Overview

This webinar introduces dance educators to developmentally attuned movement strategies drawn from Dr. Tortora’s Dancing Dialogue framework, which emphasizes that “all nonverbal behaviors are expressions of self and can be used for meaningful communication.” By applying this lens to early childhood settings, teachers learn to observe and respond to the expressive cues of infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and early elementary-age students—seeing movement not simply as activity, but as a communicative pathway into each child’s social, emotional, and sensory world.

Participants will explore how early childhood dance experiences can support emotional and physiological regulation, joint attention, impulse control, and emerging social competencies. The webinar highlights how rhythm, mirroring, sequencing, and imaginative play can nurture secure relationships, affirm children’s agency, and scaffold developmental skills.

Educators will learn movement-based tools for:

• Reading nonverbal cues and understanding what young children express through posture, rhythm, affect, and gesture.

• Supporting co-regulation and transitions through rhythmic entrainment, tempo play, and sensory-aware sequencing.

• Encouraging creativity and embodied storytelling to strengthen communication and confidence.

• Structuring early childhood dance classes to meet diverse learning styles, sensory needs, and levels of readiness.

• Building routines that help children explore movement safely while developing social–emotional foundations for school success.

This webinar equips educators with practical, adaptable tools that deepen their understanding of young children and enrich their dance instruction with embodied, relationship-centered insight.