Dance around the world

10th of 20 reasons why dancing is great for your well-being.  Here's the full list.

We're at the end of the year already and half way through the list of 20 reasons...   Although the boundaries between emotional, physical, mental and spiritual categories are very porous, we're now focusing on the physical benefits.

Good posture.distinguishes between very good dancers and those who 'get around the floor'.  Standing tall and holding ones posture needs to be practiced.  I do need to consciously think about my posture when I am practicising and dancing.  There is a natural flow on benefit.  When I am walking and only able to 'dance in my head' the previous dance practice makes it easier for me to be more aware of my posture and ensure that I do hold a better posture rather than walk with a slouch. 

This very interesting site of Greg Holiday promotes the benefits of the Alexander Technique. His article Good dancers make it look easy promotes  Proprioception. Greg and the Alexander Technique go well beyond improving posture and his article makes very interesting reading. There are lots of other links between dance and posture, but Greg's article goes that much further.

A quote from a compilation of Tom Parsons, used with permission http://www.dancer.com/tom-parsons/quotes.html

Hence it is from the representation of things spoken by means of posture and gesture that the whole of the art of dance has been elaborated.
             --Plato

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Chris Mitchell
www.dancetours.co.nz