For children who can afford it, the opportunity to grow up with dance training is a fortunate reality. Thousands of children in New York City, and millions around the country, are unable to pursue dance training on a regular basis due to a lack of both financial and emotional support from their parents.
There is now a growing amount of undeniable data on the advantages of dance for toddlers, children, youth, adults, elderly, and people with physical, emotional, and behavioural problems. Patients with autistic spectrum disorders, learning impairments, cancer individuals — patients with a wide range of diseases, movement dysfunctions, neuromuscular and neuro-linguistic issues — have all seen inspiring improvements. Dance education and dance therapy have had tremendous success in healing and altering lives in all of these communities.
These are thrilling facts on a large level! We have the knowledge of how to deliver immense happiness to a large percentage of the population at our fingertips. We are limited in our ability to deliver these tools to those who need them the most, despite the fact that there are few resources giving free NYC salsa dance and New York tango classes.
We are gradually moving in the right way as a society. We need funding and continued advocacy in support of public dance education and dance therapy, which is now a proven and relatively inexpensive method of bringing joy, confidence, clarity, commitment, focus, teamwork, and a variety of other benefits to our children. It’s a long road, but we’re making significant progress in New York City and around the country. More people in fields other than dance and the arts are actively debating these encouraging discoveries. The film ‘PS Dance,’ directed by Jody Arnholds (Director and Founder of the Dance Education Laboratory at the 92nd Street Y) and nominated for an Emmy this year, is an inspiring example of the growing advocacy for dance education for all children.
Dancewave is a strong supporter of our cause. Dancewave has been teaching dance in public schools since 2001, and has seen firsthand the energy and enthusiasm that dance brings to established educational systems. Dancewave has organised and run a fully free Master Class Tour every year for the past five years. This tour, which is partially funded by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, provides free dance instruction to up to 15 schools per year in their choice dance form, whether it is hip hop, ballet, modern, salsa, African, or Chinese dance. We have reached over a thousand young people from every borough of New York City through the tour alone. The tour assists us in bringing the joy of dance to deserving and enthusiastic children and teenagers in public schools.
A superb dance programme, when combined with supervision, mentoring, and other areas of youth development, can produce more than just wonderful dancers. In reality, dance may be utilised to infuse other parts of life skills, particularly when used to enhance group discussion, individual coaching, and team building chances. Students in dance learning environments develop into self-assured, eloquent young adults who are ready to make a difference in the world. And as dance instructors, we have the opportunity to level the playing field for young people from all walks of life by developing programmes that educate dancers and all students for greater chances in the future.
Learn more: Top 10 Best Dance Schools In USA