Write On! Features: When Words Come Alive – How Dance Is Unlocking A Love Of Reading

By Fiona Campbell, founder of Wee Movers

Picture a group of six-year-olds standing in the middle of a library. They have just heard a poem, something about a fox moving through the dark. Now they are asked a question: “How do you think the fox feels? Can you show me in your body?”

And they do. One child crouches low, arms tucked tight, eyes darting. Another stretches tall on tiptoes, chin lifted, daring. A third spins slowly, arms wide as if sniffing the air.

Every single child is different. Every single one is right.

This is what we do at Wee Movers. And it is, we believe, one of the most powerful ways to bring children into a genuine, joyful relationship with books and stories.

Moving Beyond “Sit Still And Listen”

We all learned to read in roughly the same way: sit down, look at the page, follow the words. For many children, this works beautifully. For many others, particularly those with SEN, sensory needs, or simply a more kinaesthetic way of processing the world, it can feel like being asked to think with your hands tied behind your back.

The truth is, there’s no single right way to engage with a story. There’s no correct way to feel a poem. Children learn differently, and the richest literary experiences are those that make space for that difference.

For several years now, Wee Movers has been bringing bespoke dance sessions into libraries and schools across London, weaving movement into literacy and curriculum themes in ways that invite every child into the room, not just those who thrive in stillness and quiet.

What Actually Happens In A Session

These sessions are not simply ‘dancing a story.’ What we do is read together, discuss, imagine and create. Children encounter a text, a picture book, a poem, a passage and we begin to unpick it with them. What is happening here? What might this character be feeling? Where could this story go next?

Children become the instigators of the movement in our sessions. They are not performing a teacher’s interpretation; instead, they’re building their own physical vocabulary for a piece of writing. A heavy sadness might make one child move in slow, curling spirals. The same emotion might make another child go very, very still. Both are valid. Both are, in the deepest sense, an act of reading.

This is the kinaesthetic link, the bridge between the word on the page and the felt sense in the body, and it’s extraordinarily powerful. When a child has moved through a story, they don’t just remember the plot. They remember how it felt. That emotional memory strengthens comprehension, embeds vocabulary and builds the kind of connection to texts that lasts well beyond a single session.

Why Libraries Are The Perfect Space For This Work

There is something quietly radical about bringing dance into a library. It’s a gentle disruption of the idea that books belong only to the quiet, the still, the already-confident reader. Libraries are for everyone and movement work in libraries says that, loudly and warmly, in a language children understand instinctively.

The benefits we see, consistently, across different ages, schools and library settings, go well beyond physical education:

Comprehension deepens. When children embody a character’s perspective, they understand the text at a level that discussion alone rarely reaches.

Vocabulary sticks. A word explored through movement, creeping, sprawling, trembling, is a word genuinely owned.

Emotional literacy grows. Dance gives children a safe, physical language for complex feelings they may not yet have words for.

Focus and engagement improve. The children who struggle most to sit with a book are often the first to flourish when the text becomes something they can move through.

Confidence and social connection build. There is no wrong answer in a movement session. That psychological safety is transformative.

Wellbeing is supported. The integration of breath, physical expression and imaginative play is regulating for many children – particularly those who find traditional classroom environments difficult.

For children with additional needs, these sessions can be genuinely life-changing. We’ve seen children who rarely engage with books during guided reading become completely absorbed in a story the moment they are invited to explore it on their feet.

Wee Movers run playful, energetic and inclusive children’s dance classes across London, as well as bespoke literacy and movement sessions for libraries, schools and cultural organisations. To find out more about bringing Wee Movers to your setting, visit: weemovers.co.uk.

*****

You can hear great new ideas, creative work and writing tips on Write On! Audio. Find us on all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Google Podcasts and Spotify. Type Pen to Print into your browser and look for our logo, or find us on Podcasters.Spotify.com.

*****

If you or someone you know has been affected by issues covered in our pages, please see the relevant link below for ​information, advice and support​: https://pentoprint.org/about/advice-support/