Health and Wellness Benefits of Dance

As we rise to monumental challenges put before us, we also bare witness to the magical and additional multi-faceted benefits the valued arts enrichment of dance and fitness brings to us all. Difficult moments in life challenge our abilities to stay safe and think outside the box, but we are determined, dedicated, and driven to continue bringing dance and fitness to our community, no matter the obstacles. However, what we don’t realise is the long reaching benefits that these challenges provide.

We have always recognized how dance arts, fitness and performance teach students life skills of confidence, teamwork, responsibility, self-esteem, as well as the ability to dream big, push the envelope, and create their own self-fulfilling careers. But we were indeed humbled by the farther-reaching benefits of the mental, physical, psychological, and social wellness dance and fitness provides to tiny tots, youth, and adults alike, that we recognized firsthand.

The past couple of years have illuminated how incredibly important the human connection is to our overall health and wellness as well. In the process of training virtually, we made it a priority to nurture the social connection of the students with each other and the instructor while creating an atmosphere of one-on-one interactions, humor, and movement. We now see this was a saving grace for so many. Our students, regardless of age, had something to look forward to knowing they would still see their friends but most importantly continuing to be able to interact with each other by building social bonds and healthy relationships. And now we are seeing the benefits as we are back in-person, reforging the bonds build in the virtual format.

Dance and fitness are known for providing the health benefits of improved condition of your heart and lungs, increased muscular strength and tone, endurance and motor fitness, weight management, coordination, balance, agility, flexibility, and strong bones. Dancing also lifts the mood, eases anxiety, and creates healthy self-expression and fights depression. The art of dance and fitness instruction also leads by example in embracing, and encouraging, diversity and celebrating each other’s differences.

But most importantly is the brilliance of this and how it brightens our ability to see the pricelessness of the physical human connection through dance and how all these benefits come together in providing health and well-being to all ages, throughout the ebs and flows of life.