Dancers Dance Year Round

Growing children learn very differently than adults. Mental, physical and emotional development is inseparable. One impacts the progress of the other. When a child is emotionally strong, he /she is likely to make more of a physical commitment to the endeavor and thus reap a deeper understanding. Conversely, when a child is uncertain, the action needed is likely to be fuddled until understanding is clear and confidence has grown. Growing is rarely a clear, straight-forward process.

For children to grow mentally, it requires memory building. If you, as an adult, have trouble remembering what you had for dinner last week, imagine how difficult it is for a child to remember something from last week unless there is much repetition through the week to instill the memory at the reflexive level. I am an advocate for routine at home and year round education with breaks every so often.

When children grow physically their bodies change leverage, width, weight, and angle. It is most visible after a break...maybe because we have time to notice. Summer is the longest break for children. They appear to grow most significantly over those three months. If children study dance through their growing years, they acquire the refined shape and poise of a dancer, and keep the emerging muscles, bones, tendons, and nerve endings coordinated through the process. A start and stop approach it hard children's confidence and physical development.

To grow emotionally children need an array of emotional experiences. There is so much beyond happy, sad, worried, and satisfied. Allowing children to feel the full range of emotions and teaching them to handle their feelings in a productive way helps them grow confidently and resiliently. Keeping children on an even keel for the ease and coping skills of others takes away a growing opportunity. The dramatics involved in dance training provide grounds to explore one's emotional range in a safe environment. When and if the emotions surface at home and become difficult for parents (especially), observe, don't get upset at seeing a new emotion. Children who study dance regularly, grow emotionally resilient especially when their exposure is consistent.

To not study dance, or take long breaks for dance training sets a child back mentally, physically and emotionally; requiring a session as long as the break to catch up with their growth, not to mention to return to a refined physical form, and an artistic frame of mind. When parents pay good money and spend precious time so that their child can reap the benefits of dance training. No one wants their time, effort, and finances to be for not. This is why dance lessons are not seasonal like sports. Dancers dance year round.