We believe everyone should have the opportunity to express themselves through dance. Whether to exercise, socialise, improve technique, relieve stress, or simply for the love of it, dancing encompasses so many benefits from building confidence and self-esteem to increasing fitness, physique, and improving your moves on the dancefloor!

Continue reading to see just what a good idea dancing is…

1. Forever Young. Dancing is tremendously beneficial in keeping us young. It slows the aging process immensely. It benefits our heart, cardiovascular system and increases our lung capacity. Fact: The muscle exertion and breathing rates of dancers performing in one dance competition is equivalent to those of cyclists, swimmers and an Olympic-level 800-meter runner.

2. Strong Bones, Lubricated Joints. Dance helps to prevent and treat osteoporosis, which is a major concern for women, especially during post-menopause because of the significant drop in oestrogen that occurs at this stage. A decrease in oestrogen levels is what stops calcium from being absorbed into our bones. Dance also keeps joints lubricated, which helps prevent arthritis.

3. Calorie Blaster. Dance exercises our bodies to allow for increased circulation. It helps us burn those calories away, while improving our stamina. It is estimated that dance burns anywhere from 5 to 10 calories per minute depending on speed and intensity. For example, swing and mambo burn more calories than a slow waltz. Check out approximately how many calories you burn while dancing:

STYLE OF DANCE	Approximate Calories Burned Per Hour
	100 lb. Dancer	125 lb. Dancer	150 lb. Dancer	175 lb. Dancer	200 lb. Dancer
Disco, Ballroom, Square, Latin, Mambo, Salsa	264	330	396	462	528
Fast, Ballet, Twist	288	360	432	504	576
Slow, Waltz, Foxtrot	144	180	216	252	288

4. Better Blood. New research has discovered that it is necessary to measure both good and bad cholesterol levels when determining our health. Dancing assists in lipid control, which raises our HDL (good cholesterol), and lowers our LDL (bad cholesterol). Dancing is also great for diabetics because it helps blood sugar control.

5. Mental Mastery. Dance improves our memory by making us recall steps, routines and dance patterns, making it a great mental exercise for our brains. The big benefit is that increasing this type of activit can help keep your mind young, quick, alert and open.

6. It’s All About Balance. Balancing yourself in one position may be easy, but balancing in the numerous types of positions involved in dancing is much more difficult. Dancers have learned the ability to balance themselves in a number of positions. This strengthens our stabilizer muscles, while protecting our core muscles and making us less prone to injury in our daily lives. Dancing also aids in co-ordination and helps strengthen our reflexes. It is a great way to keep our central nervous system and peripheral nervous system in tip-top shape by improving the connection between our bodies and our mind.

7. Socially Satisfying. Dancing is recreational and entertaining. It creates a social life for us, while affording us the opportunity to make new friends. Friends helps us grow, make us laugh and support us as we learn.

8. Culturally Diverse. Dancing has no cultural barriers. People from all parts of the world, with different ideologies, meet on the dance floor. Cultural interaction improves our health by expanding our mind and sharing our spirit!

9. Groomed to perfection. Dancing is not only fun and romantic, but it helps to promote good grooming because everybody wants to look their best while they dance. Good grooming keeps us healthy by keeping us high on hygiene.

10. A Happy Self. Dance elevates our mood by raising our endorphin levels. This is what allows us to heal stress and depression – two of our immune system’s biggest enemies! It helps us establish our self-confidence and self-discipline. It improves the harmony between our mind and body, giving us a sense of well-being.

with thanks to www.dancescape.com