CORPOREALITY AND DANCE FOR BABIES: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW STUDY¹

ABSTRACT:

To identify the state of the art of academic production on pedagogical processes that relate corporeality and dance for babies, this systematic literature review study investigated both the potential of the results found in the studies to boost dance in nurseries and the gaps related to the topic. This descriptive and bibliographical study analyzed 21 works published between 2007 and 2020. We found that there is a growing recognition of the human being as an integral being (although the mind-body dichotomy has not yet been overcome), as well as an increase in the number of works that discuss the specificities of babies, especially in studies from the southern region of Brazil. The studies highlighted the process of change that conceptions of the body and Physical Education go through as far as babies are concerned, and most of them considered babies as active subjects who communicate, create culture, and discover the (physical, social, and cultural) world through their bodies. Furthermore, some studies also considered dance and art as ways to integral human development since babies. We conclude that although the relationship between corporeality and dance for babies is a subject that has been little studied in the academic-scientific field, the symbolic and humanizing potential of such a relationship was considered in the studies, showing that there are spaces for the elaboration of other research and pedagogical actions on the theme, filling the existing gaps.

Keywords:
dance; corporeality; babies; education