The Consistency of Dance During Big Life Events

Dance can be a wondrous addition to any child’s life.  It not only fosters creativity and individuality but it is a wonderful outlet for students to unwind, switch off and take a much-needed break from the growing pressures children today now face.

We have seen an unprecedented increase in the levels of anxiety in children and adolescence over the seven years that I have been running Brisbane Dance Theatre.  The academic pressures that children now face are immense when I compare it to my schooling years.  In my opinion, standardised testing such as NAPLAN and ATAR are hugely contributing factors to the ever-increasing levels of stress that our students now face.

In the past 3 years, we have noticed a growing trend; parents pulling their children out of their extra-curricular activities to cope with their Childs growing levels of academic stress and anxiety.

It makes me wonder if in these circumstances, parents have taken a step back to look at the big picture, or if these decisions are more of a knee jerk reaction.

Grades drop - parents pull their child out of dancing/football/netball/swimming.

A child has a bad day - parents pull their child out of dancing/football/netball/swimming.

A child is starting Prep and parents don’t want to overload their child - parents they pull their child out of dancing/football/netball/swimming.

A family situation changes - parents pull their child out of dancing/football/netball/swimming.

In these situations, are we really doing what is best for our children?

As a mother myself, I would love nothing more for my daughter than to grow up to be a resilient, adaptable and well-rounded child.  I am now well aware, every child is different, parenting is hard and that there is no hand book to tell us what we should do next.  I am going to make plenty of mistakes, but I am trying to make sure that I am consistent and that I am providing my child with structure and routine, something that I believe all children (at any age) crave.

For many of our students, our studios are their happy place, their safe zone, their home away from home.  They know that they can walk through our doors, forget about the bad report card, the fight that they had with their friends or their upcoming math exam and just focus on their love of dance.   We provide all of our students with an outlet to leave their stress at the door and wrap themselves up in dance.  Most extracurricular activities can do this for our children if they have a passion for it. 

Aside from the other hundreds of other benefits dance provides for our children, the one I want to talk about today is CONSISTENCY…. Dance will always be there, we can always find a home at the Barre.

In this ever changing, stressful and overwhelming world, dance can provide your child with the structure and routine that they crave. Dance class has a set format, it always follows the same structure. This repetition, alongside the addition of uplifting music serves as a comforting, familiar and somewhat meditative routine. Many adults find their way back to dance class for these very reasons.

As an experienced Dance Teacher, I can understand children needing to miss a lesson here and there, if there is an upcoming school exam that they feel unprepared for, or if they have had a bad day and they simply just don’t have the energy to attend their lesson. However, I sometimes struggle to understand pulling children from their classes all together in situations where a ‘life circumstance’ has changed i.e. starting Prep, starting Grade 1, parents separating or a global pandemic.  In these situations, not only are these children (being 5 years of age or 15) trying to navigate these huge changes in their life but they are also then pulled out of an activity that has provided them with support and consistency for many years.

When a big life change happens, such as parents separating, a family member passing away, a global pandemic or a child transitioning into Prep, experts suggest it is important to keep a Childs life as consistent and ‘normal’ as possible.  This means keeping them enrolled in the activities that they were engaged in before that change.  Uprooting children from their normal routine in these times can be detrimental to their young, developing minds.  Taking them to their regular Dance class can be cathartic for our children, as they not only get to escape into the world of dance, but they also get to see their friends and their teachers, in their familiar and safe dance studio space.

From an academic stand point, our students spend 6 hours a day at school concentrating, using their brains and learning.  It is my belief that after a long day of being engrossed their school work, coming to dance where they can give their brains a break from academic work and use their creativity, will actually make it easier for students to go home and apply themselves to their study.

While we still learn at dancing, our brain functions differently in the studio to when we learn from books, plus the endorphins that our body produces when we do exercise (particularly a form of exercise that we enjoy) power us for the remainder of the day, providing us with extra motivation to tackle tasks that we might find daunting. 

At the end of the day, we need to remember that not all children are naturally academic, just like not all children are naturally ballerinas.  Finding an activity that they enjoy and that they can excel at is essential in bringing up well rounded children.  These activities work hand in hand with their academic studies, giving them confidence, decreasing anxiety levels, as they have another outlet where they can ‘breathe’.  This confidence will encourage them to give academic tasks a go, whereas if they didn’t have an extra-curricular activity that they were enjoying and finding some success in they may very well disengaged and be unmotivated when they return home from a challenging day at school, putting them behind in their homework and assignment tasks.

Dance, as I have mentioned can be a consistent and comforting activity for your child. Children have the opportunity to dance from when they are two years old and when dancing from this age the studio, their peers, their teachers and the dance styles themselves become more than just an activity; Dance becomes a reliable friend, a friend that our children can lean on when life throws them a curve ball. 

As dance teachers, we feel extremely lucky.  Unlike school teachers who teach our children for only a year before they more up to the next grade, we get to teach your children from infants, through adolescence and into adulthood.  We develop strong relationships with each and every child and we become more than just a teacher, we become their ‘safe people’ and their confidants.  Dance teachers can become an extra adult your children’s lives that they can talk to if they feel like they need it.  We can guide, provide advice and be objective sounding boards for children who may just need to talk a situation out. We love seeing them grow into wonderful humans.

There is so much more to dance than just learning the steps.  It provides hundreds of benefits to your children and being a consistent, supportive outlet for them is just one.  Next time something happens in your, or your Childs life that turns things on their head, I implore you to consider these benefits and then decide if taking dance away from them in a challenging time is the best decision for your child.