In many shamanic societies, people who complain of being disheartened...or depressed would be asked, 'When did you stop dancing?' …This is because dancing is a universal healing salve." - Gabrielle Roth
All dancers know the feeling..... The elation that comes from moving to music in rhythm, the relaxation that results from concentrating on the beat and forgetting one's cares.
Check out Barb Bernstein’s Tedx “Open Mic” Talks about the health benefits of group synchronous movement. A three minute talk is in the box below. And a shorter (one minute) summary is here: https://youtu.be/_w9RgP0sq6Y
In addition, there is a radio interview with Barbara Bernstein about the health benefits of dancing at this link: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Ajm9IGjfDtg7gpJHvwYuhfhymTkr8Q?e=PCP5M8
THE CHEAPEST, MOST PLEASURABLE MEDICAL INTERVENTION AROUND:
SYNCHRONOUS GROUP MOVEMENT
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“THE SNYCHRONY AND THE ECSTASY”
Barb’s Personal Story & Supporting Research:
I was raised with a strong emphasis on academic success—taught to be scientific and to believe in hard data. So when I had a “mystical healing experience,” it rocked my world.
It happened when I was in college at the University of Chicago. There were lots of extra-curricular "foreign folk dance" classes on campus and I loved to dance, so I took them all! One day a folk dance teacher announced that auditions would be held for a top notch, performing Balkan dance troupe. I was very excited and signed up to audition. But the night before the audition I got really sick with a sore throat, runny nose, coughing and sneezing. The auditions were held only once every other year, so I went anyway.
It was a grueling experience. We danced for several hours straight, learning long, complex moves that were done in synchrony by all the dancers, holding hands in a line. I was so laser-focused on the dance steps, I barely noticed the time passing.
Hours later, I left the audition sweaty and exhausted, and as I walked outside into the cold Chicago winter, I realized my sore throat was completely gone. My nose wasn’t running, and I wasn’t sneezing. I was totally back to normal. And the illness did not return. For decades, I thought of this as my life’s one mystical experience.
The next week I got word that I did not pass the audition. I was disappointed but continued taking many folk dance classes throughout college and always loved them!
Now, as a full time dance teacher, I better understand what happened to me that day. The fact is that I have come to my Salsa class many times with a sore foot, strained knee, or just feeling worn out. But during and after class I feel astonishingly better. Nothing hurts and I have loads of energy.
As many readers know, I teach Salsa Rueda (formal name: “Rueda de Casino”), a group form of Salsa where the whole class dances together in synchrony. I always feel better when I leave class. But this is not magic; there’s plenty of science to explain it.
We have long known that exercise, listening to favorite music, and socializing all lift people’s mood and improve well-being. And there is also research on the additional benefits of being part of a group that is moving in synchrony---which happens in both Rueda and folk dancing.
For example, a study was done in which scientists set up a “silent disco.” Volunteers learned moves and then danced them in groups. Each volunteer wore headphones through which music and verbal instructions could be heard. One group of volunteers were taught dance steps that they all did in synchrony on the disco floor. In another group, each participant learned the moves but then did them in a different order. So they weren’t moving in synch when they danced together on the floor. In the final group, not only did the participants do the dance moves in a different order but they also heard different music through their headphones. So the last group did not move in synch, or even in the same rhythm.
The researchers found that the participants in the first group, who danced in synchrony, had much higher pain tolerance after dancing. Pain tolerance, commonly considered an indication of endorphin release (“feel good” chemicals in the body), was measured by squeezing a blood pressure cuff before and after dancing. The group that danced in synchrony was able to withstand significantly more pain after dancing, and their pain tolerance was more heightened than the other two groups.
And in addition to that, the group that danced in synchrony had a greater increase feelings of closeness and community with the others in their “dance group.” The non-synchronous groups didn’t show the same level of social bonding.
Another interesting finding was that the effect was stronger when the synchronous movements required more exertion. So dancing faster for example had more impact than dancing slow.
These findings don’t surprise me a bit. I’ve seen "up close and personal" the tremendous benefits that synchronized group dancing confers on people—bonding them to one another, building community, and improving mood and health.
In Rueda dancing, people dance in a circular formation with many partner exchanges. So it feels like the whole group is really dancing together and the experience is exhilarating!
When I began teaching Rueda, I saw many of my students become fast friends and hang out together outside of class. At the end of every week the gang had a ritual. Text messages flew, as they decided where the best venue was to meet-up and go out.
I have to admit, I thought I had just lucked into a fabulous group of people who were both good dancers and had great community spirit. But when I visited other Rueda groups, I realized my gang wasn’t unusual. In fact, every Rueda group I’ve seen develops remarkably warm connections.
On an individual level, many of my students have told me about dance experiences that remind me of my own… I’ve been told that the Rueda class has helped some students alleviate depression, as surely as a medical intervention. I’ve also been told that becoming part of the Rueda group made the difference in feeling at home in the area, after moving from out of town. Countless people have told me it’s the brightest time in their week. And I literally know of two east coast colleagues, who don’t know each other, who both named their dance studios “Dance Therapy Studio!”
I also want to address here why research on the benefits of synchronous movement is particularly important today…..
Research has shown that people have become lonelier and more socially isolated (i.e. fewer social connections) over the last several decades. Loneliness is a subjective state of feeling. Social connection is more objective and encompasses matters such as how many people one talks to in a day, whether one lives alone or with others, etc.
This trend toward being more alone was described by Harvard Professor Robert Putnam in his seminal book, "Bowling Alone,” published in 2000. Putnam said that bowling leagues, Elks Lodges, neighborhood card games, PTA participation and even regular family dinners, had all declined since the 1970s. In addition to joining fewer clubs and organizations, people were less connected to neighbors and had fewer friends and confidantes than a few decades ago. And people reported having less trust in strangers.
Bowling Alone was published some years ago, but the issue of social connection is still important today. A May 2018 Cigna Insurance Company survey of 20,000 adults found that roughly half viewed themselves as lonely according to the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Surprisingly, younger generations were harder hit than the elderly. There has been some thought that the use of devices creates more superficial relationships than face to face interactions, though there isn’t widespread agreement on this.
In any case, loneliness and isolation are also correlated with significant health risks. On average, it has been reported that people who say they feel lonely have a 26 percent increased risk of death compared to those who are not lonely. Those who live alone have a 32 percent increased risk of death, and those who are socially isolated have a 29 percent increased risk of death.
In the Harvard Business Review, former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy quantified these risks by saying that loneliness and weak social connections are factors “associated with a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day and even greater than that associated with obesity.”
A meta-study published in 2016 found similar results. A meta-study is a “study of studies.” The large sample size of a meta-study makes it powerful. Researchers examined 23 separate studies that involved 181,000 adults. Among this group, 4,628 heart-related events (e.g. heart attacks, angina attacks, etc) and approximately 3,000 strokes were recorded. The data showed that loneliness/social isolation was associated with a 29% increased risk of heart or angina attacks and a 32% increased risk of a stroke. The authors cautioned that the correlation that was found does not necessarily imply causation. The causal relationship could go in the other direction, or there could be a third factor involved. More studies may help unravel these relationships. But the results do legitimize the public health concerns about the importance of social contacts.
CNN reporter Dr. Sanjay Gupta has suggested that society start viewing loneliness as another chronic disease that requires long term treatment strategies. The mechanism by which social isolation is bad for health may be that lonely people feel chronically threatened and vulnerable, unleashing an ongoing "fight or flight" response. As a result, the stress hormone cortisol would become chronically high, and that is connected to cardiovascular disease, stroke and hypertension. Stress also elevates levels of a protein in the body called fibrinogen, which prepares for possible injury or blood loss. But too much fibrinogen raises blood pressure and causes fatty deposits in the arteries which can lead eventually to heart attacks and stroke.
The reality is that even if an individual is not particularly disconnected or lonely, all lives have some component of these feelings. The UCLA Loneliness Scale recognizes that some level of loneliness is part of normal life experience. This suggests that participating in synchronous movement activities is a good way to boost well-being for people in general.
The take-away message here is that synchronous group movement like group dancing is a powerful tool for improving well-being.
Don't like to dance?
No problem.
Studies have shown that rowing in synchrony elevates pain threshold compared to rowing alone. Walking in step with others, choral singing, synchronized boat rowing, and synchronized swimming---all have been found to enhance social bonding. (Some walkers instinctively synchronize their steps to aid communication!) Many experiments have shown that rhythmic synchrony leads to interpersonal synchrony, even in dealing with babies! Even small movements like tapping your fingers in time with someone else makes you feel more trusting of them than if you tapped out of time!!
So join a band or better yet a marching band, a church choir, or take walks with friends and step in unison, or take a Rueda class!! These are all great ways to enhance social connection and well-being!
(The above article was written by Barbara Bernstein, director of DanceInTime.)
References:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160419214147.htm
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/11/well/mind/how-loneliness-affects-our-health.html
https://theconversation.com/loneliness-is-bad-for-your-health-90901
https://www.everydayhealth.com/news/loneliness-can-really-hurt-you/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/many-americans-are-lonely-and-gen-z-most-of-all-study-finds/
http://fortune.com/2018/05/01/americans-lonely-cigna-study/
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0767
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/were-only-human-all-together-now/
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/loneliness-has-same-risk-as-smoking-for-heart-disease
https://youtu.be/0gUm61tmMBI Tedx Open Mic Talk by Barb on May of 2019—before the pandemic hit. about the overall health benefits of group synchronous movement (like Rueda dancing!).
https://edspace.american.edu/thectrlbeat/2024/07/24/a-different-mindset-on-teaching-learning-lessons-from-dance-instruction-barbara-bernstein/ The CTRL Beat, published by American University’s Center for Teaching, Research, and Learning, Fall 2024 issue.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230526-how-rhythm-shapes-our-lives How Rhythm Shapes our Lives, by Nina Kraus, Neuroscientist at Northwestern University; May 26, 2023. This article originally appeared in The MIT Press Reader.
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Note about health benefits of dance for children:
Check out this link: https://momlovesbest.com/benefits-of-dance-for-kids which has loads of excellent information on how dancing can help children’s development on multiple levels. These include physical benefits (fitness, flexibility, spatial awareness, and balance), mental benefits (perseverance, focus and attention, and communication), emotional benefits (self worth, empathy, uplift in mood), and social benefits (socialization and teamwork). And I would say that these same benefits apply to adults as well as children!
On a related note, I am sometimes asked if DanceInTime has classes for young children. I tell parents who inquire that the best thing they can do is to let their children see them enjoying music and dance. Parents are always welcome to bring children along when they come to DanceInTime’s Saturday afternoon class. Kids absorb the spirit of joy that encourages them to dance when they are adults!
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Additional articles on dance, music and health:
1. Dancing for Health: Conquering and Preventing Stress by Judith Lynne Hanna, AltaMira Press, a Division of Rowman and Littlefield Publishers; 2006 (Book listing from Hanna’s website) http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Health-Conquering-Preventing-Stress/dp/0759108595
2. “Dancing Helps Boys With ADHD.” Research project by Barbro Renck of Karlstad University and Erna Gronlund of the University College of Dance in Stockhom, June 8, 2006, and reported in The American Journal of Dance Therapy.
3. “The Mental Health Benefits of Music” by Darlene Oakley, August 18, 2010. http://www.empowher.com/emotional-health/content/mental-health-benefits-music?page=0,0
4. “The Art of Healing: Visual and Performing Arts Take on a Bigger Role in Patient Recovery” by Beth Baker, Washington Post, August 17, 2004 Page HE01. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6555-2004Aug16.html
5. “Friends for Life: An Emerging Biology of Emotional Healing,” by Daniel Goleman; New York Times, October 10, 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/10/health/psychology/10essa.html
6. Socializing Appears to Delay Memory Problems” by Tara Parker-Pope. Reported in the New York Times Health Section, March 1, 2011. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/04/socializing-appears-to-delay-memory-problems
7. "Dancing Away an Anxious Mind: A Memoir About Overcoming Panic Disorder" by Robert Rand. Copyright 2004 by University of Wisconsin Press.
8. "Hospitals Find That Alternative Therapies Are a Good Way to Attract Paying Patients," Washington Post Health Section, Nov. 15, 2011. This article discusses how hospitals increasingly offer art/music therapy to inpatients not only because it can be effective treatment and it helps attract patients to that hospital. http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/alternative-therapies-sometimes-help-and-almost-always-pay-off/2011/11/10/gIQAfuIpKN_story.html.
9. "Brain Rules: Twelve Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School," by John Medina, Pear Press (P.O. Box 70525; Seattle, WA), Copyright 2008. Professor Medina, is a developmental molecular biologist at the U. of Washington School of Medicine and the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University. He explains how the brain functions at a molecular level and applies the results to how humans can work, learn, and function most effectively. His first rule is that exercise improves brain power. "To improve your thinking skills, move.”
He also says that "on mental tests, exercisers outperform couch potatoes on long term memory, reasoning, attention, problem-solving, and fluid-intelligence tests.” AND, if "couch potatoes" start an aerobic exercise program, their cognivitve abilities improve. In fact, "couch potatoes" who are fidgetty, actually do a little better on mental skills than "couch potatoes" who don't fidget! www.brainrules.net. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck-tQt0S0Os.
10. "Music, The Brain, and Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our Imagination," by Robert Jourdain, Avon Books, copyright 1997. The book discusses the impact of music on the mind. Its final chapter on "ecstasy" begins with findings of how helpful music can be in restoring Parkinsons patients to normal movement. He also discusses how music generally increases feelings of well-being in people.
11. "The Scientific American Healthy Aging Brain: The Neuroscience of Making the Most of Your Mature Mind" by Judith Horstman, published by Jossey-Bass, a Wiley Imprint, copyright 2012 by John Wiley and Sons and Scientific American, copyright 2012. This exceedingly readable book of just 200 pages, reads like a summary of many other articles in this list. Although the title makes it sound like a book about aging, it is more of a book about how adults can get the greatest health and well-being from their brains. There is a great emphasis on exercise. Dance, particularly partnership dancing, is specifically mentioned as a healthful activity.
12. "This Women Was About To Go In For Surgery. What She Did Moments Before Was Awesome" by Lori Leibovich, Huffington Post; 11.06.13. The following video shows the joy that dancing can bring, even in the face of a serious illness. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/06/breast-cancer-flash-mob-deborah-cohan_n_4227915.html
13. This video about using movement as therapy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9gAe9H5Rok
14. This article from NPR summarizes very interesting research. Among the findings is that groups of people moving together get a boost in pain tolerance. But movement that isn’t synchronous for a group of people does not have this effect. http://www.npr.org/2016/05/03/476559518/the-health-benefits-of-dancing-go-beyond-exercise-and-stress-reducer
15. This last article suggests that mood is elevated by walking for 5 minutes every hour if one normally sits at a desk the entire workday. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/well/move/work-walk-5-minutes-work.html?
16. This article is about the benefits of doing activities in synchrony with other people. Dance and rowing are mentioned but the emphasis in this article is on singing! https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/23/daniel-h-pink-shares-why-choral-singing-benefits-health-like-exercise.html
17. This article is about a classic New England Journal of Medicine study that is often cited. The research findings confirm that dancing benefits both health and cognition, and was more beneficial than with other physical activities. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa022252
22. This article is about research showing that there were improvements in the white matter of subjects’ brains after they took 6 months of social dance classes. The research was done with 174 healthy people in their 60s and 70s. Other physical activities that were tested did not show this improvement. The article cannot always be viewed free online. Printed: April 4, 2017 NY Times Page D4. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/well/walk-stretch-or-dance-dancing-may-be-best-for-the-brain.html?contentCollection=smarter-living&_r=0
23. This is an article in “Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews” volume 96, Jan 2019, pages 232-240. The article is a scholarly research study that found that dance may be effective at improving several aspects of neuroplasticity in the brain. In addition, dance can strengthen the connectivity between the two cerebral hemispheres because the complex movements in dancing involve many different areas of the brain. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014976341830664X?fbclid=IwAR2SsM5aUe_cXKmatWuWHT2jzwG_WZbKDk0YtORsFBt8KDq9RPjsivAyz80
24. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/well/move/health-benefits-dancing.html
Great article that explains the cognitive benefits of dancing. It explains research findings that out of eleven physical activities studied, social dancing was the only one associated with less risk of dementia! The study mentions that causality could not be necessarily inferred, but that it did show that dancing was associated with a reduced risk of developing dementia—-along with all the other health and well-being benefits of dancing!
25. https://youtu.be/g1pjJh3hFxM This is a Tedx Open Mic talk that Barb gave May 7, 2020 about how coping with crisis, and adjusting the ways we dance during the pandemic can provide a silver lining to the hardships encountered. And this link: https://youtu.be/0gUm61tmMBI shows another Tedx Open Mic Video by Barb which was given in May of 2019—before the pandemic hit. This one is about the overall health benefits of group synchronous movement (like Rueda dancing!).
26. This uplifting article mentions the ability of music to enrich the lives of people with dementia—prompting memories from the era when the music was first popular. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/06/15/singer-wanted-perform-seniors-so-she-rented-cherry-picker-sang-outside-their-windows/
27. This is a Wall Street Journal article that says a research study found musical endeavors (singing, dancing, and playing an instrument) to be the best way to relieve sadness during the covid pandemic. https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-musical-cure-for-covid-pandemic-related-stress-and-sadness-11606335960
28. This is a touching podcast about a man who found dancing Rueda de Casino helped diminish his feelings of depression and loneliness. It’s a beautiful story, told “first-hand.” https://player.themoth.org/?fbclid=IwAR31rwIWRQwfdkgbterN88fn7ENXdzLKnp8eV-NMwjVM4INi4FYHjJ1SdiM#/?actionType=ADD_AND_PLAY&storyId=33057
29. Choral singing has the same joy and benefits to well-being as the group synchronous movement in dance. These effects are enhanced greatly by the enriching sounds of overtones—notes that aren’t sung but can be heard! The joy of choral singing is undoubtedly enhanced by the richness of the sound that happens when good vocal production creates overtones. The YouTube videos below explain the phenomenon which is a fascinating concept in the science of music.
a- youtu.be/hGu3yuQ7Br8 This presents an excellent illustration of overtones. The viewers see for themselves that they can hear sounds that aren’t actually played on an instrument. They are just overtones of a note that is played! (Magic!!)
b- youtu.be/A0mFTG79DWE In the guise of training viewers to hear overtones, a musician first plays and then stops playing the note that viewers are hearing. It’s a trick—viewers learn that a faint sound they hear was actually produced by playing a different note. That is, it was “just an overtone." (More magic!)
c- youtu.be/Wx_kugSemfY Andrew Huang is amazing (and funny!) at explaining the math and music theory involved in overtones.
30. Previous research on Parkinsons’ Disease focused on how dancing improves movement symptoms. This is about alleviating feelings of depression that are associated with Parkinsons’ Disease. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2025/01/05/dancing-parkinsons/
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In closing, here is a wonderful article on the value of dance in a life.
Dance Magazine Article
"Don't Get It Twisted: Dance Is An Intellectual Pursuit"
by Alice Blumenfeld in Dance Magazine, July 30, 2018
https://www.dancemagazine.com/dance-intellectual-2589248186.html
People have a tendency to think of dance as purely physical and not intellectual. But when we separate movement from intellect, we limit what dance can do for the world.
It's not hard to see that dance is thought of as less than other so-called "intellectual pursuits." How many dancers have been told they should pursue something "more serious"? How many college dance departments don't receive funding on par with theater or music departments, much less science departments?...
Dance depends on the presence of the body. Unfortunately, it's difficult to explain to non-dancers how corporal movement is a means of thinking and engaging with complex ideas. That's why it's so important that dancers can talk or write about their work, translating the corporal knowledge into language. When we acknowledge that our bodies think, move, translate, react—often in conjunction with linguistic thought or prior to it—we can use dance as a tool…...
As dancers, we know that more than just emotions and physical training go into dancing. Cultural knowledge gets passed on through music and dance, particularly for cultures with strong oral traditions. The gestures, stories and symbolisms, passed from generation to generation, and across borders, help us connect and understand our own and others' histories…..
Research has also shown that when we change our posture, we can change our state of mind, and gestures and movements influence our emotions. And that affects not only the dancer. Dance has a unique power to communicate through a process known as kinesthetic empathy. Recent discoveries in neuroscience prove that we can empathize, and even experience (through what have been termed "mirror neurons"), the movements we see someone else doing. Dance oversteps the need for language as a mediator…..
In dance therapy, movement functions as a critical tool in understanding and coping with traumatic experiences. It relies on the fact that movement communicates, acknowledging the crucial mind-body connection…..
On a community level, dance has been successfully used in reconciliation processes in previously divided or war-torn countries, such as Rwanda, Australia, South Africa and Colombia. We relate to others not just with language, but with gestures and physical contact.
Through dance, we can imagine new futures or ways of interacting with the world—in performance we can become anyone (or anything), which can be more than an escape, but a way of pushing beyond the status quo and finding new ways of moving through the world…..