Physical, Mental, Social Benefits of Dancing

 PHYSICAL

It’s an ideal low impact exercise and also a mild aerobic exercise, it sharpens your control, agility, speed and balance

Muscles Worked

New dancers experience feeling muscles they didn’t know they had

Women moving backwards such as in foxtrot-experience long backward steps using backs of thighs and buttock muscles differently than other exercise

Strengthens your bones , and cardiovascular sytem

Weight resisting activity that helps protect bone density and prevent osteoporosis.

Can help speed up knee recovery after surgery since it’s a lower impact exercise.

Burns Fat – in just 30 minutes you can burn between 200-400 calories

20 minutes of dancing can provide as much exercise as 20 minutes of swimming or biking– especially if you’re doing 20 minutes of polka, quickstep or Viennese Walt

Conditioning – helps improve your heart health, lower obesity and type 2 diabetes risk and promotes greater lung capacity 

Core Experience -Abs and backs are used

Better Balance–studies have shown dancing can improve balance, even in frail elderly people. Some have shown improvement in gait, walking speed and reaction time as well as cognitive and fine motor performance.

MENTAL – use it or lose it

Dance is not purely physicial, it requires a lot of mental effort.  Dancers follow complex steps and figures.  You have to think about them and remember them.  Men have to think about what steps to do next and lead the women.  Women have to follow the men, adapting to their  movement and to the precise beat of the music.  So, dancing keeps your feet and brains on the ball. Dancers do not just move on reflex. Dancing is a cognitive activity.  It requires concentration and thus keeps your brains working harder and longer.

Like education, participation in mentally engaging activities lowers the risk of dementia- dancing integrates several brain functions at once – kinesthetic, rational, musical, and emotional, further increasing your neural connectivity. Making as many split-second decisions as possible, is the key to maintaining cognitive abilities.

Mental challenges (memorizing steps, working with your partner

Studies have shown sharper minds with ballroom dancing. New England Journal reported:

Frequent dancers (1/2 hr a day 4 days a week) had a reduced risk of dementia by 76{e9420259e37f7dd44db68ca7ce0dae768f0647300582c8437fea6ed4ec6f4cdd} compared with those who rarely or never danced.  Of 11 physical activities considered:

Swimmimg/ bicycling – 0{e9420259e37f7dd44db68ca7ce0dae768f0647300582c8437fea6ed4ec6f4cdd}

Reading 35{e9420259e37f7dd44db68ca7ce0dae768f0647300582c8437fea6ed4ec6f4cdd},

Crossword puzzles four days a week 47{e9420259e37f7dd44db68ca7ce0dae768f0647300582c8437fea6ed4ec6f4cdd},

Golf 0 {e9420259e37f7dd44db68ca7ce0dae768f0647300582c8437fea6ed4ec6f4cdd}

Good for your mood – it’s been shown to reduce depression, anxiety and boosts self esteems, body image, coping ability and overall sense of well-being with benefits lasting over time.

SOCIAL

It increases your confidence in social and business situations, 

Exposes you to a sea of new people – it is proven that being more social can help improve self esteem, lower stress levels, increase sense of purpose and promote a positive out on life.

And that’s what our Board of Directors wants  for you – we want to create fun times for you, watch you dance, we love to  see the  smiles on your faces and know you’re having fun, and we love to provide entertainment and give joy to those who like watching.