Your Child Does Not Follow Through With School Work or Chores?

How does dance help your child to follow through with projects, homework and personal chores? There are many ways. But let's explore the most obvious for now.

Dance is a great training ground for your child to learn executive thinking  and organization skills!  That is right! From the process of dressing for the class to stepping on the floor, you child learns about time and organization skills. How is that?

When putting on their dance wear for class, there is order in how it goes on, tights, leotard (shirt, pants and shorts for boys), shoes. When stepping onto the floor, they have their placement and standing positions. But it goes a lot further than that!

Dance teaches children about space, time, area and awareness. In a well organized class, that follows an organized curriculum, your child learns how to think and move while listening to the music. This means learning to travel in their own space and timing from point A to point B and back to point A again, without bumping into others (respecting others space) and arriving at their placement by the time the music calls for the child to be there and be in rhythm with the music (follow through).

Dance teaches respect for others. Learning and knowing their placement , also teaches about knowing other class members placement (space and time) as well. By working together, and knowing their path to follow, young dancers understand that the other dancers have just as much importance to the work as they do. They learn to curtsy and bow at the end of their dance piece to say thank you. They perform a reverence toward the teacher to thank them for the class and guidance.

Dance teaches time management. Have you ever sat and watched a dance class? There is a lot that goes on in a forty five or sixty minute class! Preparing the body with proper dance wear, shoes, and warm ups to prepare the body. Music theory in talking about the music and how the choreography works with the music rhythms and theme. New step break down and performance of the steps, Working in patterns across the floor and transferring it to the dance. Completion and/or review of the choreography taught the weeks before.

Dance class also teaches patience. By repeating the process each and every week, your child knows what to expect and follows through. But there is also the amount of time it takes to learn a dance and wait their turn that is valuable. Your child, learns to respect the teachers time as well as learning to focus and use their patience while others in the class learn the steps and movements.

So think about registering for dance class, when checking out what would be a great activity for your child. It is fun and can teach teamwork like any sport can. But your child has the opportunity to learn so very much more in a dance class. They can learn life skills that helps them for a life time.

Five Benefits From Dance Classes You May Of Never Known

5 Benefits from Dance Classes 

You May Of Never Known

Most families enroll their children in dance classes because it is something fun to do. It is only many years later that they find out that the classes were actually a great training ground for the future, no matter what or where the future leads their child.

Parents are happy when their children find an "activity" that they enjoy. But they are even more thrilled, that after many years of struggling and encouraging their child to continue with their classes, they find out that their child has actually developed stronger life skills than the children of friends and family that were never in dance training. So what can your child learn beside to count 5,6,7,8 or to leap and fall to the floor without getting hurt?

Let's talk a bit about the physical side of benefits from dance classes in this particular post.

1. Physical activity is the most recognized benefit for anyone that dances, young or old. Since dance does use the whole body for movement, it is a great exercise towards whole body fitness. When you add the stretching and warm up, with the actual dance steps, a total body and mind fitness routine is now created. It has also been stated that dance classes are a great way to set the direction for a healthier lifestyle throughout life.

2. Kinesthetic memory is created by repetitive movements and barre work in dance. The value of this is a higher level of coordination and the ability to change directions quickly. This is just one of many reasons that professional athletes either pick up dance classes to improve their athletic ability, or they trained in dance prior to being a professional athlete. When you look at only less than 1% of high school athletes play professional sports, children that dream of playing in professional sports need as much help as possible from ages 5 to 20 years of age. But is also helps us throughout life in being more agile as we age.

3. Balance is another skill that is important throughout life. Some studies have indicated that the balance we achieve by age 10 is the level of balance we carry with us through out life. Of course you still develop balance after age 10 years, but it is this balance after age 10 years that we loose as we age. So best to develop great balance at an early age.

4. Falling correctly and getting back up quickly is a skill that we all need. No matter if the fall is a physical one, or a situation one in life, school or business. Have you ever wondered how dancers can leap high into the air and land down on the floor, almost seemingly floating to the floor? Then roll and come up on their feet with great power and grace at the same time? It is because of the hours an hours of training each individual part of the body as to how it contacts the floor and travels through space and time. Then when it is time for a level change (or change in life), the total body just responds naturally (again another reason why professional athlete decide to pick up classes in dance to improve their athletic abilities).

5. Changing directions quickly is important in so many ways. Ever seen anyone change directions quickly and then claim they are dizzy from the abrupt change of direction? More than likely, they never took dance classes. The vestibular system is the sensory system that provide the leading contribution about the sense of balance and spatial orientation for the purpose of coordinating movement with balance. Vestibular disorders can include vision and balance disorders or difficulties.
The constant work of turning, rolling and changing directions abruptly in dance classes can help the vestibular system to be stronger and more balanced for better health and life.

These five benefits are generally not ones that are listed on studio websites or brochures they pass out to the public. But they are there for every child, teen or adult that trains in dance classes long term. These five benefits are just as important, if not more so, than the ones you will find listed on any of their marketing materials. So when in line registering for classes, know that you are signing your child up to learn life skills that may enhance their adult life. Dance classes are an investment for their future.


*Mary Myers is the Director and Owner of Academy of Fine Art in Woodward OK