ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the aims of dance workshops and classes are many: to increase awareness of the body; to develop physical skills: jumping, turning, balance, travelling; to enhance the ability to interact socially and to cooperate with others in small and large groups; to encourage a sense and understanding of rhythm and breathing, tempo and dynamics; to develop the Inner rhythm; to develop the self-discipline necessary to achieve all the above. Deaf children sometimes find it hard to understand the concepts of strong and weak, often confusing these with slow and fast. The development of this awareness can take time, and dance teacher likes to include in almost every workshop a section on impetus, on swinging arms and energetically which result in moving other parts of the body. Once the children have become adept at improvising and creating their own movements, it becomes possible to develop their ideas and to structure them, to put together short dance sequences.
