dance parties and channeling rough play

Lately at my job we have noticed the older boys are really into rough play. As teachers (and perhaps especially as mostly female teachers) who want to keep things as safe as possible, and roughhousing can feel like an affront to our sense of security, however, there is research that shows that this kind of rough play is an integral part of development. Check out this Ted talk by Stuart Brown, here is an expert on it

A pioneer in research on play, Dr. Stuart Brown says humor, games, roughhousing, flirtation and fantasy are more than just fun. Plenty of play in childhood makes for happy, smart adults -- and keeping it up can make us smarter at any age.

We have been wrestling with how to channel this rough play in pro-social ways. One example is that during the dance parties, many of the children want to roll on the floor or sort of "mosh" into one another. We have thus far said that this kind of "dancing" was not allowed as it risked being trampled upon for hurting others. I was talking with my friend and mentor Susan Swanson about this and her imminent trip to Brazil and we thought about the possibility of introducing the children to Capoeira, the Brazillian dance/martial art. Susan and her husband showed me some amazing videos online of adults and children doing Capoeira. I was mesmerized by the spinning limbs moving in sync with the music and bridging the line between dancing and fighting. The most wonderful thing? The dancers never actually make contact with each-other, and when a pair is dancing the others stand on the side so as to give the dancers lots of space to move around. I was discussing this yesterday with Ms. Pamela and Ms. Zahra and it turns out that Ms. Sammy does Capoeira! How perfect! Perhaps this can be integrated into outdoor circle where there is lots of room? I think it could be a wonderful way of channelling rough play while also working on gross motor coordination and development, singing, percussion and socialization!

Here are some videos you can check out if you are interested in what Capoeira looks/sounds like:

kids: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM1EQuPgV8M

pros: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJDwHpNylZE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8xxgFpK-NM