The Health Benefits of Dance
A ballerina may look delicate, but she is actually very strong. Professional dancers must learn to control every muscle in their bodies in order to complete difficult postures and jumps. But these postures can improve the strength and muscle tone of dancers of all skill levels. Dance is aerobic, which means it uses resistance to improve strength, balance and flexibility. Balance tends to come from the core, which may also help to flatten the abdomen. Warm-ups with stretching are typically the start to any dance class. This helps improve flexibility and a dancer’s range of motion, which can lead to fuller-looking muscles. Because dance involves quite a bit of balance, it may also help you to improve coordination and body awareness.
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Review Date:
August 21, 2015Citation:
Mayo Clinic, "Depression and anxiety: Exercise eases symptoms" Health Guidance, "Health Benefits of Dance" dance-teachers.org, "Why Dance?" Stanford Dance, "Use It or Lose It: Dancing Makes You Smarter" Health Guidance, "The Best Means of Avoiding Alzheimer's Is Dance?" Health Guidance, "Health Benefits of Dance" National Osteoporosis Foundation, "Exercise for Strong Bones" NIH, "How does physical activity help build healthy bones?" My Mental Health Day, "A New Way to Find Success" Better Health, "Health benefits of dancing" Image courtesy of Konradbak | Dreamstime.com Image courtesy of Sebastian Kaulitzki | Dreamstime.com Image courtesy of Inara Prusakova | Dreamstime.com Image courtesy of Pooterjon | Dreamstime.com Image courtesy of Vadimmmus | Dreamstime.com Image courtesy of N.l | Dreamstime.com Image courtesy of Maksim Shmeljov | Dreamstime.com
Last Updated:
September 24, 2015