“We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Mind-Boggling Benefits & Effects: Let’s chat about DANCING! Here at MR Sports Belast we love teaching Dance at our Summer Camps.
- Brain Booster: Dancing is incredibly good for your brain! It can enhance memory, improve cognitive functions (like planning and organizing), and even help reduce the risk of dementia, often more effectively than other forms of exercise, because it combines physical activity with mental challenge (learning steps, rhythm, social interaction).
- “Pleasure Double Play”: Neuroscientists have noted that dancing is a “pleasure double play” – music stimulates the brain’s reward centers, while dance activates its sensory and motor circuits, leading to a powerful feel-good effect.
- Natural Painkiller: Dancing in rhythm with others can significantly raise feelings of social bonding and release pain-relieving endorphins, increasing your pain threshold after just 10 minutes!
- Therapy for Parkinson’s: Dance has been found to be a highly therapeutic activity for people with Parkinson’s disease, helping to alleviate symptoms related to movement, balance, and coordination.
- Posture and Balance Guru: Dance demands precise posture, core strength, and constant balance adjustments, making it excellent for improving these aspects in everyday life and reducing the risk of falls, especially as people age.
Quirky Dance Facts:
- Tap Dance Sounds: Tap dancers wear metal “taps” on their shoes to create percussive sounds, essentially making their feet another instrument in the music.
- Belly Dance Muscles: Belly dancing is known for its intricate isolations of the hips and torso, requiring incredible core strength and control.
- Bharatanatyam Bells: Some classical Indian dancers, particularly in Bharatanatyam, can wear up to 100 small bells on each ankle to emphasize the rhythms of their footwork!
- Professional Dancers are Athletes: Due to the extreme physical demands, strength, flexibility, and endurance required, professional dancers are often regarded as elite athletes.
- Longest Tap Dance: The longest distance tap danced by a male was 32 miles (51.49 km), lasting 7 hours and 35 minutes! (Anthony Morigerato)
- Oldest Acrobatic Salsa Dancer: A British woman named Paddy Jones holds the Guinness World Record for the “Oldest Acrobatic Salsa Dancer” at 85 years old!
Dancing is truly a universal language that continues to evolve, challenge, and delight!
https://www.nhsconfed.org/publications/how-dance-improves-physical-and-mental-health