The Value Of Dance – A Parents Perspective
THE VALUE OF DANCE From a dance parent… One of my friends asked “Why do you pay so much money and spend so much time
At MDM we know how much you and your child invest to enjoy and benefit from the experience of a dance education. We know you do so because you value that experience and your child is likely passionate about dancing. At MDM dance is our passion too, and that’s why we’ve released our Value of Dance campaign, in order that more people might grow to appreciate and come to enjoy the many and diverse benefits of dance.
As part of that campaign we’ve developed this simple presentation.
For this illustration we’ve compared dance with sports. This is not because we’re in anyway against sport nor see dance as pitted against sport. But by using sport as a yard stick, because many of us follow one sport or another and value the benefits, we’re better able to demonstrate how wonderful dance is.
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To dream, plan and accomplish goals.
The power of dedication, discipline and focus.
That even though they’re exhausted and might feel like quitting, reward comes from perseverance.
To work independently as individuals, but also to work in groups, both large and small and to be a proud, supportive and respectful team member.
To deal with disappointment when they don’t get that position they hoped and strived for, or fell during a move practiced over and over. They learn to fall and get up, continue and work to make it better next time.
The value of caring for their body; understanding how it works, discovering what it can do and the humility that comes from needing to rest and heal.
That a skill requires hours and hours of conscientious practice to be proficient at; that success does not happen overnight.
Their shared and personal experiences in their sport contain values and lessons that will serve them throughout their lives, whether they continue with sport into adulthood or not.
They’re forging potentially life-long friendships born of the experiences of hard work, shared passion, joy and connection.
A respect for their coach and other team-mates.
A pride in turning up on time to training and matches, with their players uniform neat and clean.
The many and diverse health benefits that flow from exercise.
The cognitive development that comes from movement.
To dream, plan and accomplish goals.
The power of dedication, discipline and focus.
That even though they’re exhausted and might feel like quitting, reward comes from perseverance.
To work independently as individuals, Soloists and Principals, but also to work in groups, both large and small and to be a proud, supportive and respectful group member.
To deal with disappointment when they don’t get that part or role they hoped and strived for, or fell during a move practiced over and over. They learn to fall and get up, continue and work to make it better next time.
The value of caring for their body; understanding how it works, discovering what it can do and the humility that comes from needing to rest and heal.
That a craft requires hours and hours of conscientious practice to be proficient at; that success does not happen overnight.
Their shared and personal experiences in the dance studio contain values and lessons that will serve them throughout their lives, whether they continue with dance into adulthood or not.
They’re forging potentially life-long friendships born of the experiences of hard work, shared passion, joy and connection.
A respect for their teacher and other dancers.
A pride in turning up on time to classes, rehearsals and performances, with their uniform or costume neat and clean.
The many and diverse health benefits that flow from exercise.
The cognitive development that comes from movement. Dance has be shown to be particularly beneficial, in that learning new movement patterns is challenging and rewarding for the brain spurring neurogenesis.*
AND…
Dance helps develop a performance confidence, body awareness and physical presence that will support and sustain them into the future as they interview for jobs, or when giving important presentations.
A good dance technique helps develop a correctly aligned musculoskeletal system which can provide lifelong health benefits.
Through dance students are developing a deeper and more fascinating kinaesthetic awareness and relationship with music.
Within the safe creative space of the dance studio dancers are learning the value of expressing themselves in narrative and abstract ways; and that life is a constant journey of discovery and revelation.
Dancing teaches the student that not everything is about competition nor should be understood through the paradigm of competition.
And finally, dancers come to appreciate and value that there are some thoughts, some feelings and some relationships that can only be experienced when we dance, alone and with others.
*Neurogenesis: the process by which neurons are generated from neural stem cells and progenitor cells. Particularly relevant in the brain.
We hope you enjoy this and feel free to share it widely!
Article written by Josef Brown,
MDM Business Development Manager
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