Why dance should be taught in schools?

It is said that what we learn in school stays with us forever. Well, this saying might not be in sync with the theories learnt in Science and the formulae learnt in Mathematics, but it undoubtedly stands true for the artistic and moral values that we develop in schools.

Be it a day school or a boarding school, we learn more than our syllabus and curriculum. Schools have a way of engaging the students into co-curricular activities like dance and drama through their participation in several competitions.

Students are made to participate in competitions related to music, painting, acting and debate- and the learning that they derive from these participations undoubtedly stays forever with them. I was a part of international day boarding in Noida and I’d always cherish my days spent there. It was during my school days that I had taken up dancing and gradually it became more of a hobby.

Today, as a formally trained dancer, I would like to encourage all the students out there to take part into dancing right from the school days, for it has a number of benefits, and it stimulates everything from mind and body to heart and soul.

•As exercise: Dancing is one of the greatest physical activities as it pumps the heart. Gym trainers say that dancing provides similar benefits as running on treadmills and lifting weights does. Dancing helps you stay in shape and practicing it from childhood would benefit even more.

•Acceptance: Dancing enhances our acceptance for other forms of art. Because dancing itself is a fine art, a similar kind of appreciation and admiration is developed for painting, photography, music and sculpting. So if you indulge into dancing, learning other forms of art becomes easy for you.

•Social: Dancing makes you get rid of social awkwardness. During get-togethers and social events, you are not embarrassed to take part in the dance functions. Moreover, dancing brings to closer to strangers. A dancer gets along with people very easily and further, can motivate other people to dance as well.

•Stage spotlight: And finally, dancing makes you love the stage. It makes you confident and expressive. When you take up dancing during school, confidence and self-belief comes naturally into you. You become comfortable in performing before audience.

On the whole, dancing has psychological as well as health benefits and hence, students should be encouraged to participate in dancing-related activities.