Dance is more than a beautiful, versatile art form. Dance is also an excellent form of exercise that benefits your body and mind in a multitude of ways. No matter if you’re young or old, a passionate competitive dancer or a happy amateur, or even abled or differently abled, dancing can benefit your health and your life. At Visions Dance Academy in Matthews and Indian Lands, we teach a variety of dance styles for kids of all ages and experience levels. Sign up for a class and begin your dancing journey today!
Improves Heart Health
Dancing is a great way to get your body moving and heart pumping! In fact, dancing can help you reach your fitness goals in less time than a less aerobic exercise might. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends adults get three to five hours of light exercise a week, or one to three hours of vigorous exercise a week. For kids, the recommendation is about an hour of physical play a day, if possible. All styles of dancing help get your body the exercise it needs since your heart rate is raised through the constant movement and challenge of executing the moves of whatever style you’re practicing.
Improves Strength And Balance
Dancing is also an excellent way to tone your muscles and improve your balance. While most traditional workouts like weightlifting target specific muscle groups, dancing functions more like swimming in that your body as a whole is worked out, since you engage multiple muscle groups when shifting from movement to movement. That shifting occurs on a wider variety of rotational planes than do everyday activities like walking or common workouts like biking, which works those extra muscles and tests and develops your balance.
Boosts Brain Power
Dancing has several mental benefits, in addition to all the good it does you physically. Several studies have linked dancing to increased activity and functioning in the parts of the brain that control things like memory, organization and planning. Trying to focus on your constant movement while recalling your next moves in a dance is an awesome challenge for your brain, no matter your age. For kids, this can also help improve their concentration and focus.
Emotionally Stabilizing
Dance can help improve your mood and stabilize your emotions in a variety of ways. Namely, due to the freeform nature of dance as an art form, dancing is one of the healthiest and easiest ways for kids and adults to express themselves and release their feelings physically. Dancing can also be a very social activity if you want it to be; the breaking of physical barriers that occurs through dance is very intimate and can be the basis for strong, lasting friendships and connections. Plus, it’s well-established in science that all forms of exercise fight depression and anxiety. What better exercise is there than the kind that lets you and friends express yourselves however you like.
Ultimately, like anything in life, dancing is what you make of it. But given that dance combines all the benefits of exercise with all the freedom of creative expression, chances are you’re going to have fun, get fit and feel fantastic through dance. At the end of practice, whether you’re a young kid or an experienced adult, you’ll be able to look in the mirror and see that you improved yourself physically, mentally and spiritually while expressing yourself fearlessly through dance and motion. Our classes at Visions Dance Academy are merely tools to help unlock these capabilities within you. Sign up for one of our classes and begin your mind and bodily journey today.
