Essentially Dancing teaches children from five years and up ballroom and Latin dance in PE lessons. More than 2,500 children took part in a pilot scheme in 29 schools in April and May this year.
Dance instructors including Darren Bennett and Lilia Kopylova from the BBC's 'Strictly Come Dancing' programme trained 52 teachers and classroom assistants to lead pupils through the cha-cha, waltz, jive and quick step.
Researchers from Roehampton University in London evaluated the impact of the teacher-training scheme and found that children were more engaged in physical activity and their behaviour improved after taking part in the structured dance lessons.
The report said that shy children gained self-esteem and relations improved between boys and girls who worked together as partners.
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