How Does Dance Help With Confidence?

Dancing from a young age can boost your child’s self-confidence. That is what happens because he/she gets to perform in front of a crowd and interact and collaborate with other kids as well. Through that social setting and being able to face the crowd (while performing intricate and practised movements), kids get prepared for formal schooling and beyond.

What does it mean to be confident?

Confidence is about believing in one’s self and believing that success is within reach. This helps in trying to achieve a goal because feeling confident means we feel positive and therefore we are more likely to act and follow through.

Even kids at a young age already experience that as they play with toys or fellow kids. If they’re not feeling confident in the first place, they might shy away and stop playing. They might also resort to negative behaviours to get what they want or just to get noticed. It then becomes an alarming pattern and feedback loop especially when kids are just in the stage of rapid brain development (millions of neural connections form each minute and the core brain architecture is being built).

For example, a child doesn’t have any friends in school because she’s shy in the first place. She doesn’t play or get along with her classmates. This outcome then further reinforces her lack of confidence because she doesn’t have the opportunities to improve her social skills. In addition, this shapes her expectations of social settings, schooling and beyond.

How does dance help with confidence?

There are several ways to help improve your child’s self-confidence such as continual encouragement and making sure that the immediate environment is positive and nurturing. Another amazing way to accomplish that is by enrolling your child to a dance class.

Aside from helping kids develop their cognitive and physical skills, learning how to dance can also help with their social and emotional states. Dancing (especially in group performances) requires being aware of one’s self and the others (where they are, the spacing between the performers, the synchronisation among the dancers). In addition, getting the movements right (especially in ballet) can boost your child’s self-confidence because of the sense of accomplishment.

Enrolling your child to a dance class is sure to complement your other efforts when it comes to helping your child develop his/her capabilities. Furthermore, your child has an opportunity to know other kids and get exposed to other environments (event and overseas performances are available). This better equips your child for formal schooling and beyond.