The Dance Inside the Dancer

Graphic copyright Jeremy Leslie-Spinks (with thanks to Eric Gill)

“O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can we tell the dancer from the dance?”
— William Butler Yeats

When you dance, there’s a lot going on. Not only are you out there busting your unique and wonderful moves — you’re also triggering mirror neurons inside anyone watching, driving them to react to you, reproducing in them the same kinetic buzz you feel, generated by your dancing in real time. You are actually moving them, giving them a kinaesthetic kick (look at the toes tapping, heads nodding, bodies swaying – that’s you and the music making that happen). For the spectator, dance is never merely an abstract, external event. What you do changes them – as a dancer, you can use that.

“To watch us dance is to hear our hearts speak“.
— Hopi Indian Proverb

Inside you, explosions of energy and activity are taking place. Signals from your eyes, your ears, your vestibular canals, sensors in your skin, your joints and your tendons are hurtling inwards at unimaginable speeds, heading for various parts of your nervous systems, the command-and-control apparatus in charge of the whole extraordinary undertaking. Commands from the centre respond to these signals, racing through your body, constantly adjusting balance, technique, acceleration, braking, turning, wheeling, compensating, anticipating. Everywhere in you, electrical impulses are firing, chemical and metabolic changes are roiling, muscles springing into action, contracting, hauling on tendons to shift bones at joints and produce what we see as movement. It’s a miraculous, intricate proceeding, requiring an awesome amount of high-level computation.

“When you do dance, I wish you a wave o’ th’ sea, that you might ever do nothing but that“. — William Shakespeare

When you dance, chemical reactions kick off inside you. Your system is pumping out cortisol, the stress hormone which speeds up the conversion of carbohydrate into glucose for rapid energy. There’s also glucagon from your pancreas, a peptide which helps to convert stored sugar and fat into useable energy and insulin which adjusts blood sugar levels to satisfy energy requirements. The hormones epinephrine and norepinephrene ensure optimal circulation, keeping you alert and mentally efficient; you’re also producing Human Growth Hormone, which you’re really going to need after the dance session (and especially while you sleep) to repair the wear and tear on your cells and tissues.

“And the merry love the fiddle, and the merry love to dance“.
— William Butler Yeats

Dancing, as every dancer knows, feels good. It’s a sensation most dancers crave, that all-together-now groove, when you and the music are in the same body, your muscles feel alive and co-ordinated, everything seems to work, and you know you look great. The great news is, not only does it feel wonderful, it’s actually good for you as well.

“He capers, he dances, he writes verses, he speaks holiday, he smells April and May“.
— William Shakespeare

Science confirms that dancing on a regular basis helps both your brain and your body. For one thing, there’s the endorphin kick from dance (and many other forms of movement) which raises your mood, lowers stress and brings a general sense of wellbeing. There’s also a big payoff in increased serotonin levels, the neurotransmitter boost that comes from exertion [2]. Another effect of dancing is increased secretion of BDNF plasma (Brain-derived neurotropic factor), the protein which maintains and supports the growth and plasticity of your neurons, facilitating nerve transmission, memory and the ability to learn [1]. BDNF also helps protect against developing multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntingdon’s Disease, and it’s even thought to help prevent diabetes mellitus.

“We should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once“.
— Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Studies show moderate to vigorous physical exercise (such as dance) improves glucose metabolism in your brain, which enhances your neurometabolic function; this is potentially important in the prevention of injury, but also of Alzheimer’s Disease [8].

“If you love the things you do, you don’t age, you always remain young. Age is for the calendar“.
— Sol Hurok

What is perhaps less well known is that regular dance, especially if you’re constantly learning new choreography, actually increases the volume of certain areas of the brain, specifically in terms of a brain component known as Grey Matter. Magnetic Resonance Imaging can actually show increased volume in the right para-hippocampal gyrus and the left precentral gyrus regions of your brain. Similar experiments have also shown that dance, combining physical and social activity, slows down the brain’s ageing process and reduces the risk of dementia.

“You don’t stop dancing because you grow old, you grow old because you stop dancing“.
— Agnes de Mille

Dance, far more than other exercise forms, improves short and long-term memory [4], reduces anxiety, improves the elasticity of blood vessels and facilitates the processing of emotions. The mind and the body are, after all, in the same system, so whatever happens to one will of course affect the other [5]. (This is the basis of Dance Movement Therapy – DMT — which is used to treat anxiety, alleviate stress, relieve depression and promote emotional wellness [6].)

“The dance is strong magic. The body can fly without wings. It can sing without voice. The dance is strong magic. The dance is life.”
— Pearl Primus

Dance, unsurprisingly, also helps your heart and circulatory health. The physical benefits include improvements to balance, coordination, muscle strength, flexibility, speed, motor fitness, bone health and durability, posture, weight control, aerobic fitness, cardiorespiratory health and general physical wellbeing [7]. Dancing also facilitates heightened spatial awareness, improves self-esteem and self-confidence, and hones social skills. (Also, let’s face it, it does a lot for your looks.)

“The body is a source of amazing energy. This thing wants to live. It is a powerful engine. The brain (is) a reservoir of images, dreams, fears, associations, language. And it’s potential we can’t even begin to understand. Movement begins to negotiate the distance between the brain and the body, and it can be surprising what we find out about each other.”
— Bill T. Jones

Clearly then, dance is not only the thing dancers love more than pretty much anything else in the world, it’s also fun, sociable and incredibly healthy. In fact, it’s a great way to enjoy, celebrate and prolong your amazing dancing life.

“There is a bit of insanity in dancing that does everybody a great deal of good.”
— Edward Denby

References
1. Gallego, D-L BEYOND PHYSICAL FITNESS – 13 ESSENTIAL DANCE BENEFITS, Arch Med Sci. 2015 Dec 10; 11(6): 1164–1178. Published online 2015 Dec 11. doi: 10.5114/aoms.2015.56342 PMCID: PMC4697050 PMID: 26788077

2. Bathina S, Das UN, Brain-derived neurotrophic factor and its clinical implications
1;”https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=18&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiqyo3G-KXkAhUJNOwKHaCHA_4QFjARegQIBxAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Frejuvenatinglifestyle.com%2F13-essential-dance-benefits%2F&usg=AOvVaw1shr7wZpwg_Xz3Dfkk1aNT

3. Edwards, S, Dancing and the Brain
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=21&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwiqyo3G-KXkAhUJNOwKHaCHA_4QFjAUegQIBBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fneuro.hms.harvard.edu%2Fharvard-mahoney-neuroscience-institute%2Fbrain-newsletter%2Fand-brain-series%2Fdancing-and-brain&usg=AOvVaw2Qzkxthm0QFd5zcAyknZ4l

4. H. Ho, PhD,1,2,*, Ted C. T. Fong, MPhil,1,2 Wai Chi Chan, MD,3 Joseph S. K. Kwan, MD,4 Patrick K. C. Chiu, MD,4 Joshua C. Y. Yau, BA,1 and Linda C. W. Lam, MD5, J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci, 2018, Vol. XX, No. XX, 1–11 doi:10.1093/geronb/gby145 Advance Access publication November 28, 201T.

5. Berrol, CF The neurophysiologic basis of the mind-body connection in dance/movement therapy, American Journal of Dance Therapy, 1992 – Springer

6. Koch, S, Kunz, T, Lykou, S, Cruz, RF, Effects of Dance Movement Therapy and Dance on Health-Related Psychological Outcomes. A Meta-Analysis The Arts in Psychotherapy · November 2013 DOI: 10.1016/j.aip.2013.10.004 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259120783

Physical Benefits of Dancing | The Essence of Dance https://sites.psu.edu › sbxoxo › 2015/09/17 › physical-benefits-of-dancing

8. Dougherty RJ, et al. Moderate physical activity is associated with cerebral glucose metabolism in adults at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. 2017;58:1089–1097.

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