The Importance of Dance (and Discomfort) In Schools

As a kid, dance has always been one of my favourite subjects. I used to dance competitively, but even before doing dance as an extracurricular, I loved dancing. Dance has given me the opportunity to express myself in ways that words cannot and to have fun while doing so. However, most of my friends hate dance with a burning passion. In fact, most people I know find dance uncomfortable. Presenting something in front of your classmates is never fun, but it’s especially awkward when you’re trying something new and unfamiliar like dance. Because of this, many people consider it one of their least favourite subjects.

Nevertheless, I think dance is just as important of a subject as science or math, not despite of its lack of popularity, but because of it.

It is no secret that dancing has a lot of health benefits. It helps improve your agility, flexibility, and helps keep you in shape. However, I believe the discomfort and unease associated with dance is the very thing that makes dance such a valuable subject. Because so many people find dancing uncomfortable, learning about dance helps push people outside of their comfort zones. This helps students increase their creativity, develop confidence, and collaborate with their peers.

Dance helps increase creativity by letting students explore a new way to express themselves. In most of my school assignments, I have to use my words and my voice to communicate a point. On the other hand, in dance I have to use my body to communicate a point. This means students can’t rely on the same techniques they normally use to communicate. Instead, students have to find different ways to express themselves while dancing, forcing students to experiment with different ideas and try new things.

When I am working on a dance project, I have to make sure my dance is incorporating the five elements of dance; body, action, space, time, and energy. Body refers to the dancer’s body, action to the movements the body is making, and space to where the movement is happening. Time is  the speed of the movements while energy refers to the effort and intensity of the movements. When dancing, I take these elements and use them to communicate a message to an audience.

When I am working on a school project, I have to make sure the words I am writing flow well together and any presentation aids I am using are eye-catching. Because the requirements are so different, I use a different creative process for dance projects. While I start a presentation by making an outline and go from there, I choreograph a dance line by line. This allows me to experiment with cool, new ways of doing things I may never have explored if not for dance.

When I started competitive dance last year, I was struggling to balance my time between schoolwork, dancing, and other extracurriculars. I wanted to do the best I could in everything I was doing, but that seemed to require more time than I had to give. Throughout the dance season, I learned to manage my time, avoid distractions, and work with deadlines. Because of this challenge, my time management has improved so much. When I have a tight deadline, I am confident in my ability to follow it because I was able to manage my time while I was doing competitive dance. 

Dance also teaches students important collaboration skills.

Almost all of the dance assignments I have been assigned are group assignments. Throughout these assignments, I have learned how to effectively communicate ideas and negotiate. I have learned how to give pep talks and stop people from slacking off. I learned these skills in my dance groups because dance groups are special. Everyone has a different experience with dance. Some people have been dancing since they were two. Some people hate dancing. This combination of different experiences means everyone has a different perspective and unique ideas. Sometimes all of these ideas can prove challenging to sort through, especially when up against a deadline, the dance turns out better because of it.

Dance is an incredibly important subject, unique in its ability to educate and encourage. The skills I’ve learned in dance have helped me succeed in my professional and social life. Though dance is one of the most under-appreciated subjects, I truly believe dance is one of the most important subjects we learn in school.