"Dance Yourself Young & Healthy"

Jogging and going to the gym often lose their appeal as we age. Few would argue that dancing is much more enjoyable. What’s more, it can benefit the heart, lungs, muscles as well as improving the joints and general well-being even more than cycling or that jogging session in the rain.

“As we age, the benefits of physical activity cannot be underestimated and dancing is a great way to keep healthy, have a great time and enjoy exercise” says Sam Turner of Policy Research Institute on Ageing and Ethnicity Charity.

Dancing is of course a great group activity, a fun way to meet those new life-friends that you haven’t met yet and a good way to boost self-esteem confidence and memory. “The social, emotional and psychological benefits of dancing are important, especially for those people who are at the risk of becoming lonely or isolated” says Sam Turner.

Let’s all dance ourselves Young and Healthy…

Heart, Health & Weight Control

Dancing can help lower your resting heart rate, your blood pressure and can even lower your cholesterol as well.

Depending on how quick or how energetically you move, dancing can give your heart and lungs a good cardiovascular workout with the added bonus of weight loss thrown in. In actual fact, dancing burns as many calories as swimming or cycling and with ballroom dancing 180 to 480 calories can be lost within an hour’s class - even if you jogged for an hour and burned off 430 calories it would never be half as much fun as if you danced them off.

Bone and Joint Health

As a weight-bearing exercise, dancing helps build, strengthen and maintain healthy bones.

The side-to-side movements of many dance steps strengthen the weight bearing areas of the body including those of the bones in the legs which helps to prevent the onset of osteoporosis in which the limbs become fragile, brittle and can easily break.

A research study by the University Of Maryland School Of Nursing found that dancing helps increase flexibility, co-ordination and the balance of any person, which researchers believe can lead to fewer falls in the mature adult.

Dancing may also help keep joints healthy, supple and mobile and because dancing is a low-impact exercise it doesn’t put strain or too much pressure on those difficult areas. In fact dancing is recommended for those who have had replacement bone and joint operations as a form of therapy, holistic treatment and after-care.

Mental & Emotional Health

When you learn anew dance, remembering the steps could help you keep your memory sharp, alert and active. Research studies have shown that through the use of dancing the likes of dementia prevention are highly expected.

A Study by the Eisenstein College of Medicine in New York followed 500 people aged 60+ who took part in a variety of activities including swimming, cycling, walking and dancing. Out of all the results gained from the study of these activities, researchers discovered that dancing was the only activity associated with a lower risk of mental deterioration. Meanwhile at the other side of the world, Greek scientists have found that dancing is makes a person more positive and with a great outlook on life; and a group of older women who took part in a Thessaloniki based study said that weekly dance classes helped increase their feelings of well-being, self-worth and newly found optimism.

Dancing has been proven to help you relax and take you mind off those troubling worries because of the amount of energy that your body uses during it’s dance sessions you will notice a more physically relaxed person after your class and will be able to sleep easily at night after that twirling session on the ballroom floor.

"Let’s Go For A Twirl Darling…."

Here’s our guide to the most popular styles of fitness dancing…

Ballroom

The great thing about ballroom dancing, apart from the fabulous frocks, tail suits and all that overuse of false tan is that there are 5 dances to learn, each with their own personalities and defining characteristics, so you will never get bored.

Starting off with the slow Waltz and its distinctive rise and fall actions which stretches the legs and strengthens the calves; then moving onto a slow Foxtrot with its defining swaying action which will tighten up those abdominal muscles which leads through to the passionate and dramatic Tango with its sharp and cutting leg actions and eventually progressing onto the sprinting cardio dance known as the Quickstep which is guaranteed to get those heart rates racing. And for those ballroom fanatics and hardcore dancers the Viennese Waltz can be taught, but be warned this dance is not for the faint-hearted and with its continuing turning action, this dance is known as the marathon dance of all the ballroom dances, stamina and mental discipline are indeed needed for the Viennese Waltz.

Salsa

Originating from Cuba and Puerto Rico, Salsa is a fast-paced and hot-blooded dance that really gets the heart pumping, indeed this dance style is for those who can endure and enjoy a good hour’s cardio session. Salsa uses lots of hip shakes, hip swings and hip rotations which helps to keep you flexible and tighten those abdominal muscles as well as giving your legs, arms and upper body a good workout too.

Line Dancing

The fans of Country and Western came up with the idea from Texas in the U.S., but line dancing has its own craze here in the U.K. as well. This dance style is a very low-impact form of exercise and gentle to the knees too mainly due to the fact that the dance steps are mainly walked and strutted. But don’t be fooled! Line dancing today is not all ‘yeehaww’ and ‘slap leather’. In fact many Latin styles, salsa styles and pop culture music have influenced many of the dances today. Country and Western dancing is ideal for those people who are not used to regular exercise and for those who are recovering from illness or have not danced in a while.

Latin American

This style belongs hand-in-hand with ballroom and again when its is separated from it’s skimpy frocks, camp-persona and mountains of fake-tan, the exercise and fun to be found within Latin American Dancing cannot be found elsewhere.

Latin American incorporates 5 dances (the same as ballroom) all with their own unique style of FUN. The Cha Cha Cha seen as the cheeky dance is a playful and fast-paced dance full of enjoyment. The carnival dance of the Samba is all about bounce, so those calf-muscles and legs will be stretched and strengthened when dancing this dance. The Rumba is the dance of love so the pace is slowed to allow those sensual moves to evolve while expressing yourself through the dance and controlling your body’s movement. The Jive was brought over to the U.K. by the GIs during World War II with its energetic and very fast-paced steps; the Jive is the quickest of all the Latin dances. And finally the Paso Doble form Spain recreates the bull fight with the man taking the role of the matador and lady becoming his cape, this dance is full of passion and love.