If current events, high temperatures, and busy schedules are wreaking havoc with your inner peace, Fred Astaire Dance Studios prescribes adding dance lessons to serve as a balm for the mind, body, and soul.
While children rejoice when school ends and the dog days of summer begin, the lack of routine can be a challenge to adults. Fitting in family vacations, meeting work deadlines, and entertaining children who are home for the summer can cause stress for even the most dedicated parents. To fit in trips to the beach, outings at the local zoo, and picnic lunches at the park, parents are forced to put self-care on the back burner during the summer. Dedicating a regular evening each week to a dance lesson will give you and your partner a welcome break from childcare duties and other day-to-day responsibilities. Dancing will fill your soul with joy and can help strengthen your physical and mental health.
Health Benefits of Dance
Ballroom dancing is a low-impact aerobic activity. Dancing helps burn calories, improve cardiovascular health, and lose weight. Dancing can be just as effective as cycling or jogging, according to a study in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology. Ballroom dance classes start with stretches to help increase flexibility and prevent injury. The use of quick steps, lifts, twists, and turns, helps you develop more muscle strength in your arms, legs, and core over time.
Take a look at Derek Hough and Hayley Erbert’s energetic and romantic dance moves during a competition on “Dancing With the Stars,” a television dance competition program. The pair dance the paso doble in elaborate costumes.
“Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.” – Charles Baudelaire
Dancing Helps the Mind, Body, and Soul
Dancing helps improve mental health by eases anxiety and alleviating depression, according to a report in Psychology Today. Dance and Movement Therapy combines music, movement, and talk as part of a treatment for depression. Ballroom dancing can also help enhance memory, alertness, awareness, focus, and concentration. Studies reveal ballroom dancing can also help decrease the symptoms of dementia in Alzheimer’s patients. Group dance lessons provide a place where you connect with people who share similar hobbies. Mental illness skyrocketed during the pandemic as Americans were forced to quarantine to flatten the curve. Falling COVID numbers and increasing vaccination rates make this summer a perfect opportunity to venture out into the world and reconnect with people in your community.
While many ballroom dance clips showcase fast-paced movements filled with spins and twirls, dancing can be calming and peaceful. In this clip from “Dancing With the Stars,” Paige VanZant and Mark Ballas freestyle dance to “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.”
“You dance love, and you dance joy, and you dance dreams.” – Gene Kelly
Schedule a Lesson at Fred Astaire Dance Studios
Fred Astaire Dance Studios offers in-person and online dance lessons taught by gifted dancers. Our Dance Instructors all complete the rigorous work required to become certified in the Fred Astaire Curriculum, which presents the building blocks of partner dance designed in the way that people naturally learn. Fred Astaire Dance Studios works with students of all ages and abilities in a friendly and inspirational atmosphere. We provide a progressive system of instruction and a unique trophy system to make it easy for you to learn.
“Some people seem to think that good dancers are born, but all the good dancers I have known are taught or trained.” – Fred Astaire
Take care of yourself this summer by scheduling a dance lesson. Contact your local Fred Astaire Dance Studios location to learn about new student introductory offers.
