We were born to move, yet we’ve forgotten how to let our bodies speak. Dance reminds us.
Dancing is what to do, dancing is what clears my soul and what makes me whole. (IYKYK the song)
You’re probably tired of hearing that I started dancing when I was three years old. But to this day I know that dancing helped me in ways I have only begun to appreciate.
I studied acting and global theatre in university. A huge part of our curriculum was movement. As actors or performers you need to be intentional with your body’s macro and micro movements, without awareness of them you can’t embody your character.
We learned how our breath moves through our body depending on the emotions we are trying to portray.
If it had not been for my 14 years of dance experience, I would not have been as equipped as I was to study the art of performance.
We studied ritual, and how early ritual practices led to the creation of performance for entertainment.
This is important to remember – the why we started dancing.
Dancing has been used in spiritual practices across cultures to celebrate life and connect with the divine. Ritualistic dances often symbolise unity with nature, community, and the cosmos, fostering a sense of transcendence and wholeness.
We danced to connect ourselves to the divine higher power that unites us all.
There is a very real occurrence in our body and mind when we dance…
But before I dive into that, it’s essential to note that dance has been said to be the world’s best workout. Ok I don’t know who said that but I am sure somebody at some point in time has said this. I wanna give you an exact breakdown of what happens to the muscles in your body when you practice classical dances. In hopes of changing your perception about dance, and maybe instead of going to the gym this week you take a dance class or two.
1. Muscular Development: High Neuromuscular Coordination
- Muscle Fibers Activation: Dancing requires precise movements that often involve small, stabilizing muscles and multiple muscle groups working simultaneously. This enhances neuromuscular efficiency, where the nervous system learns to recruit the right amount and type of muscle fibers for specific movements.
- Impact: Unlike gym exercises that isolate specific muscle groups, dance integrates muscle systems holistically, leading to balanced strength and improved coordination.
- Type I and Type II Fibers: Dance routines often blend explosive movements (activating Type II, fast-twitch fibers) and endurance-based motions (activating Type I, slow-twitch fibers). This dual activation improves muscular endurance and strength simultaneously.
2. Muscle Strengthening: Eccentric Loading
- Eccentric Contractions: Dance involves controlled deceleration (e.g., landing from jumps), which engages muscles in eccentric contraction. This type of movement strengthens muscles while lengthening them, enhancing both power and flexibility.
- Cellular Effect: Eccentric loading causes micro-tears in the muscle fibers, which repair during recovery, increasing muscle size (hypertrophy) and strength over time.
- Comparative Impact: In gym workouts, eccentric work is often neglected unless explicitly programmed (e.g., negative reps), whereas it is intrinsic to dance.
3. Tendon and Ligament Adaptation
- Elastic Energy Storage: Movements like jumps and leaps train tendons to store and release elastic energy efficiently, improving power output without additional energy expenditure. Over time, tendons become more robust and resilient to injury.
- Why Dancers Excel: Unlike repetitive gym movements, dance involves unpredictable, multidirectional forces, which enhance tendon and ligament strength.
4. Bone Density and Structural Integrity
- Bone Stress and Remodeling: Weight-bearing movements in dance stimulate osteoblast activity (bone-building cells), increasing bone density. This is similar to resistance training but with added benefits due to the variety and frequency of movements.
- Comparison to Gym Training: Gym exercises may focus on isolated stress (e.g., lifting weights), but the dynamic, full-body engagement in dance promotes more comprehensive bone strengthening.
5. Cellular Metabolism and Mitochondrial Density
- Aerobic and Anaerobic Conditioning: Dance blends high-intensity, short bursts of activity with sustained, lower-intensity movements, improving mitochondrial density (the energy powerhouses of cells). This increases muscle endurance and recovery efficiency.
- Cellular Mechanism: The frequent switch between energy systems (aerobic and anaerobic) enhances glucose metabolism, delays fatigue, and improves overall stamina.
6. Proprioception and Core Strength
- Proprioceptive Feedback: Dancers rely heavily on proprioception (awareness of body position in space) for balance and movement precision. This continuous feedback loop trains the core and stabilizing muscles, which are essential for strength and injury prevention.
- Core Activation: Unlike traditional gym exercises that might target the core in isolation, dance integrates the core into every movement, creating functional and sustained strength.
7. Psychological and Hormonal Factors
- Mind-Body Connection: Dancing activates the mind-body connection, increasing the secretion of endorphins and reducing cortisol levels. This reduces mental fatigue and enhances overall physical performance. Not to mention reducing stress.
- Comparative Benefit: Gym exercises can focus on isolated movements, whereas dance incorporates emotional and mental engagement, amplifying physical resilience.
Here we have it, the more scientific approach. But the core of dancing is feeling. Allowing ourselves to free up all of those emotions we’re not processing.
To dance is to feel.
Our ancestors had it right. Moving with intention to liberate and expand our power, our ability to feel.
I believe with all the sitting and constrictive movements that have become our societal norm–we have lost a deeply important part of ourselves.
With all the information we have at our fingertips today, I think it is so important to remember our roots as humans. Our roots being that we are living in communion with nature, for we are a part of nature.
We have become so disconnected with our bodies, and inturn disconnected our minds from our bodies. When in fact our MIND IS INSIDE OUR BODY.
To dance is to allow our bodies to work the way they were made to work. To dance is to connect our hearts with our actions. It is the unspoken language of healing.
So with this today, I invite you to dance. Don’t worry about looking uncool, the coolest thing you can do today is to allow yourself to feel what you are feeling. Dance helps you with that.
Thank you for joining this journey today on dance.
Sending love.
Leave a Reply