Artistic Development 
Children in PreK – 1
st
 grade classes should be able to execute original or existing artistic dance 
movement through knowledge of their bodies – their anatomy – through isolated and coordinated 
movements with alignment of the body (Gilbert, 2008.) The body skills most urgent at this age pertain to 
balance, strength, range of motion, and coordination. Movement skills that are attainable at this 
developmental level are use of breath, non-locomotor or axial movements, and locomotor, or 
movements that move through space, as well as patterns combining these skills (NDEO, 2005). The 
cognitive development supported through these kinesthetic repetitions and masteries are memory 
development, spatial awareness and the concept of relativity and of succession (Sylwester, 2003).