The Cancer Dance

Many people are already familiar with the fact that there are many different styles of dance and dance can help your body in numerous ways. However, most are not familiar with the idea that dance can help with cancer. There are a few ways that dancing and cancer are connected. One of these ways is people dancing to raise money for cancer research. I myself never knew how popular this event is and how many people participate. There are many organizations in the United States alone that has these events. For the past 3 years Orange County CA has held an event called The Cancer Dance-Athon, where participants swing dance for 24 hours. The money raised goes straight to cancer research and treatment. Last year they raised over 175,000 dollars! Another event takes place each year in Chicago called "Dance-Pink". These participants do salsa dancing for an evening and the money raised goes towards breast cancer research. Another event done yearly is by Avon called "A Day of Dance" where participants take dance lessons for a day to raise money for breast cancer research.

There are others ways that dance helps cancer patients. Many people who have been diagnosed with cancer, are receiving treatment, or are survivors will rely on dance to lead them through. Research has shown that each year more and more cancer patients will sign up and take dance lessons. Many of the reasons behind this is for these people to build confidence and trust their bodies again. Belly dancing has become a popular dance for women who had or are being treated for breast cancer. Many of these women enjoy belly dancing because they can feel and move like a women again. This dance is building their self-esteem and self-image in leading a happier life. Baysate Medical Hospital right here in Springfield provides people with cancer to participate in their Cancer Dance Therapy class. This was first open to people with breast cancer and its survivors but it now open to people with any type of cancer. The dance class helps cancer patients and survivors feel fit, physical, and better about themselves.

As you can see there is a lot more to dance then pink ballet slippers and poofy tootoos. Dancing can help people fight through something that is so wide spread and life treatening today. Remember over 10 million people are diagnosed with cancer each year. 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. Make an effort to participate in helping this ongoing battle. There are many things you can do and dancing is one of them.

Check these sites out for more information on the relationship between cancer and dancing...

BayState-CancerDanceTherapy

Dance-Athon

Dance-Pink

BellyDancing-BreastCancer

DanceandBreastCancer

Avon-Dance

Listening to Music = Burn More Calories!

Did you know that listening to music can actually help you burn more calories? There are a few ways this can happen. One way is when you are exercising and listening to music. Exercising and listening to music helps your heart rate beat faster, helps you work out longer, and helps you push yourself harder. The music "pumps you up" and if the beat is faster you will be working harder to stay in tune with the song. In turn this all helps you burn more calories. In dance music is listened to the majority of the time. Like a soccer players relationship with a soccerball: a dancers relationship with music is crucial. The benefit is that dancers are burning many calories just by training and listening to music.

Another way music can help you burn more calories is by listening to it while you are eating. Listening to mozart or a soothing piano while eating dinner causes you to eat slower and take smaller bites. This then causes your body to digest the food better and improves your metabolism. Your body will be able to breakdown the calories easier. However, if you are listening to fast rock or pop music while eating your body will do the complete opposite. The music causes you to eat faster and take larger bites of food. In turn your body is having a harder time digesting and your metabolism is slowing. The calories are not being broken down quickly and therefore more are remaining in the body.

A third way music helps burn calories is by just listening to it! Researchers have found that listening to music in general can cause a person to burn 1 calorie per minute. If you are sitting in your room and listening to music for 30 minutes you can burn 30 calories! This is mainly because music (especially music that you like) causes a person to become excited and gets their heart rate up. Even if the music is slower or soothing you are still in a pieceful state of mind and your body is excited for that. However, this does not mean that you should replace expercising with sitting on the couch and listening to music. you only burn some calories...not even close to as many as exercising.

Now you know a few reasons why music can help you burn more calories. Just remember to try and listening to music while working out or exercising, down load some mozart for dinner, and when you want to relax blug in that favorite tune.

Check these sites out for more info...

Nutrition-Data-music

Music-Burns-Calories

Better-Ways-To-Be-Fit

Practice Balancing- It helps with many activities in life!

It is a proven fact that as people get older their ability to balance gets worse. The main reason for this is because as people get older they stop doing activities that require them to balance. Most people say that they took dance classes when they were younger and then after a few years stopped. Dancing requires a lot of balancing techniques like switching from one foot to the other, posing, moving your arms and upper body, dancing with a partner, and much more. When was the last time you danced or did movements like this? Here are some some movements that you can do without going to a dance class or taking lessons...

• Find an open space where you can move
• Put on some upbeat music you enjoy
• Practice lifting up one foot and then the other (a few inches off the ground)
• Do this again and straighten your leg to the front and back
• Now try to add arms and move them in the same motion as your leg

This is a simple activity, but if done often (maybe a few times a week) you will be amazed at how much better your balance is. For more advanced balancing movements you can do activities like yoga and pilates. But start NOW because balance can help prevent Multiple Sclerosis, improves joint and muscle flexibility, builds core strength, reduces stress and more. Remember that one in three people over the age of 65 will experience a fall. Lets not be one of these people and start practicing our balancing abilities early.

Check these website out for more facts and info on the benefits of balancing...

Dancing-Helping-Balance

Balancing-and-Multiple-Sclerosis

Balance-Exercised

Tango Helping Parkinson's Disease

A recent study done by a group of researchers from the University of Washington has proven that doing the tango can actually help people with Parkinson's disease. Those of you that are familiar with what Parkinson's disease is would know that it's a "degenerative disorder of the central nervous system" (the Orlando Sentinel). There is also a numerous amount of symptoms that come with having Parkinson's disease. One of the more critical of these symptoms is a loss of balance. Put two and two together and a dance like the tango, which requires a lot of balance, can be extremely challenging for people with Parkinson's.

So how exactly can dancing the tango help these people? Well, first of all this "sexy" South American dance requires not only balancing skills but its long lengthy steps and movements creates its uniqueness. A person with Parkinson's disease has trouble with both of these factors. They have a hard time balancing, they fall often, and they walk in small steps and "shuffles". Doing the tango makes them move in a way that their bodies do the opposite of. People with Parkinson's also have a hard time thinking ahead and can sometimes freeze in the middle of doing something. However, in doing the tango they need to force themselves to think about what will come next and with the help of there partner there isn't much time for freezing or stopping.

Overall there has been two experiments done with Parkinson's disease and the tango. These researches have found that taking tango lessons has helped their everyday balance, walking, thinking, and it has even shown a slower progression of the disease itself. Perhaps the best improvement of them all is that people with Parkinson's have reported to have more confidence, more self-esteem, and more happiness. Is their anyone that you know with Parkinson's disease? Could you recommend a program like this to anyone? More nursing homes and churches are trying to put a Parkinson's Tango together. Is there any place that you can recommend this program to?

For most information and case studies check out these sites...

OrlandoSentenial-Case-Study

NYtimes-Article

WashingtonUniversity

PressDemocrat-Article

Parkinsons-Tango-in-BOSTON

Foods that make you more flexible!

Most of us already know by now that in order to achieve the most success in becoming more fit we need to concentrate on physical activity and nutrition. I recently wrote a blog about the importance of being flexible and stretching. To go along with that blog I want to talk about the connection of stretching and the foods to eat. Did you know that there are foods that will help you become more flexible? One of the main foods that can do this is actually an extract called barley grass. You can order or buy this extract from a foods store and it is put on or in foods like other natural herbs. Some companies even make a vitamin or a barley grass drink. The key ingredient in the barley grass is beta-carotene. Bete-carotene actually helps your joints and muscles become more flexible. Therefore, instead of eating barley grass you can eat more foods high in beta-carotene like: green leafy vegetables, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, spinach, apricots, peaches, cantaloupe, and green, yellow, and red peppers.

Spirulina and Chlorella are also two types of algea that can make your body more flexible. These can be found in drinking fresh water. You can also help your body become more flexible by giving it more sulfur. Even though sulfur is usually known as the "beauty mineral", it still contains vital nutrients that help your joints and muscles heal from pain. Some foods to eat that contain higher levels of sulfur are brussels sprouts, peppers, broccoli, and onions. Eat this if your body is sore from stretching so you can better prepare it for the next time you stretch.

To overall help your body become more flexible you need to stetch it often and add as many of these foods and minerals into your diet as possible. Next time you want a snack try and eat carrots, peaches, brocolli, or cantaloupe, and remember to drink plenty of fresh water.

Check some of these websites out for more info:

StretchingandFlexibility

FlexibleFoodsandYoga

YoungWomensHealth

Being Flexible

As we have learned in class, stretching is very important in exercising and having a healthy body. As a dancer and dance teacher I experience the benefits of stretching on a normal basis. In dance there is a lot of moves that help you stretch your body and help you become a better athlete. Many people think of stretching as yoga or pilates expercises. These classes and techniques are great for the body but there are many other froms and movements that you can do to help.

I am going to list some common dance movements that I do to help stretch my body. One that we do often is called the "lunge". This is where we put one leg behind us, keeping the other bent towards our chest, and push our weight down slightly. This helps with stretching most of your leg muscles. Another stretch we do often is what we call a "sit and reach". It is self explainitory because you sit on the ground with your legs straight in front of you and reach your arms forward. You can also do this standing and reaching to the ground with your hands. There are many other stretches that we do, but these I feel are some of the most important because they stretch your legs. Not only do dancers need to be sure their legs are flexible, but every athlete and person should work towards this goal. Did you know that many back pains can be fixed by stretching your leg muscles? By doing stretches like these you can help minimize and/or eliminate the pain. Next time you know someone or you have back problems try stretching your legs.

Having a flexible body helps protect people from injury and even relieves stress levels in the body. We should be checking our flexiblity as often as possible to ensure that we are keeping our bodies and minds safe. To do this we need to assess our flexibility. First sit on the floor with your feet out straight in front of you and seperate them about 12 inches apart from each other. Then lean forward and place your hands as far as they will comforable go. Then use an object or note how far your hands are from your feet. If they are 6 inches or less from your feet in either direction then your flexibility rate is great, if your reach is between 6 inches and your knees then you still need some work, and if it is any less than this you need to really be working harder on your flexibility. Where do you stand in flexibility? Try it and find out!

Click on this link to see an actual video of this stretch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y004n2zb-Ko

Check these sites out for more information:

Yoga-Benefits

Flexibility-Exercises

Flexibility-and-Backpain

Struggles for male dancers.

It is a known assumption that when an average person sees a male dancer they automatically think they are homosexual. In truth, there are many reasons for this assumption.

Mostly because of our gender stereotypical society, the majority of humans relate grace, beauty, and gentlyness with being a woman. Therefore, when they see a male dancer performing a ballet routine on stage they automatically think he acts like a woman and therefore must be gay. This also has the same effect on woman athletes who participate in sports like football or hockey. They are acting manly, so therefore they must be gay, right?

Interestingly enough, according to an indepth study and survey from "Dance Magazine", only 47% of all male dancers recorded to be homosexual. So why do so many people think that male dancers are homesexual? Well, like mentioned, their passion or career expects them to practice and aquire the traits of becoming a good dancer. Ballet dancers especially need to practice beautiful movements and look graceful. It is a form of art that they are trying to perfect, not them trying to be a "woman". However, I cannot say that it is all your fault for believing this stereotype. Remember, our society created these perceptions for us.

I just wanted to briefly mention the importance of realizing what male dancers go through because of this persistant stereotype. At my studio I teach a young boy who is now 11 years old. He started dance when he was 4 and now does it competitively. However, last year he started middle school and the teasing and badgering started taken its tole. I talked to him about what was taking place. He was so upset that he even thought about quiting dance all together. I had never been in this situation before, so I asked one of the older boys at the studio (who was 16) to talk with him. This helped my young dancer and encouraged him to continue dancing. However, it is unfortunate that this situation had to happen in the first place. Its important to know that this is only one of the struggles that almost all male dancers go through throughout their entire life.

In all, please just think about these statistics and examples the next time you see or experience a male dancer. What are you going to say the next time your friends make a comment or joke about their sexuality? Remember these people are humans like YOU who just have a passion for performing the art of dance.

If you want more information see these following website...

Appreciation-of-male-Dancer-Struggles

Boys-Dance-and-Have-Fun-Doing-It!

The-Unread-Story

Dancing burns more calories than Basketball?

Okay, so we know that any type of exercise will burn calories. We then know that dancing will burn calories. But do you know how many calories dancing will actually burn? I believe that most people dont actually look into the fact that dancing is one of the most physical activities out there. Put it this way, when dancing a person, on average, will burn 109 calories in 10 minutes. Playing basketball you burn about 90 calories in 10 minutes and playing soccer you burn about 92 calories in 10 minutes. In volleyball you burn about 34 calories in 10 minutes and in Racquetball about 90 calories in 10 minutes. This is all based on an average scale, but it does show how physical and intense dancing can be.

I want to make sure you know that I am not just talking about ballet or jazz dancing. I am talking about any type of dancing. For example, many college students go out to clubs with their friends and dance. Usually at the club you are moving around a lot and dancing for a while. Well, if you do the math on average are burning 109 calories in 10 minutes, therefore, in an hour of dancing you will be burning around 654 calories!

And what about dancing around the house? Next time you are cleaning your dorm room, apartment, or house you should try dancing. Put on some of your favorite music and dance around! You wont only be buring calories but you will also make cleaning fun. However, you dont need to clean, join a dance class, or go out to a club to burn your calories through dance. You can also do it on your own just for exercise. Turn up your favorite music or put on music videos on the TV and start dancing. There is no need to be embarrassed because it is a form of exercise. You can stay fit, burn calories, and build confidence. Just remember to always eat healthy and keep hydrated!

Check out these websites for more information and ideas...

http://www.livestrong.com/article/12446-calories-burned-/

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA281218

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art7054.asp

Why do so many Dancers have Eating Disorders?

Perhaps one of the most controversal issues in the dance world throughout history and today is eating disorders. The connection between eating disorders and dancers is very critical in all types of dance. The main reason for this connection is the assumption that dancers must be thin. This preconceived notion has led many dancers to a lifetime of suffering and struggle. Yes, dancers have to be aware of their body in order to perform at their highest level. However, this doesn't mean they need to stop eating and weigh 90 pounds. Unforunately, most take it to this more serious level. The majority of these dancers develope eating disorders because of the pressure from their dance teachers and other students. About 46% of all dancers have reported having eating disorders! In Ballet especially, dancers have to be constantly aware of their bodies and are pushed to look absolutly perfect (this means no curves anywhere). This is most common in major ballet companies in NYC, Boston, LA, and other large cities. What many people dont realize is that these companies hold auditions where the choreographers will straight out tell dancers that they need to "trim down", "loose a few", or "cut down on the cheeseburgers".

The pressure these dancers go through leads them in becoming Anorexic or Bulimic. However, there are ways to try and help dancers with these illnesses. First of all, dance teachers themselves need to be aware of each of their dancers and understand the signs/symptoms of eating disorders. Secondly, dancers need to understand and be aware of the consequences from eating disorders and how to get help. And third, people who know dancers, whether family members or friends, also need to be aware of the symptoms of eating disorders and what to do if they suspect someone in having an eating disorder. Below is a list of websites that provide this valuable information. In all just keep in mind that about 10% of dancers with eating disorders will result in death! So it is important that they seek help immediatly. You could be the person to help them.

Check these out for more information...

http://www.dancehelp.com/articles/nutrition/anorexic-dancers.aspx

http://www.danceart.com/edancing/whatare.htm

http://www.dance-teacher.com/sections/articles/38

http://www.waldenbehavioralcare.com/eating_disorder_symptoms.asp

http://helpguide.org/mental/eating_disorder_treatment.htm

Dance as Therapy

When most people think about dance they usually think about ballerinas, shaking your hips, doing handstands, going out to clubs, and so on... Most people would not think that it can act as a healing therapy. A once famous modern dance choreographer and teacher, Martha Graham, once wrote "dance is the hidden language of the soul". Therefore, doing therapy through dance is a way for the mind, body, and soul to be connected. This connection is key to the healing and nurtuting of ones personal wellbeing. Interestingly enough dance therapy and movement have been around since the 1940's. Today dance therapy is used in 43 states and in 21 countries. It is also used by people of all races, backgrounds, and cultures, and with groups, families, couples, and individuals. Dance therapy lessons usually take place in mental institutions, hospitals, day cares, nursing homes, dance studios, and even at home.

People who participate in dance therapy do it for a number of reasons. Whether it be sickness (mentally, physically, emotionally), disease, special needs, old age, precnancy, and more. Dance therapy is a way for these patients to express themselves in a different way. They dont have to talk, answer questions, fill out papers, ect. There movement explains what is going on in their bodies and answers its own questions. Dance therapists learn from their patients particular movements and use it as evidence for a diagnoses. They will then set up an appropriate program for that individual. One study that proves the power of dance therapy had to do with women and breast cancer. The women that participated in dance therapy before and after treatment/surgury were much more confident, relaxed, and encouraging throughout the process. When it can time for their recovery this confidence and high-self esteem helped them recover quicker and get back to their daily lives faster that other women who did not practice in dance therapy.

All of this information proves how dance therapy is an opportunity for all people to help their wellbeing and become healthy. This shows that there is more to dance then just wearing tap shoes or doing back-flips. With the right approach people can actually be healed with its help.

What do you think about this kind of therap?
Is this something you mught be interested in?
Is there anyone that you know who could benefit from dance therapy?
Check out these following websites for more info...

http://www.adta.org/
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/MIT/content/MIT_2_3X_Dance_Therapy.asp
http://www.artslynx.org/heal/dance.htm