Ballroom Dancing, in fact, any dance form, is one of the most fascinating activities a human indulge into.
We know that, as a parent, you, naturally, want the very best for your child. The best of care would make them feel safe and protected, the best schools would give them the highest education, the best food would keep them healthy, the best friends would keep them socially engaged, and the best home would provide love and attachment.
What if I told you that one activity can give them all of that and more? Dance is often overlooked and does not come high in our list of activities to consider for our child's development. We are flooded with advertisements for training camps, classes, and lessons for more... "profitable" activities like football and tennis. But dance is powerful and unique. In this article, we will tell you how Ballroom Dance can enrich your life and, most of all, the lives of your children.
What are the benefits of Ballroom Dancing for kids?
Great music and friends- what can be more fun than this? Experts agree on one thing- having a good time is crucial for developing healthy, both mentally and physically individuals. The neurochemicals released while listening to music, smiling, or laughing cannot be reproduced even in the most sophisticated lab. Fun equals less stress and more social connections. Who wouldn't want to be around someone fun?
Active Lifestyle
The physical demands of dance are unlike any other sport, of course, in the positive alley. Through the beautiful shapes of partner dancing, the bodies of our young ones are taken on a transformation journey. Countless repetitions of different elements- more and more synapses form a network of mind-muscle connections.
Stamina, flexibility, and muscle development are just a few of the physical aspects that improve immediately. Soon our dance magicians can control their core, arm, and leg muscle in unison with the music to create rhythmic pulses. Scientists have found time and time again, a direct correlation between healthy, coordinated bodies, and happiness.
Posture/ Physical Awareness
Another benefit of ballroom dancing for kids is the awareness of posture and body alignment. The effects of the digital age we live in can be seen everywhere in our frail bodies. As a dance teacher, I see poor posture, first hand every day- even in me. It is devastating to see kids coming in the studio with what medical personal calls "computer neck."
Posture is a dynamic alignment, I don't think any particular exercise can fix it if we are not aware of our bodies, and awareness is what ballroom dancing can teach our kids. Good posture manners are built on proprioception- the sense of the relative position of one body segment to another.
Social Benefits
Teamwork is an essential skill for anyone to learn. In dance, your child can do it in a fun atmosphere, while making new friends and moving rhythmically to the beats of Ballroom and Latin dances. Partner dancing, however, is magic on its own. Moving together with someone else next to you boosts the sense of trust, sincerity, and cooperation. Partnership in dance very often resembles a real life relationship. All of them can alleviate the fear of performing or stage fright, for example.
Educational Benefits
The educational benefits of Ballroom Dancing for are numerous. Our Syllabus system provides a well-structured approach to dance education for our kids. The dance steps are separated in levels, thus making it easier for kids to start with more manageable steps (in Bronze Level), and make progress to more complicated steps (in Gold Level). Acquiring the skills to move to the next level requires practice, discipline, and focus, all of which can be of great importance in academic studies. At school, studies show that students who regularly participate in ballroom dance lessons outperform their non-dancing peers.
Discipline
Whether your child will take on the competition floor or will do dance just for fun, discipline is one of the core benefits that Ballroom Dancing would provide. To be able to turn around your partner and dance in sync with each other, your child would need to coordinate things with someone else, as well as the music. This task, on its own, is quite challenging. However, the structured approach we take in Ballroom teaches our little ones how to discipline the body and the mind.
Gain Greater Self Confidence
Ballroom dancing offers a lot of different stepping stones for the young dancers. Achieving good posture, getting that step in time with the music or your partner, learning the routine, moving to the next level, winning a competition, or successfully leading your partner into a step. The satisfaction of those little achievements boosts the self-confidence and awareness of the children while providing them with a situation challenging enough to make them grow, but not impossible to discourage them. Dance lessons are also known to foster a positive encouragement to self-expression.
Mental Health
If there was a term "workout for the brain," it would be called dancing. The constant stream of intertwined action between the body for movement and the mind for creativity sets the brain on fire, keeping it in great shape but also stimulates further development in the areas of the brain responsible for nourishing emotion, creative, and critical thinking.
Another aspect of mental health is problem-solving and memory training. Remembering the complex routines, executing them on the spot to music, and working with a partner together to achieve excellence in movement empowers the brain with great flexibility.
Develops Taste for Beauty
Ballroom Dancing is more of an art than it is a sport; therefore, beauty is inherently found everywhere in it- from a simple foot placement in the Latin- American dances to the complex body positions and alignments in Standard. Through continuous education and practice, the kids are learning to find those concepts and search for beauty everywhere, in all steps, no matter the pattern. They start to develop a taste for beauty.
Now, if you have read all that and you are still not convinced, watch those cuties. They are adorable! What if your kids can do this? Drop us a line, if you are in the Seattle area, and would like your kids to join our Youth Dance Lab, or just let us know what you think about the article. Happy Dancing
