Should I Enrol My Son in a Dance Class?

In most pictures about dance classes and kids’ performances, we only see girls doing ballet, musical theatre, contemporary and even hip hop dance. Where are the boys?

Should I enrol my son in a dance class?

Perhaps one reason we don’t see many boys in dance classes is that they’re busy with other activities already (such as sports and learning to play musical instruments). Although these activities are good for their cognitive and physical development, they might be missing the benefits from learning how to dance.

Dancing often requires a whole body coordination and following along with the music or rhythm. In contrast, sports allow for complex physical coordination (usually no music) and musical instruments require musical faculties (not much physical coordination, although there are intricate movements in hands and fingers). This doesn’t mean that your son should skip sports and music. What we mean here is that your son will also benefit from dance classes.

Aside from physical coordination and following along with the rhythm, another benefit is the added variety and more experiences for your child. Through dance performances, children get to stand on a huge stage in front of a crowd (which can help kids expand their comfort zone). Also, this added variety helps children with their healthy and rapid brain development. Because they’re still too young, their brains require more experiences to process and consolidate. This is where rich learning comes from because of more useful inputs and experiences to draw from.

Dancing is also a good way for children to appreciate more of the arts. It’s true and useful especially today because we value holistic learning. We want our children to explore several different dimensions and gain a wide variety of skills and experiences. This will help them in their future because they will feel confident even in new situations and they gain a better chance of successfully navigating the future.

Here at Dance on Q, we’re not just about teaching children how to dance and learn the proper form. We’re more about helping children build confidence and learn the value of practice. This way, they won’t just learn the proper moves, but also learn how to be confident in different situations.