Dance around the world

11th of 20 reasons why dancing is great for your well-being.  Here's the full list.

It is self-evident that dancing burns calories.  There is a difference between the intensity of ballroom compared with salsa but both no doubt burn calories.  Dancing is much much more interesting than stepping out on the treadmill at the gym where 5 minutes feels like half an hour.  While dancing the time just flies by and those calories seem to just burn up effortlessly.  On a recent night of dancing which started at 7.30pm and did not finish until 2.30am, time seemed meaningless and each step helped to burn off those calories.  Ask me to jog or even walk, much less be on a treadmill for seven hours and see what sort of response you get.  But dancing is different.

Many dancers choose to not drink at all during an evening of dance, but I prefer to enjoy a glass of beer at the beginning of the evening and know that the risk of developing a beer pot is miniscule as those beer calories don't have time to hit the sides.before they are burned into oblivion on the dance floor. 

Juliet Kellow gives you a few options to burn off 300 calories.   http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/slimming/slimming_tips/burn_calories.htm
Would you rather #12 jog for 30 min or #25 dance for 35 mins?  What sounds like more fun? 

In case you are not yet convinced check out these calorie charts:
http://www.coolnurse.com/calories_burned.htm
http://www.self.com/health/activity/calculators/salsa_dancing/result?weightKgs=&duration=&activity=&met=5.5&submit.x=51&submit.y=10

We ought to dance with rapture that we might be alive...and part of the living, incarnate cosmos.
             --D. H. Lawrence

To return to the latest blog entry click here

Chris Mitchell
www.dancetours.co.nz

Summer has finally threatened to arrive, and this 'road less travelled' is one part of NZ I have never visited.  Now is the time to do it.  The tent is packed, the food is in the chillybin and I'll be back by 15 January. It was in this part of the world that the stunning and moving film Whale Rider was created.  Whangara is too small for this map but is located halfway between Tolaga Bay and Gisborne.

If you want to read something new in the meantime, check out the dance goals that belly dancer Natalie has cleverly extracted from a number of passionate dancers and listed them in her inaugural dance carnival. 

Here's another couple of photos of my summer destination,  If you are currently enduring a winter you don't need to be envious.  Here's how you can join us and dance around New Zealand. Claire, from New York has some great photos on her blog that highlight Whangara, other East Coast locations and an intro to Maori culture.  

Chris Mitchell
www.dancetours.co.nz