August 15, 2021
by Kimberly Deaño
Do you like to dance? The simple swaying of hips when you are happy or achieve something, random actions in accordance to the song you are listening to, or even replicating the movements you saw in a music video – those are just examples of a dance.
What is dance? Dance is the motion of our body in accordance with the beat of the music in a sequence of movements – swaying, swinging, hopping, etc. to express feelings and emotions or for entertainment and relaxation. There are many dance styles that we know – contemporary, hip hop, ballet, ballroom dance, belly dance, salsa, etc. So many types and forms of dances that we could learn and have fun with, hence, it could be used to incorporate into fitness.
Why do we dance? What are the benefits of dancing? Some people like to dance because they have a passion for dancing, some may find it as expressing joy, some recreates dance styles into new styles for performing, and some use it as fitness.
With dancing, somehow the first thought that came into our minds are of ballroom, disco, clubs, school proms, street dancing, or even Zumba. Young people are mostly attracted to hip hop and contemporary dances, while others are into ballrooms such as waltz, salsa, or tango, while most of the older women are enticed with Zumba – a fitness program that is a combination of Latin and international music dance theme.
The dance will surely burn and reduce our fats because of the moves that we do during dancing since it activates our body and heats up causing us to sweat. There are slow and lively kinds of music in which we can enjoy dancing. Dance also improves our balance and flexibility with numerous motions from our head to toe as it involves some fast movements and different postures. Whoever doesn’t want weight loss? Of course, aerobic dancing is one of the dances that is proven for that. Aerobic dancing improves our heart and lungs which means it conditions the cardiovascular system to be more active in delivering more oxygen and more efficiency all throughout our body. This also increases heart health especially for those who are prone to cardiovascular diseases. Dancing not only proves how it affects our body healthy but it also helps our mind to strengthen our memory as it is effective when our body releases endorphins which trigger positivity in us. The feeling of positivity that is caused by endorphins, it relieves stress and depression. It also increases our energy levels as we feel the positivity and the improvement of our physical well-being.
Dancing energizes us in many ways. As the lyrics from BTS’ Permission to dance, “I wanna dance, the music’s got me going, ain’t nothing that can stop how we move. Let’s break our plans and live just we’re golden and roll in like we’re dancing fools”. Dance should be enjoyed for all ages and for all genders, that it can be grooved by different social classes, it has to be delighted as a fancy way of diversion from the pressure of our society and can be utilized as a part of fitness.