Ballet is a well-rounded, positive activity for children and adults alike. It offers a wide range of mental and physical benefits, including improving strength and flexibility, reducing stress, and improving confidence.
Why is Ballet Good for You? 10 Reasons.
Below are 10 of the top reasons ballet is mentally and physically good for you.
1. Provides Whole Body Workout
Ballet is a full-body workout, engaging all the muscles in your body from your core and legs to back, shoulders, and arms. In addition to being great for strength training, it is also an aerobic activity. This makes ballet a good full-body workout for both children and adults.
2. Offers Stress Relief
Exercises, such as ballet, releases endorphins. These feel-good hormones boost your mood and decrease stress, making ballet an excellent way to decompress. In addition to releasing endorphins, dancing also offers an outlet for expression and communication, which can provide individuals a happier, more positive mindset when faced with adversity.
3. Improves Flexibility
Perhaps one of the most popular reasons ballet is good for you is that it improves flexibility. We’ve all heard of the ballet barre, which is the wooden bar that supports ballerinas as they navigate through a series of stretches and strength training exercises. There are some workouts that are centered entirely around the barre. This portion of a ballet class helps improve flexibility, increasing your range of motion, thus decreasing your likelihood of injury.
4. Increases Discipline
Ballet includes a strict code of discipline. This is true not only in technique, but also uniform—usually down to hairstyle—attitude, and posture. When you dance ballet, you are practicing discipline that will help strengthen this skill in other aspects of life.
5. Improves Balance
Ballet is a great way to improve your balance. Ballet increases core strength and muscle stabilizers, helping the body increase its ability to balance. This can help growing children overcome some of the natural gawkiness that comes with lengthening limbs and growing bodies. For adults taking ballet classes, it can help after body-changing experiences such as childbirth or general aging to help regain balance and grace.
6. Improves Posture
Ballet is also a good way to improve posture. Ballet focuses on lines, angles, strength, and flexibility, all of which contribute to good posture. By exercising these parts of your body and practicing the long, lean lines of ballet, you’ll naturally begin finding yourself sitting and standing with better posture.
7. Provides Social Opportunities
Most people don’t think of ballet as a group sport, but it is! That means ballet offers the same type of socializing opportunities found in many team sports. Dancers engage with other like-minded individuals while strengthening their relationships with each other through trust, communication, shared interest, and teamwork.
8. Increases Energy
Ballet also helps to increase energy. This is because it helps to deliver oxygen and nutrients to your tissues by getting your blood pumping every time you dance. Because it is an aerobic activity, it also helps your cardiovascular and pulmonary systems work more effectively. This helps you increase endurance, giving you more energy throughout the day.
9. Improves Endurance
Like we discussed above, ballet can improve your endurance because of its aerobic benefits. This is also true for the strength-training aspects of ballet. When you dance ballet, you are strengthening your body in multiple ways that help daily tasks and chores come more easily to you, improving your energy and endurance.
10. Nurtures Confidence
Finally, ballet is a great way to nurture your confidence. Because it improves balance, grace, posture, health, and fitness, ballet can not only improve your mental health but also improve your confidence.
What do you love most about ballet?
What do you love most about ballet? Tell us in the comments below!
About the Author
Jennie Creer-King
Owner & Artistic Director
Jennie Creer-King is the owner and artistic director of Central Utah Ballet Academy. She is an award-winning dancer, instructor, and choreographer. Among her awards include “Best School Award” by the Youth American Grand Prix, “Best of State” in Choreography and Youth Performing Group, and the Presidential Scholar’s Teacher Recognition Award. Jennie has a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Utah School of Dance with an emphasis in Ballet Performance and a Master's Degree from the University of Utah School of Dance emphasis in teaching pedagogy and choreography.
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