Dance—Medicine for Your Mind, Body, and Soul

By Brianna Randall

Aerobics, spinning, or step classes might make you sweat. But can these fitness classes inspire you emotionally? Release mental stress? Give you grace, rhythm, and build your self-confidence? Here’s a fitness class that can do all that and more: Dance. Whether you are a dancing novice or a former ballerina, moving to music is good for your body, mind, and soul.

Many people picture ‘dancing’ as professionals performing pliés or the free-for-all gyrations found in bars and nightclubs. But another form of dancing is accessible to people of all ages and ability levels – free movement and cultural dance. “‘Working out’ doesn’t mean you have to be stuck to a machine,” says Shari Russell, group exercise director at The Sporting Club One in San Diego, which offers a variety of cultural dance classes. “Cultural dance,” Russell continues, “provides [a]new and fresh perspective to how moving the body should feel good.”

Dancing isn’t just about toning muscles and getting a great cardiovascular workout; its benefits go beyond the physical. Though dancing isn’t often associated with mental health, recent studies have shown that there’s more to groovin’ than meets the eye. For instance, the Los Angeles Times recently reported that dance is combating depression in Alaska, a state with one of the highest suicide rates in America. Robert Tokeinna, an Alaskan native has begun teaching traditional Eskimo dance to young people in his village. “It lifts up the spirits and makes the person happier,” says Tokeinna.

Not only does a little fancy footwork raise the spirits, it also stretches the brain. For people over sixty, dancing may provide an invaluable mental workout. A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine in June 2003, found dancing to be the only physical activity associated with a drop in the occurrence of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. This study also showed that participants who danced three or four times a week displayed a 76 percent lower incidence of dementia than those who danced once a week or less.

Dancing is therapeutic for all ages and types of people, from those with chronic illnesses to those in need of a self-esteem boost. Wendy Waxman, dance-movement therapist and founder of Bodyworks Studio in Tucson, Arizona, believes that dancing is a preventative treatment. “Dancing allows us to learn to reconnect to ourselves. By re-inhabiting our bodies we build our self-esteem and release emotional stress.” Many of the students in her yoga-dance, NIA, dance therapy, and cultural dance classes have been through therapy, but are ready to deal with their issues physically, instead of just verbally. “The body stores emotion. Letting it out joyfully, through dance, allows you to be authentic, creative, to heal yourself.”

The Lebed Method is an internationally-acclaimed form of dance therapy created to aid in the physical and emotional recovery of breast cancer survivors. The smooth, slow movements are gentle and can be done sitting or standing. The Lebed Method also benefits those who suffer from Parkinson’s disease, chronic fatigue, arthritis, and other illnesses.

The Calluna Day Spa offers dance therapy classes specifically catered to breast cancer survivors. Heather Ruck, director of Calluna Day Spa and certified instructor of the Lebed Method, says, “Dancing helps my students emotionally, putting them in a healing atmosphere. Music is therapeutic and the exercises benefit students physically and mentally.”

If you want a faster-paced workout, full of foot-tapping beats and swinging hips, cultural dance forms work all the major muscle groups, especially the ones you use to smile. The Oaks at Ojai in Ojai, California has offered a variety of dance classes for more than twenty years. From the rigorous Afro-Caribbean class to the slower belly dancing class, this resort encourages its guests to shake, shimmy, and sashay away their stress and worries. “We try to teach that fitness can be fun,” says fitness director, Nancy Byrd. “Dance tends to seem a lot more interesting to many of our clients than, say, step classes. They walk out with big smiles on their faces.”

Latin classes, encompassing a wide range of styles from Central and South America, are an enjoyable alternative to ballroom dancing for couples as well as an excellent rhythm-building and confidence-boosting exercise for individuals. Kathleen Potts, a fitness instructor who teaches a Latin dance at Cal-a-Vie Resort and Spa, says that many of Cal-a-Vie’s guests continue to dance after returning home. “It gets them out of their routine and linear patterns. Not only is it great for self-expression, but the easy steps and low-impact style keep the guests from feeling frustrated or inadequate.”

Vanessa Isaac, a dancer, teacher, and choreographer with Santa Barbara, California-based dance company, Hip Brazil, created the Hip Brazilian Workout Video last year, which is now available on video or DVD at www.amazon.com and www.hipbrazil.com. The energetic percussive steps combined with sensual samba moves on the video are quickly becoming a hit worldwide. Isaac, who has been teaching Brazilian dance for twelve years, says her classes consist of breast cancer survivors grooving next to professional dancers and nine-year-olds celebrating the drumbeats with eighty-two-year-olds. “This type of dancing is on a cellular level, it’s a response of the soul. Our lives, our bodies, and nature all have rhythms, and dance makes us aware of the inter-connections of everything.” Isaac believes that cultural dancing is well-received by many of her students because it “grounds them and gets them through the week by bringing ritual and community.” It also provides an invigorating aerobic workout to live music.