Why Dance May Be What Your Pre-Teen/Teen Needs

The Pre-teen and Teen years can be fun and difficult for the child and parent alike. For those living through those years,especially the pre-teens and teens, it can be confusing, emotional, and stressful.

Dance can be one of the best forces in dealing with the ups and downs of the pre-teen and teen years. Just ask the successful former students that now find themselves as doctors, mental health experts, teachers, graphic designers, real estate professional, financial planners, academics and more.

Dance gives a pre-teen or teen a safe avenue for creativity and expression when they feel that they are being shut down in other areas of their life. Dance also allows them an escape into something physical, and so it can relieve stress and emotions of the day, thus allowing them to be more calm and focused in school and at home. Working and moving with the music has an extra added benefit of connecting right brain and left brain activity.

Dance can be an escape for some teens and we have experienced that the most when there is difficulty at home, such as a pending divorce or illness of a parent or other family member. The studio can be a haven at these times of great stress and emotional upheaval. Over the years, some former students have actually stated that the studio is what saved them.

On a more upbeat leavel, dance can offer your young teens a better self image and higher self confidence (as demonstrated in the second paragraph of this article referring to former students). It can lift them beyond their current feelings and bring creativity and dreaming back into their lives.

Dance helps a young person to set goals and to learn to meet the smaller goals (process goals) that leads to the accomplishment of the main goal. Dance allows exploration without intimidation and humiliation. No one laughs at another in their dance class (if it does happen, then your child is at the wrong studio) because they are all working for the same goal. Dance teaches a young teen about true cooperation and not competition with others in the class.

Dance can bring back a smile to your teens face and sense of accomplishment when everywhere around them they feel like they cannot measure up to the standards. Dance will challenge them physically, mentally, emotionally. Dance can be the path to future successes in life.

Dance changes lives!

*Check out our face book page for the Woodward location at facebook.com/tumbledance&cheerproductions to leanr more about how dance has changed the lives of former students. Follow us on Twitter @FineArtsofOK