Montessori Dance

New Blog!

Written by my dear friend and founder of , Rachel Merle-Smith!

Following our chat on her fabulous podcast, Rachel has written a thoughtful piece on how the arts can support children with navigating big emotions.

"The Arts Matter. The arts. Music, physical art, sculpting, acting, theatre, dance, and more. All things that can be easily pushed to the side. But why? I see them as vital pillars of existence, but often they are forgotten, underfunded, or wiped from curriculum.

I want to challenge us (as a collective society) to bring it to the forefront."

Read the full blog at https://www.montessoridance.com.au/blog❤️

We are living through such turbulent times. Peace is needed more than ever. 🦋

I am re-sharing the blog post I wrote in 2024 on how dance can play a role in building social cohesion and embodied connectedness within ourselves and with each other. 🕊

Here is a small section of the blog:

"Dance cannot solve all the conflicts and violent atrocities that are currently taking place in the world. However, dance as an art form and an innate human activity has the potential to support the spiritual development of human beings; to cultivate within each of us qualities such as connectedness, the development of self awareness and an embodied understanding of unity and inter-being that can support the building of a peaceful society.

Dance can act as a social glue and build solidarity and connectedness in a community through a phenomena called collective effervescence. The French sociologist Émile Durkheim, theorised that collective effervescence is at the core of what keeps a group of people united.

We are embodied, biological beings. The way we experience the world is shaped by our embodied perception of the world. The way we move changes the way we think and feel about ourselves and the world around us. Changing our movement pathways can change our perspective, evoking different emotions and feelings, and can lead to new ideas and ways of understanding."

United, we are powerful. 💫

The full post is available via link in my bio. 🙏❤️

A fun day co-facilitating a workshop with the lovely Jacqueline Cooper at for their new cohort of dance teacher trainees!

It was a pleasure to share some of my experience with dance in the education context.

A big thank you to Jacqueline and Sydney Dance Company for inviting me to be part of their incredible dance teacher training course!

Welcoming the 4th year of Montessori Dance! 🎉🥳❤️

This image was taken 4 years ago to launch Montessori Dance into the world.

A bittersweet image as the person behind the camera, the biggest supporter of my work, is no longer here, at least in the physical form. I know Bill will always be with me though!

A master of strategic planning, Bill helped me to understand the importance of purpose, vision and mission statements and to articulate them for Montessori Dance.

To celebrate the 4th year and in honour of Bill, I share them here:

Purpose: To support teachers with gaining skills, knowledge and confidence to guide students towards dance and creative movement as a form to express their ideas.

Vision: To embed dance and creative movement in Montessori classrooms around the world

Mission: To provide Montessori guides with accessible and practical skills and knowledge through workshops, online learning platforms and in-school PD sessions leading to the incorporation of dance and movement by guides.

Over the past 4 years Montessori Dance has had the privilege of offering children and educator workshops for Cameragal Montessori School Lindfield Montessori Barrenjoey Montessori School Farmhouse Montessori Sydney Montessori Training Centre Forestville Montessori Montessori East BONDI
Headland Montessori and Inner Sydney Montessori School - ISMS

To further share the work, wonderful opportunities have come along to present 3 consecutive years at the Montessori Schools and Centres Australia - MSCA Grassroots conferences, the Montessori Elementary Teachers summer conference2022, the International Montessori Congress in Thailand 2023, Montessori Aotearoa New Zealand conference 2023, the Montessori Teachers Association of WA conference 2024, partake in the UN supported International Dance and Peace initiative and to speak with the beautiful Rachel MerleSmith All Things Montessori Podcast!

Meeting Kasia Ustowska-Gmerek of and forming a collaborative partnership as well as a deep friendship has been an absolute gift.

A BIG thank you to all the beautiful supporters of Montessori Dance over the years. The work could not go on without your love, enthusiasm and faith in the work.

Here's to many more years of serving children and educators with the joy of dance. 🙏❤️

New Blog: Dance Me To The End of Love

It's been a while since my last post. This one is close to my heart as I write about my recent loss and how dance continues to be a thread that supports me.

There is something about dancing, singing and playing music that is at the heart of our human experience. Dances for death, grieving and honouring the departed have been part of so many cultures across time.

"Since Bill's passing, dance has supported me through the waves, or rather, the tsunamis of grief that come without warning.

In amongst the loss, pain and sorrow, dance has offered an opening, a way of connecting and being present with what is."

You can read the full post via the link below.

Dance Me to the End of Love Dance, when you're broken open. Dance, if you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you're perfectly free. -Rumi It's been a while since my last post. I write this as a newcomer to grief. I wonder if it is premature to be writing this, knowing....

Another legendary dancer proving age is not an obstacle to dance. On the contrary, age brings experience, insight, richness and wisdom.

"The dance is part of who I am." 🩰 Someone hitting the 90-year mark could be forgiven for taking things easy. Not for Elizabeth Dalman, who has been front and centre of rehearsals for the Australian Dance Theatre's Adelaide Festival show. 💃 👯 ✍️🎥: Matthew Smith and Guido Salazar via ABC News SA 📲: Read the full story on the ABC NEWS app or via the link in our bio.

Hooray! 🎉🙌✨

These awesome educators at spent the morning with me to learn how they can incorporate dance into the daily lives of the children they guide. 💃🕺

They reflected on the role dance can play in supporting the development of the whole child. With courage and curiosity they engaged with practical activities that can be integrated in the classroom. 💛💖💜

Thank you for having me. It was a very significant workshop as I returned to the school where my Montessori journey started. It’s doubly meaningful that I return to a place where my late partner, Bill Conway and I worked together for 11years. I know Bill was watching over us and cheering us on. 💖💕💗

Today we celebrated ‘s remarkable 110th birthday! 🎉🎂💖💐

Eileen’s formidable force of creativity inspires us all.

We celebrated with dance, singing and a special didgeridoo performance.

We love you, Eileen! You are the starlight in our lives! Keep on shining! ✨⭐️🌟💫

A short taster of the dance video I made for the Danse et Paix en Partage initiative. 🎥🎬

You can find the full version on Montessori Dance’s YouTube channel. See link in comments. 🙏

A short taster of the dance video I made this year for the Danse et Paix en Partage initiative. 🎥🎬 You can watch the full video on the Montessori Dance YouTube channel. See 🔗 in bio. #danceforpeace #montessoridance #montessoridanceaustralia #peace #unesco

My latest blog post is up: Dancing for Peace 🕊

Peace is needed now more than ever, but where and how do we begin? Can dance play a role in peace building?

In this post I share how dance has the power to cultivate qualities such as connectedness, the development of self awareness and an embodied understanding of unity and inter-being that can support the building of a peaceful society. 💫

This post captures the essence of the talk I gave at the Montessori Schools and Centres Australia - MSCA Grassroots Conference which was held on the weekend of the International Day of Peace and Non-Violence in September. ✨

I'd love for you to read the full post at: https://www.montessoridance.com.au/post/dancing-for-peace 🌈

Dancing for Peace Image: children of Forestville Montessori School in the dance film we co-created for the UNESCO supported Danse et Paix en Partage initiative On the weekend of the International Day of Peace and Non-Violence, I had the opportunity to present a talk on how dance can offer a pathway towards peace at t...