The development of a "Moving-to-music” toolkit for disadvantaged primary schools in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and its physical and psychological benefits

Background
The KaziBantu project (Healthy Schools for Healthy Communities) builds on existing evidence that school-based health interventions can improve the health of school children and teachers in low-resource settings. The «Moving-to-music» toolkit aims at offering simple and effective lessons that are easy for teachers to apply.
Methods
The South African school curriculum (CAPS) forms the foundation of the toolkit lessons, whereby the «Moving-to-music» toolkit is incorporated into the subject of creative arts, in which learners are exposed to dance, drama, music and visual arts. Combining the CAPS with Rudolf von Laban's educational/creative dance approach, the «Moving-to-music» lessons were developed for disadvantaged primary schools (grades 1 to 7).
Results
In collaboration with Lize van der Walt, a total of 112 «Moving-to-music» lessons were provided to six to twelve-year-old school children. The toolkit is split into creative-dance-lessons and action-song-lessons. The focus of the creative-dance-lessons is on educational dance values, inspired by the theoretical writings of Rudolf von Laban. Their contents include exploratory activities, self-determined movements and creative group activities.
Conclusions
There is evidence to support that dance has a positive impact on individuals' overall health and well-being. On the basis of the results of this research, it can be concluded that the «Moving-to-music» toolkit offers various benefits for primary school children in some of the poorest areas of Port Elizabeth. The implementation of a «Moving-to-music» toolkit may contribute to a healthier and happier life for school children in South Africa.