Eight women gathered into Miss Cindy’s
School of Dance in Mansfield Massachusetts, to take their weekly tap class on
Friday nights. The waiting room was filled with laughter and ease as the women
tied up their tap shoes and prepared to go into the studio. With their teacher,
Jill up front, they began a warm up together to upbeat Christmas music. The
women sounded synchronized as they were doing simple shuffle steps to warm up
their ankles and get their feet moving.
Their warm up was simple, but already the
women looked happy and eager to continue to the next part of class.
Jill started to add more difficult
movements in the warm-up which seemed to intimate a few of the class members.
When some of the women were finding the movements to be too difficult, Jill
would break down each movement for them, allowing the class to see each individual
step before putting everything together. Eventually the dancers started moving
across the floor with various shuffle steps and maxi ford turns. A few would
fall a couple of steps behind, but the smiles never left their face.
Dance instructors are seeing a large
number of adults, mostly women, taking dance classes in some form. Some will do
this for exercise while others take classes as an outlet to help relieve
stress.
The New England Journal of Medicine
conducted a study that looked in to if physical activities could help improve
mental acuity. After the study was conducted, it was discovered that dancing
often would reduce the risk of dementia by 76 percent whereas biking or
swimming would reduce the risk by 0 percent. This study shows that by
incorporating dance in your life, whether it is recreational or professionally,
the benefits are significant to improving mental health.
One dancer in particular, Beth Frost, 48,
only danced for about three years when she was younger. Frost said that it has
been 45 years since she had taken any kind of dance class. She said that her
daughter was a student at Miss Cindy’s and “it was always fun to watch” her
dance so she decided to take a class. she finds that having a dance class to go
to is a “good way to get out of the house.” Even though she is subject to
balance issues, she emphasized that the class is good for her health and she is
able to assimilate to the class despite her balance problems.
Another dancer from Miss Cindy’s, Darby
Freeman, 41, said that she was a student of Miss Cindy and she danced from the
age of four until she was in college. It had been “39 years since I last danced
but I started up again because I missed it.” Freeman said that she when she was
younger, she used dance as an “outlet when I was feeling stressed and now I
wanted to find that outlet again.” Freeman said that because she has kids now,
it is sometimes hard to make it to class but in the end, she looks forward to
class each week.
The owner, Cindy Nolan, said that she is
impressed every time she watches these women take their classes, Nolan said, “Their
excitement is like four year olds; they all really want to be here.”
Nolan has owned her studio for 50 years
and she said that her adult classes have always been popular. She said that
many of the students like the classes so they can get out of the house and
escape some of the stresses of their everyday lives.
Other dance teachers believe dance has
affected their own mental health and the health of their students.
Valerie Robertson, 52, of Norwell Massachusetts has been
dancing since she was five years old. She has experience with all different
levels of adult dancers especially in the college classes that she teaches at
Stonehill.
She said some students "return to dancing for exercise
while others want to try something new."
Robertson has certificates in “Energy Psychology,” which
contribute to her wide knowledge of the connection of "the engagement of
the body with the way we learn and the way the brain works."
Robertson said she knows there is a "vast amount of
evidence that dancing and watching dance improves your mood and builds
serotonin levels in the brain which contribute to a good mood."
Cathy Bosch, 52, is the lyrical teacher at Stonehill College
and has been dancing different styles since she was four years old. In college
she received her BFA in dance and after graduation began touring the United States.
Bosch has taught all different levels of children and young adults for about 30
years. In her experiences as a teacher, she has noticed that dance has a
positive impact on her students. "The endorphins released and the social
setting and music during a recreational dance class is very good for mental
health," she said.
Kristy Khun, 38, has been dancing for 30 years and has been
teaching "on and off since 2000" for young adults in college, adults
in gyms and summer programs for children. She said that for her personally,
"dance has had a positive affect on my mental health, I believe for a
number of reasons."
She said that when she is in a dance class "or in
rehearsal, my mind is focused on my alignment, performance, and/or the
choreographic task at hand."
By having dance as an outlet, Khun is able to let go
of her outside stress and just focus on movement. Khun said that while
she was working with "Gibney Dance in New York, I taught movement and
stress relief workshops for survivors of domestic violence." By
incorporating movement in these workshops, the intent is to relieve some of the
stresses that these victims have faced.
Khun said she has noticed that many of her students
will say "that they use/perform some of the exercises from class when they
are stressed out" to combat everyday stresses.
Laurie Healey, 35, of Whitman,
Massachusetts has been dancing since she was born but had “instructional
lessons at the age of 5” and has been teaching for 23 years. She has experience with all different levels
of recreational, competitive, and adult alumni dancers from her studio. “Dance
can release stress and is for everyone” especially those who are combatting
issues with body image, bullying in school, and even everyday stresses and
anxiety” she said. Several of her adult
students have told her that “dance has helped them get through tough times”
assisted them in coping with their mental struggles, she said.
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