Why do I dance?
I’m not a natural dancer. I started learning how to dance at 22 year old. My first dance crush was Salsa, then I fell in love with the passion of Flamenco, and then I discovered the Brazilian zouk in Hawaii. I love dance because of the connection I feel in my body and with others. It pushes me to my physical limits, learning how to move in ways I never imagined. When I get into the flow state through dance, I feel a high that is better than any drug, that I can experience by myself or share with a partner. It relieves my stress and makes me happier.
Health benefits of Dance
Frequent dancing apparently makes us smarter at all ages. A major study in the New England Journal of Medicine added to the growing evidence that stimulating one’s mind by dancing can ward off Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia.
The 21-year study of senior citizens, 75 and older, was led by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, funded by the National Institute on Aging, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Their method for objectively measuring mental acuity in aging was to monitor rates of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. The study wanted to see if any physical or cognitive recreational activities influenced mental acuity. The only activity to offer protection against dementia, 76% reduced risk of dementia was frequent dancing.
Dancing integrates several brain functions at once — kinesthetic, rational, musical, and emotional — further increasing your neural connectivity. when it comes to improving your mental acuity, is to involve yourself in activities which require split-second rapid-fire decision making, as opposed to rote memory (retracing the same well-worn paths).