Why dance

When I was in primary and high school, I used to dance. I did freestyle, hip-hop for a bit, modern and so on. But when I got into grade 10, I started to get really lazy and I just stopped.

I didn’t realise the loss until I started university and began my drama training. It was then, when I was thrown into movement training that I regretted those years of lost dancing. In my second year though I really found my way back to dance when I met a truly amazing South African dance talent. This man wasn’t just my lecture, but he was also the inspiration I needed to get my butt back into dancing gear.

But you see, there’s contemporary dance and then there’s contemporary dance training for theatre. The focus of the first is all about the technique. The focus of the second, is on the story, the creation and the feeling.

Dance, from my point of view is about inviting those watching into an emotional experience. And that is exactly what it should be when you dance, an emotional experience.

I’m a huge advocate for dance and the advantage it has in education and personal development. You see dance is a form of expression and because of this, including dance into the school curriculum could help teach children a positive way of expressing themselves. When a child learns to put their emotions into their movement instead of in to their fists or negative words they begin to develop stronger social skills too.

Dance isn’t just about looking pretty either. It’s about physical, whole-bodied creativity. People underestimate the importance of developing creativity in childhood development. Even for adults creativity is a vital skill that is often over looked. You see, creativity isn’t just about making pretty things or being an artist of some kind. Creativity helps with problem solving, innovation and the ability to think outside the box.

And, according to SocialDance, dance is a stress reliever and increases your serotonin which improves your sense of well-being. But they also say, that new studies have shown dancing actually makes you smarter. They site a study from the New England Journal of Medicine and in this study they examined the effect of different activities and how they may help an individual prevent dementia. The study showed that something like frequent reading offers 35% improved protection from dementia. But, dance offers a 76% improved protection again dementia. That was the highest improvement in the whole study.

Now, aside from the emotional and mental benefits of dance, let’s look at the physical benefits. Betterhealth.vic.gov.au list a number of physical benefits including:

·         Improved condition of your heart and lungs;

·         Increased muscular strength, endurance and motor fitness;

·         Increased aerobic fitness;

·         Improved muscle tone and strength;

·         Weight management;

·         Stronger bones and reduced risk of osteoporosis;

·         Better coordination, agility and flexibility;

·         Improved balance and spatial awareness; and

·         Increased physical confidence.

Not everyone enjoys running or cycling (in the gym or on the road). Dance is a great alternative to these

traditional forms of cardio. And because dance is a dynamic form of movement that requires you to use multiple muscles in many different ways, you’ll develop more over all muscle tone and burn calories without having to stand on a tread mill and just work part of your body. 

And above all of that, dance is fun, it’s challenging and it’s exciting. And I’m going to say this, whether or not anyone listens, but dance isn’t just for girls. The kind of strength and tricks that a man can do in dance is just too cool.

I’ve been teaching dance for three years now and I have seen the young ladies I teach grow in confidence and ability. So give dance a try, doesn’t matter what type it is. And if anyone asks you “why dance?” you can tell them it makes you fitter, smarted, more creative, confident, socially developed and hell, it’s fun.

Happy dancing!