Dance has a long and honorable place in our education systems, particularly since the turn of the century. It was included in the curriculum primarily as an acceptable form of exercise for young ladies. The folk dance forms were seen to have an additional benefit as a pathway to physical understanding of the characteristics of another culture. Also, in the midpoint of our century educators became aware of dance as a valuable tool to investigate other disciplines. The work of Rudolf van Laban brought an examination of the characteristics of dance, and after his move to England, his movement frameworks were used to investigate a variety of subjects including math, science, and language arts.
Movement is now a common way of approaching course materials at the elementary level.
The use of dance for teaching is less common at the secondary level. Gender biases also play into the lack of dance in secondary education. Certainly using dance in the classroom is something that teachers and student alike might approach with anxiety. The barriers can be overcome with good methodology and sensitivity in teaching. Choices of subject matter can be made with gender issues in mind.