Experiencing a guided visualisation and preparation for dance expression

The thesis focuses on guided visualisation and preparation for dance expression. The starting point was a burning issue that even affects children – stress. Nowadays children lack silence and peace, which is why we decided to conduct a guided visualisation to take them to a world of imagination, quiet and peacefulness. The theoretical part deals with guided visualisation to provide a vivid and clear picture of the scene, actions and the objects used. It is also necessary to find a comfortable position before the visualisation begins. Another point of interest was stress and its impact on the child. Preschool teachers should be able to recognise the most common symptoms of stress in children, which may be either emotional, behavioural or physical. Because the current pace of life calls for relaxation, we explored relaxation techniques that could be used in kindergarten. The thesis also looks into creative movement, which involves relaxation, imagination, movement and creative expression, and discusses the significance of creative movement in child development. As for the empirical part of the thesis, it focuses on the implementation of the relaxation technique, i.e. guided visualisation. After participating in the relaxation technique the children were encouraged to engage in dance expression. We observed whether they were able to relax and become more creative in dance expression than before. The findings appeared highly positive. The children were much more relaxed and satisfied, which was reflected in their imagination and creativity as well. The results in this group of children showed that calm and relaxed children are full of imagination and creativity and also willing to cooperate and work in harmony with one another