Why Ballet for Adults

Being a dance studio specialized in Ballet, DanzArt offers a beginner ballet class specifically designed for adults of all ages with little or with no previous dance experience with the goal of slowly and methodically focusing on sound postural alignment, learn the basics of ballet and reap all the extraordinary benefits that this art form brings with its practice.

 

Not convinced yet? Want to know more about the wonders ballet can do to your body, mind and spirit?

 

From the physical point of view, ballet is a great way to keep fit. In ballet, every inch of your muscles is actively engaged in movements. Actually, ballet is one of the best workouts to not only strengthen, tone, and sculpt your entire body without bulking, but also to improve flexibility, coordination and body awareness. You will be so busy trying to stand up straight, turn out your feet and feel the music that you won't even realize how much you're exercising. Bring on the élevés and relevés to work the lower extremities, especially the calves, ankles and feet, and you too will start seeing results that no other workout can accomplish.

 

Another benefit of ballet is that it constantly works on alignment and does wonders to your posture. As the basic requirement of ballet is to have a neutral stance with the spine straightened and hips "squared" (meaning, parallel on both sides), this posture is going to have a "spill-over" effect on your day-to-day posture and will eventually strengthen your back, butt and abdominal muscles. This alignment work will also improve the vestibular system, which could ease balance problems and chronic dizziness.

 

Now focusing on the mind and soul, some choose ballet for its high "fun factor". In ballet you get to move along with music and make beautiful patterns with your bodies. Ballet dancers use a lot of "brain power" to remember the steps and to coordinate the different body parts. For example, dancers exercise the left brain for getting the "mathematical" parts - the logic of the step combinations - ; the right brain for interpreting the music and expressing our body in an artistic manner; the upper rear portion of the brain for interpreting spatial relationships; and the lower part of the brain for memorizing the steps. Briefly stated, for being such a neurologically complex activity, ballet develops mental acuity and improves concentration levels and memory skills and is considered a useful method for staving off memory loss and managing degenerative conditions such as dementia and Parkinson’s.

 

Additionally, studies have confirmed that classical music, which is commonly used in ballet lessons, stimulates the alpha waves in the brain –those detected when the mind is calm or in the meditative and intuitive states- therefore enhancing thinking, learning and intuition. As a direct result, dancers’ musicality is also likely to improve over time, as they learn to move their body with music instead of just counting the beats.

 

Concerning artistry, ballet is a highly aesthetic art and has the magic of making you get completely absorbed in it, encouraging additionally your poise, grace, elegance, musicality, confidence, and artistic expression. It is also about process as much as performance and there will always be a new subtlety to master; the joy of moving in time to music; the comfort of familiar patterns repeated and refined.

 

Whether or not you have danced before, DanzArt’s Adult Ballet classes will make you reap all of the above benefits and achieve amazing things. What is sure is that, by the time you leave the class, your wellbeing will be improved, you will stand an inch taller, and you will look more poised, full of energy and like the nerves of your fingers and toes have thanked you!