Give the Gift of Dance!!!!

As the holidays approach, (and they are coming quickly!), department stores and malls will be busy with shoppers trying to find something for that special someone that is so difficult to buy for. Why not try something new this year that will not only help promote health and wellness, but will also give them something that they can enjoy for the rest of their lives...ballroom dance lessons.


Whether it’s your spouse or significant other, for your sister or other family members, for the wedding couple, or for yourself, ballroom dancing brings to you many great fortunes. The obvious ones are more fun in life, exercise without having to go to a gym, muscle-toning and stamina building simultaneously, and a renewed sense of life that always seems to come to every student in the beginning of their dance lives.

The not-so-obvious benefits to taking ballroom dancing lessons are:

1) Confidence: Most people, especially men, find new things about themselves through the fun of taking dance lessons. One of them is an increased sense of confidence when meeting members of the opposite sex or in social situations. Women tend to "come out of their shells" and become the beautiful swan that the daily stresses of life often hide.

2) Increased energy and new ways to spend evenings and weekends. Instead of sitting on the couch watching "Dancing with the Stars," you are OUT Dancing with your friends, sometimes several times a week. Most dancers have to tape the show because they are out dancing.

3) Ballroom dancing battles Alzheimer’s. There is an increasing amount of evidence that suggests this. Ballroom dancing engages both sides of the brain, makes you pay attention to beats and counts, causes you to engage every muscle at the same time, and can be learned at any age. More and more studies are confirming that ballroom dancing will help you to avoid Alzheimer’s.

4) Improved Relationships. Because it is an activity that requires engaging with your partner in a close dance position while also working together as a team, dancing has always been something that helps make marriages and relationships stronger. Even Vernon and Irene Castle, the couple who are credited for the origins of ballroom dancing in the 1910's, promoted it to a religiously anti-dance America as a way to help marriages last.

5) Ballroom dancing puts you in a happy place. The more you dance the better you feel and the happier you are. You become more socially active and get in better shape. When you are in better shape, you feel happier and better about yourself. The best part is that you don't need to go to the gym! Dancers frequently have the stamina to last through 3 hours of cardiovascular exercise 3-4 times a week by doing one thing....dancing.

If you are holiday shopping this year and get tired of standing in lines trying to find something to buy for someone who already has everything, or you are just over the whole commercialization of Christmas altogether, contact one of the ballroom studios in the Orange County area and give the gift of dance.