Why Dance? (original in PT)

3 Reasons Why the Ballroom Dancing Is The Mot Complete Physical Activity For Your Health !!!

by Felipe Raso (Pé Descalço's teacher and a friend of escola NoPé)

There is no doubt that practicing at least one physical activity regularly is fundamental to having a healthy life. But a practice that does not involve meaning and does not sharpen the practitioner’s interest, becomes very demotivating. Thus, in order to remain motivated and enjoy all the benefits of a physical activity, it is necessary to seek an activity that completes your physical, mental and social needs.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), in order to be truly healthy, we need much more than just not being sick. It takes complete physical, mental and social well-being to be able to say that you are healthy.

It’s easy to know now what the 3 reasons are. All I have to do is show you how the ballroom dance is able to contemplate and satisfy the conditions of the WHO

Physical Wellness

Ballroom dancing is an excellent activity for a high caloric expenditure. And because it is an activity with a high demand for coordination, the progression of effort happens gradually. As the practitioner acquires greater awareness and coordination, he or she begins to be able to dance to songs that are faster and faster, reaching very high rates of caloric expenditure, even higher than those shown in this famous booklet on the right:

The ballroom dance, besides the more traditional movements, also has movements on the ground (floor), and aerial. Such movements require much of the strength, especially of the legs and the core. The dance can be your option for slimming and physical conditioning.

Mental Well-Being

As mentioned above, ballroom dancing requires a lot of coordination, and coordinative activities require a lot of focus and concentration. Your brain will be constantly required to activate different nerve pathways simultaneously. This training improves your reasoning and allows you to have a great sense of control of your own body. Such self-control is directly linked to a sense of good self-esteem.

Dance has such a wide range of techniques and movements that we will never be able to master them all in one lifetime. In this way ballroom dancing will always be a motivating and stimulating activity, because the challenges to its coordination will never end. It is an endless training activity for the brain with each new technique learned, the more control of our body we have and the greater will be our self-confidence.

In addition to our own body, ballroom dancing requires a very high awareness of your partner’s body, which makes the motor challenges even more interesting and demands even more of your ability to concentrate and pay attention. These challenges are ideal to keep your head occupied without allowing you to think of any problems that are occupying your thoughts. Read it: (How Is Your Rest Hindering Your Job Performance? 4 Steps to a Full Rest.) The constant effort to understand each other’s bodies also makes us more and more self-confident and comfortable as we interact with people.


Social Welfare

Ballroom dancing establishes social relationships in an extremely natural way. You and a person communicate motivated by music. Even when there is no exchange of words there is a conversation, a conversation between the bodies. This contact is more than enough to break any ice, and with every new person you dance there is a new possibility of friendship. Ballroom dancing is characterised by the ease with which collaborative communities are formed, and in a short time you see yourself inserted into a new group of people who make you feel welcomed and loved.

And it is not difficult to understand why these interactions are positive. By dancing we are not only communicating, we are exercising and releasing the hormones of pleasure. We associate this pleasure that we feel with people who are experiencing that joy with us. Other gestures capable of releasing hormones related to the feeling of well-being are hugging and smiling. When dancing we embrace each other countless times and if the environment is conducive (usually is) the exchange of smiles occurs in a light and spontaneous way.


What Are You Expecting?

Now that you know why ballroom dancing is growing and helping more and more people fight stress, depression, loneliness, physical health risks and mental fatigue. Don’t waste any more time, start dancing as soon as possible. In a few days you will already notice the improvement in your mood, in your self-confidence and you will be surprised at how motivated you will be to learn more!