If you want a world where kids are better educated, more physically fit and more mentally healthy, you just may need to look no further than a good dance studio.
The benefits of dance have been the subject of much research in the past 20 years, and that research has unveiled a wealth of benefits, from intellectual and social to mental and physical. If you’re looking to boost your child’s confidence, fitness level and mental well-being (and possibly to save the world), consider what the research has shown.
Dance improves academic performance
According to the National Endowment for the Arts, students who regularly participate in dance lessons:
Additional research from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies show that “Arts participation and SAT scores co-vary—that is, they tend to increase linearly: the more arts classes, the higher the scores.”
Dance improves physical fitness
The National Dance Education Organization reports that regular dance classes:
Dance improves social and mental well-being
Dance also offers a host of social and emotional benefits, especially helpful in adolescent years:
All these benefits bundled together demonstrate that when we bring dance into children’s lives, good things happen. And when those well-rounded kids grow into adults, the whole community benefits. In the words of Jeffrey Page, Beyonce’s choreographer, “We have tried—and failed—to save the world through war; the time has now come to try dance…. Dance will save the world.”
Dancingly Yours,
Ms. Shannon