The Benefits of Dancing

Here at Atlanta Dance Central we have classes available for anyone who loves dance.  Starting from age 2 and a half, all the way up through adult, and levels from beginner to professional, we welcome anyone who loves dance to come take class with us.   We love dancing and want to share it with you, simply because the benefits of dance are endless.

First and foremost, dance teaches discipline, respect, and responsibility.  Starting in our youngest classes, dancers begin to learn how to appropriately participate in a classroom setting.  Dancers are responsible for coming to class on time, and following classroom rules.  Even as students get older, they learn how to respect not only their teacher, but the students who are dancing around them.  In some cases, such as ballet, dance is not just a technique, but a tradition that has been passed on for hundreds of years.  On top of that, dancers must be responsible for learning and retaining technical skills and choreography.

Most obviously, dance has health benefits.  Dancers are known to be flexible, even though it doesn’t always come naturally.   Dance exercises help to increase flexibility, in addition to the static stretches performed during each technique class. Additionally, dance increases participant’s endurance.  Most dance classes are at least an hour long, with each exercise getting increasingly more difficult than the one before it.  Dancers constantly push to the next level of excellence and achievement, working hard for the entire hour without rest.  Strength is built in dance class through resistance training.  Dancers use their own body against the force of gravity to build muscle and core strength.  Lastly, dance increases coordination.  Often times a dancer moves their arms completely separate from the action of their legs (a pat your head while rubbing your belly type of exercise), and dancers learn how to isolate one part of their body at a time.  Dancing is a great work out because of its ability to increase flexibility, endurance, coordination and build strength.

Dance has proven intellectual benefits.  At a young age, we teach children how to count musical beats and rhythms.  They increase thier musical awareness throughout their study, eventually learning to count music no matter how many musical beats there are or if the rhythms are syncopated.  Dancers also expand their vocabularies by learning the language of dance.  While ballet moves have French names, each style of dance has its own vocabulary that a dancer must learn in order to succeed in class.  Learning choreography requires spatial awareness and an ability to learn sequencing, which becomes increasingly more difficult as a dance student progresses to a higher level. 

The social benefits of dance go hand in hand with the previously mentioned individual benefits.  As mentioned before, dance requires respect for and from everyone who enters the studio.  Dancers must learn not only how to have enough confidence to dance as a soloist, but also how to dance as a member of a team.  Group choreography requires every dancer to put forth their best effort, because dancers are relying on one another for their performance.  Dancers learn how to respect and encourage their classmates  to grow as a team. 

Lastly, studying dance can benefit students artistically.  Dance is a place where each student can come and feel safe to express themself.  At the same time, different pieces of choreography might require dancers to use their imaginations to become another character, increasing their sense of imagination.  Dancers can learn to imagine, create, and express themselves in a safe venue. 

These are just some of the advantages that studying dance provides.  No matter, what age you are, or if you’ve only ever danced in your room with no one watching, we would love to share the benefits of dance with you!  Check out our website for information on the classes we offer.