7 Reasons Why Dancing Benefits Your Child

“The collective experiences and learning in these five years shape their character and affect success later in life.” ~The Canadian Council of Learning

Research has revealed that the prime time for a child’s brain development is between 0 and 5 years of age. So this means, this is the best time for your child to pick up dance classes! Why?

Dancing is more than just a fun physical activity. It is not only a fun platform for play and free expression, but also form the building blocks of brain development and important life skills. Think cognitive, physical, and emotional development, all in one. And that is simply: dance.

The Dance & Grow Programme at Ritz Dance Studios is a holistic educational dance curriculum for children aged 6 months to 3 years old, accompanied by parents. The programme focuses on dancing and free-play to unlock your child’s treasure trove of talents while developing their curious minds and active bodies.

Here are 7 ways dance classes are vital and proven to benefit your child’s development and growth.

1. Dancing forms neural pathways and improves memory

A child's brain is like a sponge, constantly absorbing new information and developing. The mental stimulation from learning dance sequences, memorising steps in the proper order and timing physical movements to the rhythm of music will help “rewire” your child’s neural pathways and build new ones. The more neural pathways are built in the brain, the faster and smoother it is to absorb new information.

Our Dance & Grow Programme is combined with educational concepts, singing, nursery rhymes and storytelling as a means to improve your child’s capacity for mental retention of information. The resulting boost in memory and reasoning skills will help your child be school-ready and also life-ready.

2. Dancing optimises brain development through movement and sensation

Our first languages are movement and sensation. Movement develops motor skills and when combined with sensation, will unlock the higher language skills of speech, reading, and writing. Dancing takes these further by increasing the rate of learning and optimising the brain for alertness, attention, and motivation.

Our Dance & Grow Programme optimises movement with dance steps and fun play-props to develop your child’s psychomotor skills in a fun and enjoyable way. Your child’s brain uses the same neurons for thinking as for doing so the more active your child is, the better he/she thinks and learns!

3. Dancing develops cognitive skills

Cognitive development in early childhood is crucial to prepare children for school and academic excellence. How? Through dance routines.

Through routines, your child learns how to move from one step to the next, engaging memory and sequential learning. From there, they also gain the ability to recognise patterns, spatial awareness and decision-making skills that are needed to perform a successful dance routine. With each practice session, your child develops rational thinking, while calculating and planning their next move or dance step.

4. Dancing encourages creative thinking

The mental flexibility developed with dance will help your child expand their imagination and creativity, and can help them learn three-dimensional thinking skills.

Our Dance & Grow Programme introduces children to dance techniques combined with theatrical drama and storytelling. This creative aspect gives your child the ability to imagine and process more possibilities, which helps them improve problem-solving and out-of-the-box creative thinking. Dance lessons are also a wonderful way to introduce your child to the performing arts and helps them develop an appreciation for all kinds of performing arts!

5. Dancing improves mental concentration

Dancing has been shown to increase serotonin and endorphin levels, which creates a feeling of positive well-being and decreases the stress that might otherwise prevent your child from giving 100% of their attention. By building your child’s mental focus, this increases their attention span which is essential in learning, especially in a classroom setting!

6. Dancing builds self-esteem

In order for your child to grow up happy and confident, it is important to create healthy relationships from the start. Dance sessions are usually in groups or classes, so most probably your child would make lots of friends and form relationships. Through dance, children learn to value presence and acknowledge other dancers’ spaces and energies. It is not a one-man show as it involves the entire village to make a productuon happen. Relationships give them experiences, which teach them about the world around him/her.

The parent-accompanied dance classes at Ritz Dance Studios provide valuable bonding time for you and your child. This is especially precious since they grow up so quickly! Numerous research has shown that bonding with you builds a sense of trust and security in your child, thus building his/her self-esteem as an independent learner, while also helping lessen separation anxiety.

7. Fun playtime fosters life skills

When we look back on our own childhood, what are our fondest memories? The playtime of course! A child’s main way of learning and developing in their early years is through play.

Hence, free-play activities are incorporated into Ritz Dance’s parent-child dance classes so your child can explore, observe, experiment, and be challenged. Furthermore, by playing through dance with parents and other children, it teaches them important social skills on how to interact and communicate with others while honing their creative thinking and problem-solving skills.

These are simply amazing benefits that they’re almost too good to be true. But they are!

Register for a trial class under the Dance & Grow Programme! The first 20 sign-ups will receive a free pair of dancing shoes and a dance bag when you enrol for one term of classes.

Trial Class Schedule:

Wednesdays 4.30-5.15PM Sundays 10-10.45AM 11-11.45AM

Visit Ritz Dance Studios at 1 Marine Parade Central, #06-01, Singapore 449408, or check out https://ritzdance.com.sg.