Being a dancer is an amazing way of life

As a dancer, it is important that you take care of your body the best you can in order to avoid injuries, and also that you stay healthy so you can get through long days of classes, rehearsals or performances.

Dancers typically specialize at a young age, which puts them at risk for certain injuries as they grow and develop. Dancers are particularly susceptible to overuse injuries because repetitive practice is central to dance training. 

A few studies that looked into dance injuries found that injuries from using your joints and muscles too much (overuse injuries) are the most common in dancers. The majority of these overuse injuries involve an ankle, leg, foot or lower back.

From improved brain function to better memorization, dancing builds the hard and soft skills needed for peak academic performance. Let’s explore 8 ways dance classes could improve your child’s grades and overall experience in school.

The National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) undertook a review of recent studies of how dance impacts learning, with particular attention to Creative Process, Student Performance, Equity, Cultural and World Dance.

Dancing benefits you in many ways that can result in better brain function. It has been shown to:

improve memory, improve critical thinking skills, stimulate new neural connections, reduce stress, and

improve physical health.

It is impossible to talk about ballet’s mental illness problem without talking about perfectionism, the inevitable mental and emotional toll of an art form that requires its practitioners to spend hours in front of mirrors, comparing their fallible bodies to an unattainable ideal.

As dancers we’re often trained with a “mind over matter” approach that simultaneously values our mental strength over our physical limitations while also denying the existence of mental illness. We “use it” to dance better when we are sick, angry, sad, or just plain exhausted.

Strong commitment to the art form requires ballet dancers to work with their bodies for hours, sustain injuries, and work through chronic pain, often leading to emotional distress. Physical requirements also make dancers more vulnerable to suffer from eating disorders.