Benefits of Salsa Dancing

Salsa dancing is completely inclusive and is suitable for anyone regardless of age, or level of ability. There is also a fantastic range of benefits gained from this dance. Music and dance have been a part of many different cultures for centuries. It has always been a part of celebration, ritual, exercise, communication and pleasure and whether they knew it or not way back when the dancing began, the health benefits were, and still are enormous!

Benefits from a Social perspective

Latin dance is a great way to develop new social relationships. In Latin America, Salsa dancing is a massive part of the culture and its social life. Within an established class setting, if the group of students are always the same, a natural understanding develops over time. Based on the fact of exercising together people discover an instinctive way to communicate with body language. Dancing is actually a way to express feelings, emotions, personality, thoughts, and is consequently a very direct instrument to develop new friendships. If the group is harmonic, it often happens that people decide to go out together to a Salsa event or other places other than the regular classes. Come along, make new friends and see new places!

Salsa is a great form of exercise

Salsa dancing is a unique form of exercise because it provides the heart-healthy benefits of an aerobic exercise while also allowing you to engage in a social activity.

Salsa Dancing;

– Builds endurance and stamina
– Helps with weight loss (Salsa Dancing on average Burns off 420 + calories per hour).
– Dancing can burn more calories an hour than riding a bike or swimming.
– Relieves stress
– Helps you release toxins
– Greatly increase your overall fitness and general well being
– Can lead to a reduced heart rate over time

Dancing for Emotional Well-being

Salsa dancing has been found to be a very good anti-stress therapy. Through dance an individual can release tensions, worries, and negative feelings. Dancing is great for overcoming shyness and as you realise that you are able to reproduce steps that seem so hard at the beginning, this becomes a fantastic boost in self-esteem. As a consequence of this, the body relaxes, and movements become lighter and more fluent.

Dancing in general has been found to be especially stimulating to the mind; this has been concluded by the New England Journal of Medicine who in their research found dancing can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia in the elderly.

Within this study, it was found that participants who were over the age of 75 who engaged in reading, dancing and playing musical instruments and board games once a week had a 7 percent lower risk of dementia compared to those who did not. In addition to this it was discovered that the participants who continued in these activities at least 11 days a month had a 63 percent lower risk!

“Dancing may be a triple benefit for the brain. Not only does the physical aspect of dancing increase blood flow to the brain, but also the social aspect of the activity leads to less stress, depression and loneliness. Further, dancing requires memorizing steps and working with a partner, both of which provide mental challenges that are crucial for brain health”. Varghese, J