A Cold Night, The Mystery Class and Chores
Picture the scene… It was a cold Friday night a couple of weeks ago and I was teaching a grade 2 class. I had just finished the barre work when one of the children spoke up and said ‘who are those people that come in after us?’.
This question had come completely out of the blue, much like many other questions I get in class such as ‘ Miss Emily, do you know Paw Patrol’ and ‘Miss Emily, How big do you think a flying squirrel is?!’. So for this question, like the many others that had come before it, it took me a while to realise what they were talking about. Then eventually it clicked, ‘Those people who come in after you are my adult class’ I replied ‘and they do ballet just like you’. ‘Why do adults do ballet?’ was the next question that the dancer asked. Her dancing friend confidently blurted out ‘It’s because they want to get away from their children!’ I didn’t have much time to reflect on this before another dancer said ‘Well it’s also because they want to get away from doing chores!’. Do you have ever have one of those moments where you just don’t quite know what to say next? Well this was one hundred percent one of those.
The thing is that my grade 2 dancers weren’t necessarily wrong. Everyone has their reasons for coming to ballet and for some it is indeed a beautiful artistic escape from the pressures of everyday life. So I decided to do a bit of research and come up with the top 3 reasons why I think people dance:
It helps you to make friends with similar interests
Dance is a great way to exercise and to help you to stay fit
It releases endorphins giving you a great sense of enjoyment and fun
What are your top reasons for dance?
