5 ways dance improves athletic performance
Can dance make you a better athlete? It can. Dancing for athletes builds strength, flexibility, endurance, coordination and agility, and all five carry over to the field or the court.
A football player in a ballet class? College and professional athletes do take dance classes, so what are they getting there that other sports and workouts don’t give them?
Strength
Dance has athletes using muscles their own sport hardly touches, and that makes them stronger overall. Ballet and other dance classes focus on flexibility, mobility and core conditioning, which balances out a typical strength workout. Dance works muscles that a standard weight routine misses, and you end up with a different kind of muscle tone than other sports give you!
Flexibility
Flexibility helps prevent sports injuries. Plenty of athletes stretch to avoid strains, but most never get everything flexibility has to offer. Dancers stretch right to the edge of what their bodies can do, and they learn to bend and twist without getting hurt.
Endurance
Dance is a serious cardio workout. It improves your body’s ability to deliver oxygen, and that builds endurance! Soccer, football, basketball and track and field all ask a lot of an athlete’s endurance.
Coordination
In dance class you memorize specific steps and repeat them until they stick. When athletes from other sports practice dance, that repetition can make them more coordinated and give them better spatial awareness. On the field, it shows up as cleaner movement and a better sense of where everyone else is.
Agility
Agility is the ability to change direction and body position quickly and effectively while staying in complete control. It takes quick reflexes, coordination, balance and speed, and every athlete needs it. It matters just as much in dance, because a dancer is always shifting weight from one side of the body to the other, from one foot to the other, or from the toes to the heels. All that practice is why dance is such a good way to build agility.
If your athlete also does gymnastics, read how dance makes a better gymnast. For soccer, basketball and football players, there’s more in how dance can improve athletic performance for boys, and is dance a sport? looks at where dance itself fits. When you’re ready to try a class, start with our dance classes for preteens and teens.
Reach your goals with Nan’s School of Dance
At Nan’s School of Dance, our goal is to provide top-quality instruction at a competitive price. We encourage our students to reach technical proficiency in their favorite dance form and build self-discipline, poise, and self-esteem. We offer instruction in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Contemporary, Hip Hop, Acro, and Pre-Dance, at all levels.
We love having new members in our dance classes and will help get your child acclimated to our dance school to make them feel right at home. When your child attends Nan’s School of Dance, they will become a part of our dance family and share in our love for dance!
Don’t forget to register!
From ballet to hip hop, we offer dance classes for ALL ages and skill levels in a variety of styles. We place students in classes that will challenge them while offering a fun atmosphere for learning and growth. We also offer Mommy & Me classes (18 months – 2.5 years). Register online or give us a call at (919) 803-6044 to hold your spot!
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Want to read more about dance?
Take a look at some of our other articles about benefits of dance.