Dance is one of the most versatile activities a child can engage in, offering a unique combination of physical, mental, and emotional benefits which help to enrich your child’s development.
Whether your child is an energetic preschooler or a teenager with a passion for movement, enrolling them in dance school can potentially provide skills that will benefit them for a lifetime.
Fouette Academy, one of the top North York dance schools, mentions that dance classes can help children learn teamwork, discipline, and self-expression.
And, the best part is that there are styles of dance to suit every taste and personality!
Whether your child favors ballet, jazz, hip-hop, or contemporary dance, here are five of the top benefits of enrolling your child in dance school.
1. Physical Fitness and Coordination
One of the most obvious benefits of enrolling kids in dance school is that it’s a great form of physical activity.
Dancing, as a form of exercise, encourages muscle flexibility, muscle strengthening, and cardiovascular health.
Dance classes also use movements that improve coordination, balance, and motor skills. Younger children, in particular, may benefit from a significant improvement in their gross motor skills.
Dance training also helps build muscle tone, improve posture, and potentially reduce the risk of childhood obesity.
Whether your child is taking ballet classes or discovering modern dance, they will receive a full-body workout that promotes the development of a physically fit body.
2. Cognitive and Academic Benefits
Dance does not only involve one’s physical ability- it’s also a great way to improve cognitive ability.
Research has shown that children in dance and movement programs tend to do better in academic subjects.
Learning and remembering dance routines, which can sometimes be quite complex, can help strengthen memory skills and improve a child’s ability to concentrate.
These skills translate naturally to classroom learning, helping to improve academic performance throughout their school career.
As an added bonus, dance encourages creative thinking, which can be incredibly beneficial in a variety of subjects, including English, art, and science.
3. Social Skills and Confidence Building
For children, dance is generally a social activity, making dance classes a valuable place to make friends and socialize with other kids their own age.
Children can enjoy the opportunity to meet and make friends that have the same interests as they do, while also learning how to cooperate with others and build teamwork skills.
As students attend class together, rehearse for performances, and participate in recitals, they create a sense of bonding and support that will help them build friendships for life.
Self-confidence also tends to go hand-in-hand with dance lessons.
Children, as they progress in their skills and see improvements in the class, feel a sense of achievement.
Dancing in front of an audience, whether at a small concert or a large community event, allows them to push beyond their fear and develop self-confidence.
This success and knowledge stretch far beyond the dance floor into their personal lives and interaction with others.
4. Creative and Emotional Expression
Dance is a great form of creative expression. It allows children to express emotions in a way that words might fail to convey.
For younger children that are still learning how to verbally explain their feelings, dance can be a powerful tool that lets them share their joy, fear, sadness, or hope in a way that others can understand.
Its artistic nature can help provide children with a way of storytelling, exploring different emotions, and relating at a deeper level with others.
Because dance lessons provide children with a non-verbal sense of self-expression, it can also be a powerful tool for coping with stress, anxiety, and other emotional challenges.
As children learn to release stress and express their emotions, they gain the added benefit of increasing endorphins to body, improving their overall mood.
5. Potential Future Opportunities
Finally, while not every child may grow to become a professional dancer, it’s important to remember that dancing can potentially lead to future career opportunites.
For a truly passionate dancer, lessons early in life can help give children the foundation they need to pursue a professional career in the performing arts.
But, a lifelong passion for dance can also potentially lead to other career opportunities, and skills that can transfer into other areas of life.
The determination, perseverance, and leadership skills that dance school requires can help ensure success in a variety of fields, regardless of your child’s interests.
And dance skills themselves can be applicable to other potential careers in the performing arts, from choreography to program coordination.
Dancing is a fun and engaging activity, but it can provide so much more for a child than exercise.
Whether your child is a toddler that loves to move, or a teen that’s starting to show a passion for performing, the benefits that dance lessons can bring to their lives are numerous.
Look into dance schools near you, and help let your child’s confidence and self-expression soar.