To watch the full video, become a member of Drama Notebook, or log in.

Register with Drama Notebook

Get your students up, active, and smiling with this energizing and regulating video! Children love to follow along with the WINTER themed movements that engage the body, brain, and imagination. This easy-to-follow video is the perfect way to start a drama class or any time you need a brain-break.

This Brain Dance warmup is a playful way to create focus and joy. As students pretend to warm their hands by a fire, move like winter animals, and even have a snowball fight, they are expanding their imaginations and becoming more regulated. Once you learn the patterns, you can even make up your own Brain Dances! You’ll find this warmup and other creative activities in the full Winter Themed Creative Drama Lesson.

The BrainDance, developed by dance educator Anne Green Gilbert, is an 8-step movement sequence based on the developmental patterns humans naturally move through during the first year of life. Cycling through these patterns helps organize the central nervous system and integrate the brain and body at any age.

The 8 Patterns:

Breath
Tactile
Core-Distal
Head-Tail
Upper-Lower
Body-Side
Cross-Lateral
Vestibular (In these videos, we use “whole body” instead of vestibular)

Learn more about Brain Dance here:
Brain Dance Lesson
Brain Dance Video