Why Is Dance Important?
By Rachel Oberg
Dance has been around for many centuries, and has played an important role in multiple cultures throughout time. So how has dance not only survived the test of time, but has remained relevant in today’s society?
Dance teaches discipline, focus, and improves memory. The dance classroom is a structured environment which requires students to adapt through discipline. As a dancer, you must adhere to a dress code, stay quiet during class, and follow the protocol of the class itself. Part of the discipline involved is to be respectful of your dance teacher and your peers by staying quiet throughout class. Your dance teacher is there to help you improve your skills in dance, and does so by giving corrections. If the classroom is loud and unruly, not only are you unable to hear the corrections, but your peers are also unable to hear the corrections. Self-discipline is taught through dance as well. When you walk into a dance classroom, you have the choice to work your very hardest and apply your dance teacher’s corrections to your greatest ability, or not. Your decision on how hard to work in class will either help you improve, or hinder your ability to improve. In order to apply corrections in dance, you have to maintain a high level of focus throughout class or rehearsal. Losing focus for just a minute could mean that you missed out on a valuable correction. You also must focus on a number of different things at once during class, which teaches skills in multi-tasking. You have to think about your body’s alignment, the way your arms move and coordinate with your legs, what your legs and feet are doing, and how the head is positioned; all while staying on the correct count in the music and applying numerous corrections. Not only does dance play a significant role in improving discipline and focus, but it helps increase memory. In the dance classroom and in rehearsals for a performance, you must be able to see a dance combination in its entirety, and repeat it immediately after. This means that you must pay attention to what the head, arms, legs, and feet are doing, as well as the musicality, and repeat it correctly. The ability to pick up a combination and/or dance quickly is essential in becoming a good dancer, and it helps increase our ability to remember things in realms outside of the dance classroom.
Not only is dance a great tool to improve our mind, but it can be an outlet for emotion and a way to express what is happening in our lives. It is a way to communicate what we feel that we often times cannot say with words. When life gets difficult, we need a way to release our feelings of anger, sadness, or frustration by moving our bodies to a song that truly inspires us. When we feel happiness, pleasure, or delight, it feels great to share our joy with the world through dance. Dance is also a means of creativity. We are able to create new movements or string existing movements together in a way that inspires us. However, the main reason dance is important in our lives and has been around for many centuries, is because it is fun!
Dance has been around for many centuries, and has played an important role in multiple cultures throughout time. So how has dance not only survived the test of time, but has remained relevant in today’s society?
Dance teaches discipline, focus, and improves memory. The dance classroom is a structured environment which requires students to adapt through discipline. As a dancer, you must adhere to a dress code, stay quiet during class, and follow the protocol of the class itself. Part of the discipline involved is to be respectful of your dance teacher and your peers by staying quiet throughout class. Your dance teacher is there to help you improve your skills in dance, and does so by giving corrections. If the classroom is loud and unruly, not only are you unable to hear the corrections, but your peers are also unable to hear the corrections. Self-discipline is taught through dance as well. When you walk into a dance classroom, you have the choice to work your very hardest and apply your dance teacher’s corrections to your greatest ability, or not. Your decision on how hard to work in class will either help you improve, or hinder your ability to improve. In order to apply corrections in dance, you have to maintain a high level of focus throughout class or rehearsal. Losing focus for just a minute could mean that you missed out on a valuable correction. You also must focus on a number of different things at once during class, which teaches skills in multi-tasking. You have to think about your body’s alignment, the way your arms move and coordinate with your legs, what your legs and feet are doing, and how the head is positioned; all while staying on the correct count in the music and applying numerous corrections. Not only does dance play a significant role in improving discipline and focus, but it helps increase memory. In the dance classroom and in rehearsals for a performance, you must be able to see a dance combination in its entirety, and repeat it immediately after. This means that you must pay attention to what the head, arms, legs, and feet are doing, as well as the musicality, and repeat it correctly. The ability to pick up a combination and/or dance quickly is essential in becoming a good dancer, and it helps increase our ability to remember things in realms outside of the dance classroom.
Not only is dance a great tool to improve our mind, but it can be an outlet for emotion and a way to express what is happening in our lives. It is a way to communicate what we feel that we often times cannot say with words. When life gets difficult, we need a way to release our feelings of anger, sadness, or frustration by moving our bodies to a song that truly inspires us. When we feel happiness, pleasure, or delight, it feels great to share our joy with the world through dance. Dance is also a means of creativity. We are able to create new movements or string existing movements together in a way that inspires us. However, the main reason dance is important in our lives and has been around for many centuries, is because it is fun!
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