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The rhythm is gonna get you…

Gloria Estefan’s classic dance track might have come out 38 years ago but its 125 beats per minute will still get your toes tapping and hips wiggling. There is a common understanding that humans have been dancing for thousands of years with early figurative cave art depicting dancing perhaps as long ago as 13,000 years. It is also likely that dance played a crucial role in community building, storytelling and social communication. But for some of us we need reminding that dancing is not just for weddings and that actually it could have a major impact on our health and happiness.

Michael Mosley, in his BBC podcast Just One Thing sheds some light on how dance affects our brain chemistry and as a result makes us feel happier, raises our pain threshold and might even reduce the likelihood of dementia. But the benefits don’t stop there, there are studies showing that dance improves our cognitive abilities such as memory. And for anyone who has spent time around young children, you will have witnessed how spontaneously they begin to dance as soon as music is played. They don’t need encouragement and it is highly contagious making each other bolder and bolder in their increasingly dramatic and energetic moves. So why do some of us stop dancing?

One of the ambitions of the Sports Strategy across the whole school 3-18 is to create in all pupils a lifelong love of being physically active. Some will find that through the comradery of team sports which certainly has excellent mental health benefits alongside the physical. But for others, it may be activities such as dance, yoga, Tai chi and similar that keep them moving. Perhaps if we don’t have the confidence to attend a dance class or join a Zumba session, we can simply turn up the music and dance full out in the kitchen, giving Gloria Estefan another airing.

This week at the Prep for the first time we entered the District Dance Competition and eight pupils from Years 5 and 6, under the tutelage of Miss Ritchie headed to the Ursuline Prep in Warley. Not only did the pupils show great teamwork in their support of each other, they went on to win the competition. We are very proud of their discipline and enthusiasm which has clearly paid off.

Perhaps the heralding of the Chinese New Year through the Dragon Dance might bring a bit more shimmying into your lives.

Wishing you a lovely weekend,

Alice Goodfellow

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