The aim of this study is to explore the educator’s role in enhancing young children’s participation while developing their artistic expressions, knowledge, and skills in dance education. According to research, EC educators’ limited knowledge and skills to teach dance leads to focusing on the joy of movement at the expensive of broadening children’s repertoire of movements and awareness of aesthetic qualities (Pastorek Gripson et al. 2022:351). The study is drawing on the work of Isadora Duncan (1928) and Rudolf Laban (1948) as well as the Deweyan concept of aesthetic experience (Dewey 1987). The data is based on interviews with three EC educators and their long-standing documentation of dance teaching. It consists of films, photographs, and transcripts. The analysis of data was a multi-staged process. It was conducted together with the educators through an abductive theme analysis, as a part of a learning evaluation within an action research paradigm (Svensson et al. 2009). All the children’s guardians signed consent forms. Attending dance sessions was voluntary. All the filming and photographing were made by the participants as a part of their everyday practice. The participants’ names are replaced with pseudonyms. The findings demonstrate how the teaching evolves from and challenges children’s interests. Various dance genres were systematically introduced to inspire and educate. Children and educators were mirroring each other in dance improvisations. They choreographed dance tales together based on toddlers’ movements. Finally, an open-ended model for teaching dance is presented, consisting of five parts: Introduction - Inspiration – Improvisation - Instruction – Involvement.