To begin, many people don’t think dance is something important. Many think that dance is just something fun to do as kids, and that karate or gymnastics would be a better thing to spend time doing rather than exploring your inner self with movement. Honestly, dance is a way you can open your mind to new things; it can also improve your comprehension skills. Your posture may become better, your grades could improve, or you might just have fun with it. Yes, dance can be very beneficial to your life.
Let’s start with the numbers, a few years ago a school tried out a dancing program for fifth graders over a span of 10 weeks, their attendance was mandatory and they had to work together because most of what they did was ballroom dancing. After taking the lessons 81% of students engaging in the lessons discovered that they were working better together, and they treated each other with greater respect. One study showed, “... 95 percent of teachers said that, as a result of dancing together, students’ abilities to cooperate and collaborate have improved.” So many have seen that collaboration with dance has had a positive result in that school’s ability to work together.
Although the lessons were mandatory, not everyone wanted to participate. There was this girl, whose file was about 2 inches thick. She never wanted anyone to think she was weak, and she didn’t want to attend the dance lessons. She even fought to not have to go to the lessons. She thought dance would show weakness. But after trying one day of the dance lessons she didn’t fight to go to the next one. After 3 or 4 classes she began to carry herself differently and didn’t get into trouble from then on.
Next let’s talk about grades. The same school’s principal reported that, “There are no ifs, ands or buts about the impact the dance lessons have on the academic lives of our children. When I first got here, they were failing scores. Last year -- our second year of the dance lessons -- the scores got up to 85%!” The lessons greatly impacted the grades on their students, the grades had gone up about 20%!
Finally, Sir Ken Robinson has spoken his thoughts on why schools need to focus on the arts more than the traditional disciplines like math and english. Robinson had once taken a trip to Finland, and while he was there he had asked, “What is the dropout rate here in Finland?” the person’s response was, “There isn’t one, why would anyone want to dropout? If someone is struggling we get them help immediately.” Robinson had considered the answer and the person expanded his knowledge on how Finland ran their schools. He figured out that Finland focuses on the arts more than traditional disciplines, while they don’t have the dance lessons, they expand the arts more than we do in America. Finland also individualizes lessons, so their students can learn in the most comprehensive way possible. Robinson specifically stated, “...you can’t have good education without good teachers,” and, “...there is a teacher, say in room 321 and they may be participating in the act of teaching, but their students aren’t learning anything. So, the teacher is participating in the act of teaching but not succeeding with their actions.” The teachers need to make the lessons fit their students, so the students can learn to the best of their abilities.
In conclusion, the arts are one of the most important activities to be engaging in in school. And the school that participated in the dance lessons showed greater improvement in grades and in personality than in other schools. Exploring your capabilities can be very beneficial to you, whether it be through dance, or through art, music, PE, or drama club. Exploring your interests can lead to something better than studying for 3 hours at home every day for one math test(that you’ll probably ace anyway). Get out there! And try something new.