I’ve been doing classical dance for over a decade now, and nearly every aspect of it has been drilled into my body and mind. The discipline, the grace, the rigidity blended with the smoothness of the art. I realized that you can tell how great a dancer is by the connection they have with the beat. A good dancer always knows before a beat is gonna change. Before the speed goes from fast to extra fast. Before your guru, or teacher, ends the piece altogether. From doing adavus—or dance steps—for years, I’ve come to know exactly when and what to do next. But this connection goes past your connection with the art form, to a connection with the brain.
A Harvard Medical School study analyzes this incredibly. They state that dance has such beneficial effects on the brain that it is now being used to treat people with Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurological movement disorder. “There’s no question, anecdotally at least, that music has a very stimulating effect on physical activity,” says Daniel Tarsy, MD, an HMS professor of neurology and director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “And I think that applies to dance, as well.”
Scientists gave little thought to the neurological effects of dance until relatively recently, when researchers began to investigate the complex mental coordination that dance requires. Music stimulates the brain’s reward centers, while dance activates its sensory and motor circuits, making dancing an all-around healthy activation of the brain. Dance has also been found to be therapeutic for patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). More than one million people in this country are living with Parkinson’s disease, and, according to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, each year another 60,000 are diagnosed with the disease. With dance, many of the motor symptoms that are core to PD are alleviated.
Various institutions are promoting dance therapy for Parkinson’s and other motor diseases, revolutionizing Parkinson’s care as we know it, and opening doors to not only novel treatments, but also helping millions of people move through life more easily mentally and physically, all because of dance.
So next time you hear some music, dance! Who knows how much good it’ll bring?