Learning to Dance: 6+ Plus Reasons to Learn

Learning to Dance: 6+ Plus Reasons to Learn – Curriculum

You would have to go a long way back to find learning to dance ballroom or latin, as part of normal school curriculum. The last year that it was mandatory for schools to teach ballroom or Latin was 1939. Some schools did keep dance classes for a number of years beyond that date. However, it soon died out and then you couldn’t learn to dance at school anymore. 

This was a not just a loss to our children but also a loss to society in general. I will try to be brief while I explain. We lost a very good physical form of exercise that not only kept our children fit and healthy. We also lost an art form that promotes coordination and confidence. Dance could act as a stress relief for all the pressure that our children are under in 2017. It is one of the best ways for someone to express themselves. So should we bring dance back to the school curriculum?

Learning to Dance: 6+ Plus Reasons to Learn – Conflicted

Learning to dance is a difficult subject to classify. Should it be in the arts or in the bracket of PE? Now we are getting into the argument of whether or not ballroom dancing is a sport. That is a debate for another day. For now, we will just concentrate on learning to dance. So what is it and where do we put it? Well, my belief is that it is a sport, so surely I would say PE. However, my other belief is that learning to dance is creative and beautiful. If dancing is a form of expression, then why shouldn’t we classify it as an art-form?

Ok so now I am arguing with myself. I’m conflicted as a professional of ballroom and latin dancing. Can you imagine what the schools and the government are like given they know almost nothing about the topic? So if there are arguments are on both sides, maybe we need a classification for dancing all on its own.

Ok, more explanation is needed. If dancing is an art form but also a sport that promotes healthy living, let’s look at all the other benefits you can get from learning to dance.

1. Physical Excercise (tackle obesity)
2. Creativity and self-expression
3. Coordination and self-awareness
4. Stress Relief and helps anxiety
5. Discipline & Concentration
6. Society Values

Learning to Dance: 6+ Plus Reasons to Learn – Promoting discipline & Concentration

Promoting social values is one of the most important aspects of learning to dance. There is a lot of etiquette involved in ballroom dancing. This promotes discipline and concentration. The potential knock-on benefits for the rest of education is somewhat overlooked. Learning to dance can teach children to work as a team and actually be nice to each other. I taught children for many years and each and every child, regardless of their background, was respectful. They contributed to society in positive ways. There is so much evidence to show that children who are learning to dance are far less likely to get into trouble and actually do better in school. Maybe we could just classify learning to dance as a method of self-improvement?

So these are all the reasons that children should learn to dance and why it should be brought back into the school curriculum. However, learning to dance can have all those benefits for adults as well. We all work hard these days, much harder than we used to, even 10 years ago. Stress levels are high. Mental health issues are on the rise. It can be pretty bleak out there in the real world.

So learning to dance could actually help you in all the ways that it helps children. We never had Ballroom dancing at school when many of us were younger but imagine how much better we would be as individuals and as a society if we did. So learning to dance isn’t just fun. We can all reap the rewards that learning to dance can bring into our lives. Let me give you all these reasons again:

1. Physical Excercise (tackle obesity)
2. Creativity and self-expression
3. Coordination and self-awareness
4. Stress Relief and helps anxiety
5. Discipline & Concentration
6. Society Values

Look at all those reasons. Then look at all the stress in your daily life. Can you honestly say that you can afford not to learn to dance as part of your life and your children’s lives? Learning to dance could be the thing that changes your life or at least the way you deal with it.

If you don’t believe me yet, check out this other great article on this story.