Dance as a Context for Motor and Social–Emotional Competence in 6- to 7-Year-Old Children

Background/Objectives: Dance combines coordinated movement with rhythmic, expressive, and interpersonal demands that may be relevant to multiple domains of early development. This study compared dynamic postural control and teacher-rated social–emotional competencies among children aged 6–7 years participating in dance, non-dance sports, or no structured physical activity, and examined within-group associations between these competencies. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 133 children participating in dance (n = 43), non-dance sports (n = 40), or no structured physical activity (n = 50). Dynamic postural control was assessed using a three-direction version of the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT), and social–emotional competencies were assessed using a teacher-report version of the BESSI-45. Ratings were clustered within four classes. Group differences were examined using one-way ANOVA with false discovery rate correction across outcomes, supplemented by analyses adjusted for sex and age and a girls-only sensitivity analysis because sex distributions differed substantially across groups. Within-group associations between postural control and social–emotional domains were also examined. Results: SEBT reach distances did not differ significantly across groups after correction for multiple testing or adjustment for sex and age. The Dance group scored highest across all five social–emotional domains and showed significantly higher Cooperation, Emotional Resilience, and Innovation than both comparison groups, as well as higher Self-Management (in girls only, higher than the Sports group but not the No-structured-physical-activity group). Within the Dance group, postural control was moderately associated with Cooperation across several SEBT measures; this exploratory association did not differ significantly from that in the Sports group. Conclusions: Dance participation may represent a potentially informative early-childhood context in which motor and social–emotional competencies co-occur. The Dance group was almost entirely female (42 of 43 children), so the dance-related findings primarily reflect girls, and generalizability to boys is uncertain; the evidence does not support a uniquely dance-specific motor–social coupling. However, the social–emotional ratings came from four homeroom teachers using a BESSI-45 version that has not been validated for 6- to 7-year-old children, and self-selected activity participation and the cross-sectional design preclude causal conclusions about the effects of dance. Longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to further investigate these relationships.