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She steps on my toes while I’m cooking dinner, elbows me in the chest and belly as she uses me for leverage to climb onto the couch, and she hugs me while I’m sitting on the toilet. My daughter has no concept of personal space. It’s not surprising. Most two year olds don’t.
Over the years I’ve watched many young children collide or narrowly miss each other while dancing in my classroom. They are often so self absorbed in their own dancing (which is totally age appropriate) that they don’t realize there are other people so close to them.
This is why the movement concept I teach FIRST in every session of dance classes is Place. In dance there are two kinds of Place: Self Space and General Space.
Self Space is the space that belongs to you. It’s often defined by your own kinesphere, that is, the space around your body that you can reach by stretching your arms or legs out in any direction. Your own personal bubble.
The General Space is the space we share. I often think of it as the space we travel through as we move our personal bubble from one place to another.
As you walk down the street or through a store, it’s obvious that it’s not just kids who have trouble with recognizing the differences between Self Space and General Space; many adults struggle with this too. That’s why I’m sharing this Bubble Dance activity that you can do with your kids to help them practice. Practicing Place as a dance concept makes a game of the important lesson of understanding your own personal Self Space and how to share the General Space with others.
Bubble Dance
What you need: Painters/masking tape or a poly spot to mark a self space spot for everyone participating
What you do:
Put on some music (I like Here Comes my Baby by the Vitamin String Quartet that feels a little bit floaty but still has a great rhythm!) and put your feet on your spot.
Self Space: Pretend to blow a big bubble all around you. How can you move and stay on your spot, inside your bubble? Can you jump up and down? Spin around? Wiggle? Stomp your feet? Wave your arms? (Ask your kids for more ideas. Remember: Self Space movements will stay in one place.)
General Space: Now let’s take our bubble on an adventure through the room. Start by slowly floating your bubble to a new place. What happens if you get too close to another bubble/person? (The bubbles pop.) We don’t want the bubbles to pop. We want to keep all the bubbles safe and protected. Let’s keep moving looking for EMPTY spaces to dance in and move through. Let’s try marching… galloping… running… crawling. (Ask your kids for more ideas. Remember: General Space movements will travel.)
Alternate between Self Space and General Space movements, going back to your spot for Self Space and leaving it for General Space.
Repeat with new moves, new music, or doing it in a different room of your house! Now, when you need some space, or need your kiddo to leave some space around another person, you can remind them to protect their bubble!
Most importantly, remember to be silly and HAVE FUN!