Dance is an interesting, rewarding experience at many different levels whether taking dance for enjoyment, exercise, or to pursue a dance career.  There are obvious benefits in studying dance- a great form of exercise, a tremendous amount of fun, and a wonderful confidence builder- not just for kids but people of all ages.  Dance helps develop muscle strength, flexibility, increase coordination and is a great form of overall fitness.  Personal growth is seen in dance students as well.  It gives a greater sense of poise and confidence in expressing ones self through movement, and it has helped many overcome the fear of making mistakes.  Many students identify personal insecurities and work on them through dance.  Dance education cultivates the whole person, while developing intuition, reasoning, imagination, dexterity into unique forms of communication and expression.  Everyone has the ability to dance.  The creativity involved in dancing provides an emotional outlet through which one can reflect his or her feelings through body movement.  Dance is a form of communication.  In today’s busy, fast paced world we sometimes forget to take a moment for ourselves.  Dancing provides an escape from the normal daily activities and a chance to partake in an art that has lasted the test of time.  Perseverance, collaborative spirit, and self discipline are attributes derived from dance that transfer to the rest of life.    Dance has worth in and of itself with intrinsic and instrumental value.  It can be used to achieve a multitude of purposes such as presenting issues and ideas, teaching or persuading, entertaining, planning, designing, and beautifying.

From a technical perspective, you will find that studying with a dance establishment, such as Sheena’s Dance Academy, employing educated, experienced professionals can dramatically shorten a learning curve.  Instead of having to figure things out on their own, this gives students the opportunity to ask questions and receive correct, appropriate instruction, feedback, and insights as to how to improve and demystify “how” to execute dance steps and techniques properly.  One of the most valuable benefits you will realize when studying with experienced instructors is you are not just learning from that one person.  Rather, you are tapping into the combined years of knowledge and experience that individual and all the dance educators they have studied with and learned from.  The knowledge gained in this manner is very refined and highly evolved; making it possible for a student to learn more quickly than you would be able to on your own.

Sheena Laramore

Artistic Director

SDL Productions, Inc. dba Sheena's Dance Academy

As featured in Kids Kaleidoscope.