Dance Like No One is Watching

By: Melody Dizon

 

Growing up, I have always been exposed to dancing. Living in a compound back in Cebu during my formative years, where I was always with my cousins and aunts who either are part of a dance group or are professional dance instructors, movement of a body part came naturally for me. When people hear the word dancing, immediately people will either say, “Come to the dance floor with me, Honey” or they say, “Oh no! I have two left feet”. Or they say, “ “Sure! After a few Margaritas”. I’m trying to understand where people are coming from when I hear them say these things. Is it cultural in nature, is it a certain body type or is it a certain gene in your DNA that makes people either love or avoid dancing? Nevertheless, whatever our orientation is to dancing, I’d like to tackle some health benefits associated with it. Do you know that……..

Yes- SMARTER!!! Did you know that??? Given all the benefits listed above, so why don’t we all dance? Some inhibitions I can rattle off my brain are that people are scared. They are scared knowing that they are not physically coordinated so they avoid dancing altogether. They seem to have developed a fear too, of any dance environment where steps must be learned like “the electric slide” and when other people are present. Or they can only remember two out of the five dance steps. I believe as well that with the advent of dancing shows like “Dancing with the Stars,” people make comparison to themselves and somehow get this idea that they will never be as good as that first-timer celebrity dancer on TV. So they will just sit and watch and push buttons on their remote. Though with all the celebrity outfits, 100 lb weight loss, lights, music, stage set up, it is still Hollywood. Reality check! Certainly not encouraging and defeats the purpose of getting people to move.

To dance is to move, to go with the music, to go with the flow. Nobody said you have to be graceful about it. You just have to move. Right foot, left foot, hip sway front to back, shimmy to the left and shimmy to the right. My all-time personal coach, trainer and friend Donna Thomas at Lifetime Fitness always remind me “Mel, it’s not about how well you move, it is about progress”. To some dancing, like the famous ZUMBA classes or ballroom dancing or belly dancing , it gets their heart rate up making it a good cardiovascular workout . Dancing for exercise is pretty much the most fun way to lure our mind into thinking we are just having a good time but not actually working at anything. How cool is that? Yet, we reap all the benefits of having a good cardio dancing workout.

So, the next time you hear a familiar beat and your toes start tapping, go with it. Dance like there’s no tomorrow and dance like no one is watching after all it’s just another body workout that reduces your stress levels, reduces your incidence of getting dementia later on in life and it gives you the natural happy hormone. You smile a lot and as what the National Institute on Aging says, you get smarter. It is the most under-utilized anti=depressant drug prescribed. So who wants to laugh, smile, get smart with me? Come on down, Honey and let’s dance.