Amidst many art forms there exist, dance is one that touches every heart – from the dancer, to their audience and back to the dancer. Every art form opens the doorway to an incredible variety of unique experiences that range from different emotions, to heightened levels of creativity and expression, giving the artist an infinite ground to grow and evolve at many levels.

Its benefits are many and range from physical to psychological to intellectual benefits. Here are our top 3 picks in each category

Physical benefits:

Fitness – Dance is a great form of exercise and a work out that naturally increases your metabolic rate, helps you elevate your heart rate to get the benefits of a good cardio as you sweat it out and shoots your endurance up as well.

Posture – The stance one takes in any (classical) dance form like Kathak, ensures your spine and neck are in alignment, back is upright and allows your shoulders to be propped just right to give your body that posture. Ever seen a droopy shouldered dancer? (guess not!)

Stamina – The riyaaz in kathak involves extended periods of footwork (while toning your hips and calves) and increases your breathing capacity as you communicate and recite Padhant to your audience in the midst of a performance.

Psychological Benefits:

Focus – Kathak or any dance form involves coordination between hand and body movements, thus improving your focus and concentration levels.

Emotions – While presenting a Nayika, the dancer loses the self as they don the character they represent and go deep to experience those emotions too. It has a cathartic effect as one attempts to unfold those emotions layer after layer.

Discipline – Like any art, dance too requires you to play full out with dedication to riyaaz and the discipline needed to stick to a routine that will allow your personality to blossom.

Intellectual benefits:

Sequential learning – As the dancer needs to remember the many nuances of hand and body coordination in each step, and the order in which each step should roll out, it makes their memory sharp as they easily recall complex combinations of movements over time.

Brain development – Dance stimulates both the right and left brain as it involves movement, expression, sequences, timing and speed. Right and left-brain development together lead to holistic thinking.

Happiness Booster – Can you feel unhappy and yet fully be immersed in any dance? Chances are a BIG NO! Dance is a blend of our inner self and outer expressions to create happiness and bliss at different levels in life.

After reading the above we hope you are already thinking about signing up for a dance workshop in your area soon. Or any other art form that excites you. Whichever you choose, don’t overthink – simply call, sign up and begin a new journey today – that makes you feel good, happy and relaxed inside out!