The pandemic has highlighted the need for social-emotional support for our students. Many students have experienced different types of traumatic experiences and high levels of stress. Social-emotional learning (SEL) is essential for academic success and students’ mental well-being. The arts are a strategy to engage students and inherently have the opportunity to be therapeutic. Most teachers are not trained to do therapy-based interventions. Teachers can be trained to provide therapeutic opportunities for students, and these often already are embedded in curriculum.

Dance is one specific area providing therapeutic experiences for students. For the dancer, it feels good to move the body a certain way and to focus energy on something constructive, creative, and physical. Dance provides an outlet to express a temporary state of emotion. Careers in Dance Therapy focus on the intersection between the arts and mental health. Therapeutic experiences provide opportunities and practices to help students express that energy they are holding in their bodies.

Similarly, Music provides another therapeutic outlet for emotional expression. Therapeutic activities include releasing one’s emotions through drumming or singing out loud. Breathing exercises support self-regulation. SEL in the schools can be supported or enhanced by therapeutic experiences. Following recent research on benefits, there is increased demand for careers in both Dance and Music therapy.

Dance, music, art, and drama education are ways to expand SEL for students both during and outside the school day. Increasing access to these opportunities supports equity, ensuring every student has access to these experiences during their free and public education. Click on these links for more information about the arts as related to SEL:  Create California // American Dance Therapy Association // National Dance Education Organization, Dance therapy versus therapeutic dance.