Dance for exercise and fun
Dance is both aerobic, burns calories, and anaerobic, builds muscles, and also learning and memorizing steps which forces you to use both the right and left hemispheres of your brain. While dancing, you are exercising all part of your body, including your mind. After a few weeks you may see an improvement in flexibility, posture and overall fitness.
Some of the modern and common dances you can try at your local dance studio include:
- The Hustle - The basic footwork involved two quick steps on the half-beat followed by two slower steps on the beat and the rest of the moves build off of these steps. You can learn this dance quickly and may find it can be a lot of fun. This dance allows the dancer to be stationary or dance around the floor, with a lot of freedom to be creative. You may find your calves, arms and feet benefiting the most from this dance routine.
- Swing - This is a very active dance, with some basic steps similar to the Hustle, with a difference being the weight is on the balls of your feet and your knees bent to make quick, jumping movements. The arm-flailing, kicking and spinning will help you work up a good sweat in a short time. Every part of your body is used, your toes are pushing on the floor, your legs are constantly challenged with contraction and expansion, your torso is twisting, your arms and facial expressions bring out your personality and you may even find yourself shimmying. You may find your upper legs, calves and upper arms benefiting from this dance routine.
- Zumba - This is among the newest fitness crazes with routines which include fast and slow rhythms and resistance training to tone and sculpt you body while burning fat. This is a high-energy class featuring amped-up music and a combination of dances including high-speed salsa, hip-hop and Bollywood-styles which is sure to get your heart pumping.
