Posts Tagged ‘ballroom dancing’

Benefits of Learning to Ballroom and Swing Dance

Learning to dance can have a number of benefits for school age children and adults.  The benefits of learning how to dance reach far beyond just learning dance steps.  Benefits of dance include:

• Improve health through exercise, development of coordination, and increase muscle tone
• Decrease in anxiety, fear and stress by giving a physical outlet to release tension while generating good feelings by being with others
• Increase self-awareness, creativity, self-expression and new ways of thinking and doing
• Learn to work together with a partner to accomplish goals and achieve higher success
• Create powerful social and emotional bonds by moving students out of isolation and create a team environment where everyone is a key player
• Improve self-esteem, body image issues, depression, attentiveness, focus and communication skills
• Stay calm and grounded to better face life’s challenges

Life Lessons in Ballroom and Swing Dancing

I think there are many life lessons inadvertently taught while students are learning to dance.  Some are comical like:

• “Ladies start with the right foot because the lady is always right!’
• “Ballroom dancing’s line of dance is like NASCAR… Drive fast and turn left.”
• “He’s leading, so what ever happens is his fault.  Now that he knows that ladies, you don’t have to tell him.”
• “There are no mistakes… only variations.”

Others help you in social situations:

• “Guys, as long as she is still smiling, you are doing okay.”
• “It is better to make a decision and lead a mistake then make no decision and send mixed signals.  Nobody can follow mixed signals.”
• “Keep going!  As long as your feet keep moving, you are still dancing.  You don’t stop until the music does.”
• “Leading is the combination of inviting the lady to go somewhere and than getting out of her way so she can get there.”

But, I think Robert summed it up beautifully:

“Dancing is moving to the music without stepping on anyone’s toes, pretty much the same as life. ”

  ~Robert Brault 

At ZeDiamond Dance Method, we have a simple mission:

“We are a collection of Drummers, Dancers, Teachers and Cultural Creatives who inspire peace and joy while developing connection, groundedness and inner rhythms through the teachings of ZeDiamond Dance Method.”

We know there are great benefits to learning how to dance… other than learning how to dance and staying off your partner’s toes.  Dance has brought a richness and fullness to my life that I don’t think I would have found otherwise.  Every time I accept an invitation dance or help a student learning a new step, I know I am adding something to their lives too.   

See you out on the dance floor,

Amy Barnes

ZeDiamond Dance Method

Last night, my husband and I had dinner with my parents and handful of other local ballroom dancers.  My mother was telling the story of how she grew-up ballroom dancing and taught my sister and myself how to ballroom dance in the kitchen and living room while we were growing up.  I piped up that I had written a blog about learning to dance from Mom.  Others at the table chimed in that they enjoyed reading my blogs.  Then my dad looked at me and asked, “Have you blogged about me yet?”  Okay Dad, this one is about you.

Dads and Dancing - Do they mix?

Growing up, I only saw my father exhibit two styles of dancing, slow dancing and the Twist.  Both were usually done in the kitchen, while cooking with music on.  Mom was always there for the slow dance, but the Twist could happen at any time with anyone.  Up until 2007, that was the only dancing I ever saw come out of him. 

In 2007 some big changes happened.  My parents, my husband and I all moved to Asheville, NC.  For the first time since I moved away for college, I was living within a handful of miles from my parents.  Jason and I were also planning our wedding back in Minnesota.  A wedding full of dancing, thrown by swing and ballroom dancers and attended by lots and lots of swing and ballroom dancing friends and family.  Did I mention that there was going to be Swing and Ballroom dancing at the wedding?

The entire wedding reception was focused on dancing.  We rented Cinema Ballroom in Saint Paul to host the big reception swing dance party.  We served finger foods and mini desserts rather than a sit down dinner because we wanted more time for dancing.  But there was one little detail about the reception that was making me nervous… The Father/Daughter Dance.

As a rule, my dad did not dance outside of that kitchen.  I was even told by my mom that they almost didn’t go to Prom because my father disliked dancing that much.  What was I going to do?  I started pleading with my dad, “Just learn 3 little Waltz patterns.  That’s all I ask.  I just want to dance a simple Waltz with you at the wedding.”

Dance Lessons with Dad

Dad ordered an instructional ballroom dance DVD off the Internet and started working through it with Mom.  Mom was happy to be dancing again.  But the big test was learning how to dance with me.  After a few private dance lessons, I was very impressed with Dad and his new found dancing ability.  And the funny thing was, he was starting to enjoy dancing.  He enjoyed it so much, he learned more than just the 3 little Waltz patterns that I wanted him to learn.  That night, at the wedding reception dance, he and I waltzed all the way around the big floor.  It was just as I had dreamed.  He smiled his proud smile at me.  He turned me every time the song lyrics said “turn around”.  My mom cried a little.  It was perfect.  He was dancing with me and we were loving it.

Dancing for life

After the wedding, my parents started taking beginner group ballroom dance lessons.  And Dad loved it.  He took my mom out dancing.  They went to weekend ballroom dances.  Dad was officially wearing Mom out on the dance floor. 

“You have created a monster,” my mother told me one day.  “And the monster’s favorite dance is Cha Cha!”

Though things have slowed down for them, I think they are still dancing and enjoying each other.  Most of their dancing is in the kitchen and living room now… but it has evolved to higher level than the Twist.  By learning to dance, Dad made two women, who love him, very happy.  And he did not know he was going to like dancing so much!!!

Can your dad learn to dance?

You bet he can!!!  He can learn to dance with you, at home by dancing along with an instructional dance DVD.  ZeDiamond Dance Method Learn the East Coast Swing can be your first dance lesson with Dad, right in the comfort of your own home. 

Do you live in the Asheville, NC area?  You, Dad and the entire wedding party can take dance lessons together at our Wedding Inspired Dance Lessons.  Come join us and other brides and grooms as we prepare you to dance beautifully on your wedding night, your honeymoon and the rest of your lives.

See you out on the dance floor,

Amy Barnes

ZeDiamond Dance Method

There are numerous reasons why people learn to ballroom dance… 

Some are looking for low impact and fun exercise.  Others are looking for a creative outlet to express themselves.  And we can’t forget those who are at the dance lesson to hopefully meet someone, friendship or otherwise.  With whatever goal we have, as we walk into the ballroom dance lesson, we tend to fulfill it and get so much more.  Something happens to us during the dance lesson.  We do learn dance steps… We do learn dance rhythms… We do get to dance with lots of partners (if you rotate partners – and I think you should!)… But is something also changing inside of us?  Does learning to ballroom dance make you a better person? 

Over the years, I have met lots of people though ballroom and swing dancing.  I have watched them grow and change as they learn to dance.  Someone who was mild and meek can learn to embrace themselves and find self confidence that they did not know they had until they stepped out on the dance floor.  That self confidence grows from the dance and spills out into their daily life.  On the other hand, I have seen great egos tumble and fall in ballroom dance lessons to be replaced with a kinder, gentler, and more compassionate partners who have learned the lesson of cooperation and have given up the need to be “RIGHT” all the time.

Can Rhythm, Music and Dancing heal us?

This May, the 21st Annual International Trauma Conference, is featuring workshops on psychological trauma.  One of the workshops offered is titled “Rhythms and their role in Brain Development, Attachment, Companionship and Trauma.”  Here is the quick information on the workshop. 

“Rhythms and music inspire human beings to move and experience their world, their bodies, and one another. Both originate in brain structures and connections involved in moving and feeling, and they guide behavior with a goal-defining sense of purpose and creativity. Intelligent perception, learning, and a sense of sympathy and cooperation in meaning between humans depend on this spontaneous, self-regulating brain activity. Physical imitation, resonance, and mirroring form the foundations of human relatedness. Shared feelings of companionship determine how we acquire knowledge, skills, and the self-confidence to share them.

Disturbances of early communication interfere with the development of interpersonal intelligence, disturb the development of secure and affectionate relationships, and impair learning of cultural meaning, bringing shame. This workshop will explore the nature of these rhythmical and musical interactions, and how the re-establishment of one’s capacity for rhythmicity and musicality offers ways to re-establish a secure sense of self, recognition of others, and joyful appreciation.”

Ballroom and Swing Dancing must be therapeutic

Wow, rhythms and music can do all that!!!  I thought we were just learning dance steps in ballroom dance lessons.  Dance classes can teach us far more than just how to ballroom dance.

I do believe that learning to dance makes us better people.  We learn so much about ourselves and our partners out on the dance floor.  And it seems that we don’t even need to become great dancers to learn these lessons.  Just being in the space, taking the time to listen to the music, to feel the rhythms and then connect with someone else has a very therapeutic quality to it.  Ballroom dancing helps to heal us, balance us and gives us more benefits than we could ever hope for.

What do you say?  Want to take a turn around the dance floor with me?  We both will be better for it.

See you on the dance floor,

Amy Barnes

ZeDiamond Dance Method