You should be dancing

If you'd take that advice from that Bee Gees' hit song seriously, you could discover the benefits of dancing.

With dance parties becoming a rage, dance is turning into a lifestyle thing. Or is it? Despite the phases of transition that the arts in the country have undergone, dance continues to hold its own.

Today, it is being increasingly seen as more than a performing art, a kind of stress buster.

"Dance is a healing therapy,"says Dr Vidhi Nagar, Kathak exponent.

An automatic therapeutic tool, dance helps the body, mind and spirit to de-stress and expand its potential

With two research papers on the healing touch of Kathak under her belt, Vidhi goes on to share her findings, "Thaat or Kasak-Masak portion in Kathak is a complete healing system.Even asthmatics have reported feeling better through this."

She adds, "Dance gives you a positive body language, and improves presence of mind at the same time. In Kathak, one has to stay attuned to footwork, eye-movement, hand gestures, breathing and most importantly communication of the bhaav intended."

But it's not just the classical form of dance that Vidhi endorses: "Dancing even at DJ parties keeps you cheerful and helps you release all tensions."

The benefits of dancing are evident when it is integrated in the school curriculum, asserts Sevali Hukko, class XII student and a Bharatnatyam dancer herself. "Students have so much to worry about: mounting home work, performance pressure... Dance classes in school give a break from the stress of studies and make me feel vibrant. I like dancing because it instils a feeling of freedom in me. I feel I can do anything."

As a de-stresser, dance works wonders and also creates spaces where the divine spark within can show itself.

Tanuj Narain, an Art of Living teacher confirms, "Dance and singing is in our system. Through it we connect to our true nature and our ego gets dissolved. And we can access and correct the imbalance that affects life from the outside."

As an automatic therapeutic tool, dance helps the body, mind and spirit to de-stress and expand its potential.

Holistic healers believe that dance rejuvenates stagnant energy. Doctors say that dancing helps release carbon dioxide overdose from the system, but BP chaps should watch out!

Working with challenged children, Surabhi Dua observes, "Coordination and response of the brain with the rest of the body improves, making the sensory organs and muscles stretch their capacity through dance. And children love it!"

Dance itself is a form of communication, asserts Rashid Ansari, who conducts workshops in personality development.

"Through exploring body movements and freestyle dance, dance is perceived as enhancing one's relationship with oneself and helps one to relate with social roles that one steps into. Now you can dance away your blues!

Anisha Sharma
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very well explained...

rinks on Friday, May 30, 2008


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