Top 5 Reasons Why You Should Dance

And 12 Ways To Improve It

I can recall the first time I dance on stage. It was a small stage during my country’s Independence Day celebration, I was four years old. I’m currently 25 and although I’m not performing on stage anymore, I haven’t stopped dancing at all by being a dancing teacher and mentor.

Dancing contribute so many advantages which might be surprising for some people. And while it’s not possible for me to to list all the benefits I have received for years, here are the top five reasons why you should (try to, at least) dance too:

1. A good form of exercise. I state the obvious first since dancing is a great form of aerobic exercise to work many muscles in the body. Not only you can burn calories while dancing, it also improves endurance, coordination, and balance, which will help in important daily life activities. Dancing solves the “working out is no fun” syndrome and bring us to the second reason.
2. So much fun. There are so many styles of dancing, from ballet to hip hop, to just move your body freely, dancing provides entertainment that is relatively easy to do and people of all ages can take part and enjoy it. People tend to smile when they dance as it’s a perfect tool to relieve some stress due to endorphin — the chemical that triggers positive feelings — being released.
3. Give you mental refreshment. As mentioned above that dancing naturally give you some relief, endorphin is joined by oxytocin — that works as anti-depressant — as well as dopamine — responsible for sensations of pleasure — doing relaxing magic together in your system. It ease your body and mind to get lost in the music and distracted from the outside surroundings, away from anxiety and frustration for a while.
4. Enhance self-exploration and enrich social development. You may feel silly when you got into dancing for the first several times, but the more you practice, the greater your confidence will show. Dancing supplies joy and excitement needed for exploration inward such as self-respect and self-empowerment. Participating in dance classes and performances allows you to be more courageous, preparing you for future personal and professional relationships. Among its other social and self benefits, I personally feel dancing strengthen memory stimulation, focus and concentration, tolerance and openmindedness, sequential learning, and patience.
5. Express emotions through freedom of creativity. Dance is an expression of art which appeals to the emotions and people interpret how the music makes them feel through choreography. By deciding to start dancing, you decide to learn something new and give yourself an opportunity to taste artistic integrity and music appreciation. Once you got into dancing, your aesthetic awareness is nurtured along with imagination and elevate the creative expression you already own.

When it comes to improving dancing skill, sometimes I give advice not to worry about everything — it doesn’t matter on what level of experience you currently are, it doesn’t matter what your preferred style of dance is, it doesn’t matter how ‘old’ you are — it’s never too late to start and polish your dancing. I hope these twelve tips will help you become a better dancer once you hop into it:

1. Commit to the time. Like any other skill, when you want to improve it, you need to be dedicated and discipline. Sticking to a commitment is important as you need to practice frequently.
2. Have a realistic goal. Dancing is a crafted skill that comes through focus; Setting a specific goal will motivate you to get better quickly. Your goal can be as simple as learning a whole routine of one song in a particular time or as grand as working towards a competition.
3. Feel it and love it. Determination is the key, but it’s not enough to accomplish success. Try to mindfully listen to the music, figure out the structure, identify the 8-count, and let the emotion flows and your movement comes from deep within.
4. Overcome excuses. Complaining is the type of negativity that holds you back, you can’t move up if you can’t conquer some obstacles.
5. Use mirror for practicing. You may cringe at first, but it doesn’t last for long. When you own self-awareness of your body, it will not only boost your confidence, but also help you develop your technique and style.
6. Watch and learn. You can get inspired from how great dancers strive to reach perfection as you watch and think about the movements either in live performance or dance videos. Make an attempt to record yourself when practicing and review it to learn from your mistakes and aim for the better.
7. Visualize your dancing. While repetition is a must and you should practice as often as you can to build muscle memory, mental repetition can greatly accelerate the learning process. Picture what you want your dancing to become, imagine the dancer you aspire to be.
8. Treat your body right. Eat healthier foods to energize you more sustainably; poor eating habits can be detrimental — good eating habits will lead to better health in the long run. Do a lot of stretching to increase your range of motion, maintain good posture — stand up straight and hold your head up — and reduce the risk of injuries. Still, when injuries are unpreventable, you have to take it seriously.
9. Disregard the haters — your own self included. People may judge you all the way they want, and your inner critic is only putting off unnecessary diversion, hit the ignore button to either problems since they bring you nothing but terrible distractions. Positive feedback, however, is happily welcomed all the time.
10. Seek out instructors. A dance mentor will teach new steps and techniques, correct mistakes, and evaluate your progress. Furthermore, a teacher will push you outside of your comfort zone and dramatically increase your learning speed. Consider join a dance class that will make you feel good and bring the best out of you as you surround yourself with a crowd of happy people. If you can’t afford this yet, at least find some friends who dance better than you.
11. Perform! Practicing is one thing but you why stop if you can force yourself to show what you have. A performance, exhibition, or competition will let you grow as a result of the pressure. Believe you can do it, take it to your heart, be proud of your work, and enjoy every performance.
12. Expect new discoveries. Dancing always requires hard work, so you need to be passionate, excited, and enthusiastic towards it. Acknowledging challenges instead of driving it away is crucial to develop any kind of talent — don’t give up.

If you already make your dancing leap, think about how the best dancers in the world are staying involved and trying to outdo themselves; they keep practicing, improving, and discovering the world of dancing. But if you don’t feel like dancing yet, think about the benefits you can easily gain from it and just start moving.