Do you ever wonder why we dance? How we communicate through dance and how it challenges our brains as well as our bodies? Having worked with dance on many different levels including performing, teaching and in a health setting, I find all these questions highly interesting and I was delighted when I discovered some talks by a former dancer come Psychologist who looks at all these questions – and most importantly – conveys the answers in a fun yet very clear and intelligent way.
Peter Lovatt was a professional dancer before he became a psychologist and lecturer in his field. He set up the first ever Dance Psychology Lab looking at how different types of dance affect the brain and he has also been involved with the well publicised studies around the benefits of dance for people suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.
You can watch his highly interesting and entertaining mini-seminar on ‘Dance and the Mind’ on YouTube here. It’s only about 16 minutes long and will not only inform you, bring a smile to your face – but possibly also make you dance!
I hope you enjoy this video and will let me know how you got on with this explanation of why dance is so good for us. Do you find this interesting too? Maybe you have never considered the psychology of dance before? Would you maybe now? And also help share it with other people?
I constantly talk about the health benefits of dance, but you can of course not make people who do not want to dance do it, which is another reason to view the video as there are a couple of people in the audience who clearly feel shy or embarrassed to move – whilst others really go for it. It’s the joy on people’s faces that feel say it all.
Dancing is for the most all about human interaction – something that’s always fascinated me. I hope you will take time to interact too and leave me a comment below.
Happy and inspired dancing – always 🙂
Dorte
Did you miss my last post? Read it here: Dance as stress therapy
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