I know you've heard about the one kid in ballet class who's doctor insisted they took ballet to help with their posture or inverted hips or a myriad of other things, but what are the actual physical effects of dance on your body?
Googling this entry I found all sorts of mixed results, I've found everything under the sun talking about the negative and positive influences dance takes on the body. For a positive starter, we'll begin with Flexibility.
Flexibility helps promote good circulation throughout the body and can help alleviate muscle soreness. Its also incredibly necessary to get those lovely leaps and high develope's! Make sure you stretch daily to keep up with your body's needs.
Dancing is also great for building strength and endurance, two things "normies" actually have to worry about. Have you ever watched someone climb a set of stairs and get completely winded? It all boils down to their endurance, or lack-there-of in this case. The benefits of strength and endurance are obvious, the help you continue throughout your day without having to stop.
Some of the positive mental and emotional benefits of dance are slightly harder to find. Movies like The Black Swan certainly show us the down side of the ballet community, but what are the positive effects it has on our mental health?
Dancers and Health together is an organization that shows the world the positive side of involving dance in your life. Aside from the a fore mentioned movie, dancing promotes a sense of accomplishment and over all well being. Any well put together ballet program will provide you with a set of goals to master and achieve. Personal growth is a very healthy character trait to develop. (Develop it early, I promise its worth it.)
Now for some of the negative aspects. According to the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation, dancers put themselves in jeopardy everyday by the loud music we expose ourselves to and by our frequent use of rock rosin. Whats wrong with rock rosin? This one surprised me too, just fyi. It apparently has the capabilities of causing severe skin irritation and asthma. How completely and utterly horrifying! Rosin is an everyday part of most dancer's lives. My best advice is to use it sparingly. Don't let it make direct contact with your skin either.
We've all had our parents tell us at one time or another to turn our music down when its so close to our ears, but what about when its blasting at us with the bass vibe from hell, during a jazz class? Or when we just have to feel it louder, during our lyrical or modern classes? The effects the sound has on the body are astonishing! Asking any seasoned dancer will provide you some profound insight on how music can be related to, but remember, smart dancers take care of their bodies (ears included) so they can dance long healthy lives.
The longer you dance, the harder dancing becomes. A lot of the ballet veterans have had knee surgery, hip replacements, ankle and foot surgery, etc... How healthy can that be for you? Lisa Probert, of the English National Ballet brings certain obvious things to light is this interview.
Dancing is a fun, healthy life style in the long run. Just be safe, smart and use common sense. You can't really go wrong with that, now can you, my Lovelies?
What would you like to hear about next? Comment or message me on my facebook! -Ms Ivy
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