The Benefits of Ballet Lessons for Adults
Why Are More Adults Taking Ballet Lessons?
Today we can witness how more and more adults all over the world are taking ballet lessons. What's attracting them to the dance studio? Apparently, ballet brings with it tremendous benefits in terms of health, fitness and emotional well-being.
Health Benefits
Many of us who take ballet lessons know that it is a great way to keep fit.
Studies of professional ballet dancers have shown that what these dancers do is in fact more difficult than what professional football players do, as apart of tremendous physical strength it also requires artistry and ability to disguise any efforts of hard work involved. Just imagine the incredible amount of training the body gets when you do ballet.
In ballet, every inch of your muscles is actively engaged in movements.
Another benefit of ballet is that it does wonders for your posture. As the basic requirement of ballet is to have a neutral stance with the spine straightened and hips "squared" (meaning, parallel on both sides), this posture is going to have a "spill-over" effect on your day-to-day posture. If you work on it consistently, you will end up looking as graceful as Audrey Hepburn! A.Hepburn, as many other Hollywood actresses, had years' of training in a professional ballet conservatory, and this training showed in the way she carried herself on stage and behind the camera.
Besides the beautiful look, a good posture is extremely important in staying healthy. Many pain syndromes that people living a sedentary lifestyle experience are a result of poor posture and muscular-skeletal dysfunction. So if you don't have a good posture to start off with, ballet is going to magnify the problem —which is great, because you will now want to work on it and along brings the great health benefits of a correct posture.
Brain Exercise
Speaking of a sedentary lifestyle, ballet is a wonderful activity to get you off your chair. While many people choose yoga or Pilates these days to balance off the long hours of sitting and the lack of movement, some choose ballet for its high "fun factor." In ballet, we get to move along with music and make beautiful patterns with our bodies. We use a lot of "brain power" to remember the steps and to coordinate the different body parts. For example, we exercise the left brain for getting the "mathematical" parts—the logic of the step combinations—right; the right brain for interpreting the music and expressing our body in an artistic manner; the upper rear portion of the brain for interpreting spatial relationships; and the lower part of the brain for memorizing the steps.
Since we do not use words to express ourselves in this art form, the part of ourselves that cannot be expressed verbally now gets a channel to come out. And the part that deals with language gets a welcoming "time off." It can be a wonderful form of relaxation from the daily stress, meditation and recharge for your overall wellbeing.
Classical music is most often used in ballet lessons. There have been studies that confirmed the positive influence of classical music. It is found that such music stimulates the alpha waves in the brain. Alpha wave is the waveform detected when the mind is calm or in the meditative and intuitive states. Being in alpha mode would therefore enhance thinking, learning, and intuition.
Artistic Development
Ballet is a highly aesthetic art. In my experience, those who have picked up ballet as a hobby or as a way to keep fit usually end up being in love or even obsessed with the art form. In fact, cultural development comes naturally to any serious ballet students. The more you learn, the more you are likely to delve into the wonderful traditions behind it.
You will become interested in watching ballet performances, learning about all the current and past performers, and reading up on ballet history and other related art forms, especially music. You will start to learn about the different ballet composers and choreographers. Your musicality is also likely to improve over time, as you learn to move your body with music instead of just counting the beats.
Where you are a total beginner, intermediate or even advanced – we have no doubt you’ll have a lot benefit and fun dancing as well as exercising our classes!
Source: hobbylark.com