Why is music and dancing so important to other

cultures?

Why is dancing discouraged for men here in the U.S.?

What is there to know about Music and Dance as it

relates to keeping the mind and body sharp.

How does Dancing fight depression?

Why is partner dancing the strongest tool for slowing

down dementia and other illness.

Why is knowledge of partner dancing beneficial for

students now and in the future?

How is dancing a language that everyone in the world

can speak?

Ballroom Dancing And

Mental Health -

subjectWed., May 26

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Fighting Depression,

Dementia & More

classRoxana Chavarria-

Cappella

teacher

Ballroom (or partner dancing) &Mental Health

Questions:

Why is music and dancing so important

to other cultures?

In every culture from around theworld, one of the first things babiesdo is dance. Between 0-6 months,you will see a baby kicking their feetto the sound of music.

They will begin to show facial expressions, a type of smile,when they hear someone singing to them. you mightdiscover that they will start kicking in time to the song. Achild will start dancing between 15 & 20 months. Babiesdo dance instinctively. This means that the human brainis hardwired to dance. They actually respond more tomusic than speech. In fact, a University study in New Yorkfound that the more babies were able to synchronize theirmovements to sounds, the more they smiled.

This predisposition is found in every culture. Therefore,dancing is used in every type of social situations. Aroundthe world, any kind of celebration is ushered in bydancing. A new king taking the throne, a funeral (think ofNew Orlean's funerals), and f course weddings. In manyNative American cultures you will see dance used forvarious ceremonies uniting different families and eventtribes.

Dancing is a way of communicating. At a New Orleanstype funeral, as well as some countries in Africa, dancingis used as a way to rejoice and celebrate a person's life. Itdoesn't matter if you recognize the culture or not,whether you speak the verbal language or not, it is astrong communication. We know it's a funeral, we see thecasket. Then we see people dancing in a large parade, youcan see it's a celebration of life.

But dancing can also be used as a protest. In Argentina,2016, energy bills were getting too high and people werestruggling to pay the bills, and the dance halls wereclosing because of it. So people went and began to do theTango in the streets as a sign of protesting. They felt thatmore was said with the dance than with a voice.

“If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution.” Attributed to theanarchist and feminist Emma Goldman. Most recentlyhere in the U.S., during Black Lives Matter, you would seedancing spontaneously break out. The electric slide, is acollective dance, where everyone lines up and dances as agroup. You would see all ages and races join in and danceas one. The dance is used to unify and not fight.

What is interesting, that even in protest, you will alwayshave more female dancers than men, at least here in theU.S.

American men have been taught throughout the past 50years that dancing might look like a man is too feminine. Men also take longer to look, and they becomeembarrassed if they don't catch on quickly. Americanmen, simply seem to be uneasy with large movements andshow freedom. God forbid that they make a dance movewhere they hands have to go above their head. It is simplynot a sport here and men simply get embarrassed to try it.

"Dancing with the Stars" has been on the air since 2005. The show has brought in millions of viewers and a lot ofpeople that have said, "I want to do that!" Unfortunately,dance studios have not grown in size significantly sinceDancing with the Stars aired. Everyone wants to see it, butactually trying it, that is a different story. At least here inthe U.S.

Dancing is not seen as a sport here. Though it is calledDanceSport and is considered as much of a sport asbasketball is here. Their athletes are revered around theworld. And if you've watched any of the pro boxers, orother athlete's competeon the show, they will all say thatthe training for dancing is many times more difficult thatof a boxer's or a basketball player.

In other countries, people find the challenge exciting andthey know the health benefits that go with it.

I see a lot of Dr.'s and RN's in my classes. When I haveasked them why they are there, they all have answeredbecause it is for their mental health, even more than theirphysical health.

Dancing For Physical

And Mental Health

Improved Condition of Heart and Lunch - Dances aresometimes aerobic and sometimes not. But eitherway, your heart will be getting a workout.Increased muscular strength. (Most of the people thatdance professionally never go into a gym. After all, ifyou have to be moving an entire person around, you'llget a good workout.Endurance and Motor Skills. (In ballroom, you havean average of 5 dances- and each one is about 2:00minutes long. But there are times you may need to dothat 15 times. The dances vary from slow to fast, but allvery controlled, and each muscle movement isidentified. It may not sound like it, but you will havethe same level of endurance as if you ran 5 miles. Improved muscle tone and strength.

Physical Health: (Just look at the illustration and think ofhow difficult it is to get your body to move that way.).

I had one teacher and he was in his 80's and I was hisstudent and I was in my 20's. He had more endurancethan the 20 year olds in the class.

Mental Health

Lifts moods and eases anxietyBuilds social bondsSharpens the mindHeightens your self-esteemIncreases your self-confidence

DanceEFXStudios advertises the following: Learning different foot patterns and body movements alsorequires your brain to make new connections andstrengthens certain areas of your brain. You will workyour body, your brain, AND have fun! Learning to dancerequires your full attention, taking your mind off of thosethings you do not need or want to be thinking about allthe time. This is another facet of stress relief andchallenging your mind and body. You will benefit from amental break because you are relieving your stress,learning something new and challenging yourself.

In 2015 Harvard Medical School- printed an article aboutDancing and the Brain. Below are it's findings.

Studies using imaging have identified regions of the brainthat contribute to dance learning and performance. Theseregions include the motor cortex, somatosensory cortex,basal ganglia, and cerebellum. The motor cortex isinvolved in the planning, control, and execution ofvoluntary movement. The somatosensory cortex, locatedin the mid region of the brain, is responsible for motorcontrol and also plays a role in eye-hand coordination.The basal ganglia, a group of structures deep in the brain,work with other brain regions to smoothly coordinatemovement, while the cerebellum integrates input fromthe brain and spinal cord and helps in the planning of fineand complex motor actions.

A 2003 study in the New England Journal of Medicine byresearchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicinediscovered that dance can decidedly improve brainhealth. The study investigated the effect leisure activitieshad on the risk of dementia in the elderly. The researcherslooked at the effects of 11 different types of physicalactivity, including cycling, golf, swimming, and tennis, butfound that only one of the activities studied—dance—lowered participants’ risk of dementia. According to theresearchers, dancing involves both a mental effort andsocial interaction and that this type of stimulation helpedreduce the risk of dementia.

Dance has been found to be therapeutic for patients withParkinson’s disease. More than one million people in thiscountry are living with Parkinson’s disease, and, accordingto the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, each year another60,000 are diagnosed with the disease. Parkinson’sdisease belongs to a group of conditions called motor-system disorders, which develop when the dopamine-producing cells in the brain are lost. The chemicaldopamine is an essential component of the brain’s systemfor controlling movement and coordination. AsParkinson’s disease progresses, an increasing number ofthese cells die off, drastically reducing the amount ofdopamine available to the brain.Ballroom dancing increases dopamine,the music itselfgive it a boost, but coupline it with the dancing increasesit significantly.

The segments above all come from the article HarvardMedical School, but many researches have come to thesame conclusion.

Dancing allows for the brain to fire on all cylinders.

You hear the music. This will tell you the dance. The rhythm and beat will be explained, is it a 4count, 6 count, or 8 count? All dances are differentcounts. There is also the underbelly of a song,which is an underlying beat. This allows for twocompletely different dances to be danced to thesame song.

Once you hear the music, you decide to ask yourpartner to dance. The dance world has many finepoints in terms of etiquette. There is a whole list ofdo's and don'ts.

For Example: https://youtu.be/YyS0pBbw2_UDone as a slow Foxtrot

https://youtu.be/VnN6v66_Kc0Done as a Bachata

You have an option to play with the music. By knowingthe vaious dances, your brain will be able to connect inan entirely different level. Each dance, has differenttiming and footwork. The communication betweenpartners is also different.

Ballroom Dancing- what is actually

happening...

Verbal Communication- how you connect with eachother in the dance. Is it one handed, or two handed? Are you close together or apart. Then the leader willmove you by touch. He will move your back- behindthe shoulder blade and his left hand to guide you. Hehas to be air traffic controller and make his wayaround the dance floor.Then come the actual steps. You've gone to someclasses, and now have some patterns that you'velearned. Some basic choreography. Once the patternsare in your muscle memory, your brain will be able tochange the choreography and adjust to your partner. Their knowledge might not be as great. she or hereads signals differently. The communication is basicand wrong- which results in a lot of stepping on feet,but one also ha to adjust to the person's height andshape.Then you both need to keep time to the music playing. The leader always has to a beat in front to initiate themove so that she can be on time.You then have to maneuver your partner around thefloor and other couples, while trying to keep track ofeverything above.

Once you have your partner in hand, the communicationbegins. There is no verbal communication needed. I'vetravelled to many countries, and while I couldn't speak theverbal language I can communicate on the dance floor.

As you can see, there is a lot going through your brain. Aspeople with Alzheimers show, they can be reached firstwith music. They may not remember their familymembers, but they may still know all the words to a songthey learned 40 years ago. By reaching them first withfamiliar music, you can then introduce them to basicmovement. Their coordination and memory will begin toimprove. As it improves, you can introduce simplechoreography. As they continue to improve, you canintroduce another partner. Now they will have realcontact with another person.

Dancing and Depression

We touched on this with the article above. While younowknow about the chemicals in the brain, significantly theincrease in Dopamine, which is the checmical for happiness,there is the practical side.

With Covid, many people lost the ability of actual physicaland normal daily life interaction. The depression thateveryone- all ages have gone through can make a small doesof depression, exacerbated and get so deep that they mayeven contemplate suicide.

Depression is literally a killer. It is simply a silent one.

Dancing with a partner, or social partner is a directphysical connectivity. You never look at the floor, youengage with your partner and you are communicatingthrough touch and facial expressions.

When you a enter a dance studio, the people you willmeet are friendly and open. Most people becomesocially balanced. When you walk in you will begreeted with a smile, by just about everyone, and it is alegitimate one. Eveyone in the studio seems happy. And for the most part they are. Because there is somuch to think about, there is no room for thinkingabout your troubles. You walk out, with moreconfidence, the point where you are actually standingtaller.

Everyone is accepting as you learn. We all start thesame way.You will make lasting friendships. The social aspect, isa key of the mental well being.

The key to depression is to find a human connectionwhere you find happiness. It is a friendship, with noanxiety. There are no expectations, other than a smile.

I've seen soldiers come back from war, who are shellshocked, enter a dance class, and the nightmares anddepression are gone. It can change your life.