Learn Hands-on Skills in Trade School

Posted on: 22 January 2020

Children of all ages can benefit from youth dance classes. If you have kids, here are two good ways that dance classes can help your kids develop and mature.

Get Physical Exercise

Dance is hard work, and that hard work is good for the body. No matter what type of dance class your child enrolls in, they'll exercise during the class -- and they may even exercise muscles they don't normally use. The exercise itself will benefit your child in multiple ways, such as the following:

• More easily maintain a healthy weight and body mass index
• Develop a habit of regular physical activity
• Learn that exercise can be a lot of fun

Best of all, your children don't even need to realize that they're exercising during dance class. This means you won't have to coax them to run or work out. You can simply get them interested in dance, and the physical benefits will follow.

Develop Stage Presence

Many dance classes culminate in one or more on-stage performances, which both children and their parents (and often extended family) look forward to. The performances let everyone involved celebrate all that the children have accomplished over the course of the class.

These performances also help children develop a stage presence. Whether in a group or individual setting, children are in front of both people they know and strangers. This is a safe setting, though, as everyone will encourage children regardless of what happens during the performance.

Experiences onstage like this help build a solid foundation for public speaking and performance situations. Even if your child doesn't become the next world-class ballerina or hip hop dancer, they might still find themselves in front of people giving a presentation. For instance, they may do the following:

• Work as a server and need to present daily specials to customers
• Become a salesperson and have to give presentations to customers
• Take a job as a pet trainer and have to show group classes of clients how to act with an animal
• Enter public office and need to speak before constituents
• Start a career as a coach and have to speak before players

Even in basic academic settings, children often eventually give class presentations that they're graded on -- and every child wants as good a grade as possible. Being onstage in a non-graded setting can build a foundation that translates to book reports and science fair projects that do impact report cards.

To learn more, contact a program that offers youth dance classes.