the ballerinas at the Kirov, and the mystique of their lives behind the Maryinsky theater stage.  Following Ulyana Lopatkina, Diana Vishneva, Svetlana Zakharova, Alina Somova, and Evgenia Obraztsova through different points of their career, we see the complexity of everyday human emotions paralleled with their work and passion as a ballerina.

The 80-minute documentary takes on a mission that could easily become trite (the Russian ballerina has certainly been the focus of many films before), but aims to introduce something new with their personal stories and journeys. 

Art and Attention: Participation in art may improve children’s ability to focus attention

How well students focus their attention in school impacts their ability to learn.  The more students can focus attention deeply and for sustained periods of time, the more effective and thorough their learning.  The students who become fatigued early and focus attention at shallow levels of concentration are more likely to become distracted.  So, when the research of Michael Posner at the University of Oregon determined that arts training may improve attention, educators and parents are taking notice.

According to the Dana Foundation, there is an assumption that children who are interested in the arts are motivated to practice with focused determination, and that focus improves how well the brain can pay attention.

To research this assumption, Posner designed a video game with activities that were motivating to young children just like their arts training.  In the study, children ages four to seven years old were tested before and after playing the video game using special brain monitoring technology to determine if there were any changes in the parts of the brain that control attention.

Posner discovered that, after five days of training using the video game, there were improvements in how the brain focuses attention.  These findings can help parents and educators better understand that, by involving children in arts training, they are also training the brain’s ability to pay attention and learn.

Music and Reading: Music training may improve reading

Did you know that children’s music training may improve their ability to read?  Psychologist Brian Wandell and his team of researchers at Standford University have found that children’s level of musical training was related to improvements in their reading.  The research team studied how different types of arts training, such as music, acting, visual arts, and dance, impacted reading skills. 

Wandell’s research discovered that only musical training had an effect on reading fluency. The more musical training children experienced, the more their reading may improved.

Music and Learning: Intense participation in music may enhance ability in math

Did you know that practicing and performing music may enhance your children’s ability in math.  Elizabeth Spelke, a neuropsychologist at Harvard University, studied whether music training improves math skills in young and adolescent children.  She studied the following groups to compare the effect their training had on their math abilities:

• Children who had moderate training in music versus children with moderate training in sports

• Children who had intense training in music versus children with intense training in creative writing, dance, visual arts, and theater 

The children who study music intensively (20 or more hours a week) had enhanced mental abilities in math.  “We found a clear benefit for intensive music training, compared to theater or writing,” Spelke said.  Children with music training also performed better on map reading tests than those with training in other forms of art such as dance and theater. 

While more research is needed to further explore the impact of music on math and learning, Spelke’s research is an encouraging step forward in our understanding about how music impacts children's ability to think and learn.

Arts and Learning: Participation In the Arts Helps the Brain and Learning

For years, parents and educators have been told that children’s participation in the arts help develop their brains in ways that enhance learning.  A research consortium organized and funded by the Dana Foundation has identified that the arts can enhance how the mind performs many tasks needed to be successful in school.  While the results are not totally conclusive, they do have many researchers, educators and parents enthusiastic to learn more through additional research.

This groundbreaking study is invaluable for parents and educators as they wrestle with determining the most effective environments for children to grow mentally and academically.  As school systems throughout the country reduce art programs in school, the consortium’s findings show encouraging results that point to the importance of art as an avenue to enhance learning.

The consortium’s research has resulted in some of the following findings:

• Children who studied music intensively (20 or more hours a week) versus other types of arts and sports training have enhanced abilities in math

• The more musical training children have, the greater their improvement in reading

• Children who practice their art intensely enhance their ability to focus attention, which impacts their ability to learn

In this week’s blog postings, I will explain more about these results and the researchers who have dedicated themselves to studying the link between art and the brain.  The information is based on the Dana Foundation Consortium’s report Learning, Arts and the Brain and Brain In the News.

When you consider having your children participate in the arts, you should first focus on how they will enjoy it personally and master their art for the joy of it.  Only then should you consider how it will help them in the logic, math and language world of school.  Your children’s motivation to master their art will naturally lead to developing their minds in ways that improve learning.