You should be dancing!

There are many reasons why you should dance. First and foremost because it’s fun! However, there are also a number of important mental and physical benefits when it comes to shaking things up and moving to the beat!

Physical benefits of dancing

It doesn’t matter what style of dance you do, dance has always been an important part of human culture, connecting people through music and expression of movement. The great thing about dance is that it’s active, so it comes with a number of physical health benefits! What’s more, it’s active without needing to go to the gym! Bonus!

The Victoria State Government reports a plethora of physical benefits when it comes to dancing:

• Improved cardiovascular function

• Increased muscle tone and strength

• Stronger bones

• Improved flexibility

• Greater coordination, balance and spatial awareness

• Did we also mention you don’t need to go to the gym?

Mental benefits of dancing

Arguably just as important, if not more so, are the mental or emotional benefits of dancing. Dancing is all about freedom of expression and positive social interaction. There are understandably many positive benefits dancing regularly has on your mental state and well-being. A study done by the University of California found that committed (or regular) dancers are more likely to feel happier and less depressed and have an overall greater mood than non-dancers or even occasional dancers. The same thing was found by the Victoria State Government when it came to the mental benefits of dance:

• Improved mental well-being

• Improved social skills

• Greater self-confidence

• Greater self-esteem

At Sugarfoot Stomp, we love to share in this thing call swing dancing, love to see the positive impact social dancing has for our members. Come along to one of our classes, social event or workshops to see it for yourself!