Preschool ballet learners often experience spatial instability and fragmented movement regulation when structured dance tasks exceed their developing sensorimotor capacities. Although scaffolding theory provides a useful lens for understanding assisted learning, less is known about how embodied scaffolds support movement regulation and how such support can be traced through video-based observation. This study proposes a video-based movement coding framework for analyzing embodied scaffolding in preschool ballet learning. Using a qualitative microgenetic single-case design, the study followed a six-year-old ballet learner, Leo, across an eight-week intervention. Video recordings of diagonal walking tasks were segmented into movement episodes and analyzed through an adapted Laban Movement Analysis-informed framework. The findings suggest that different forms of scaffolding supported different aspects of Leo’s movement regulation. Physical scaffolds, such as floor markers, helped stabilize spatial pathways by providing external visual anchors. Metaphorical prompts redirected attention from isolated body parts toward whole-movement intention. Peer synchronization supported rhythmic continuity by offering a moving social reference. During scaffold fading, Leo gradually relied less on explicit environmental cues and showed signs of emerging proprioceptive regulation. Reductions in coded movement disruptions, including unstable spatial support and directional inconsistency, indicate that the framework can capture process-level changes in embodied movement learning. The study contributes a process-oriented analytic approach for examining scaffolded movement regulation and internalization in early childhood dance education.
