Wendy and I just returned from another exhausting but exhilarating weekend at the Canadian National Championships in Gatineau, Quebec. This year, the number of children involved was nothing short of extraordinary.
Although there was some Junior representation in the ProAm sections of the weekend, Sunday was dedicated exclusively to children’s events. And wow, were there a lot of kids. The heat lists ran to 93 pages, just for the Sunday session alone! The events ran from 7:30am until after 10:30pm, with no breaks all day. It was just event after event, in rapid succession for 15 hours straight, some of the events divided into two floors running at the same time.
This illustrates a growing interest in kids getting involved in ballroom dancing, and represents a lot of hope for the future of this great artistic sport (to learn more about my views on dance as art vs sport, see this post).
Here are five key reasons why all kids benefit from being involved in ballroom dancing:
1. Posture
One of the most concerning developments in recent years has been what medical experts are now referring to as “tech neck.” This is the result of people looking down at their phones on a regular basis. For every inch that the head comes forward, some 5Kg (10lbs) of extra pressure is put on the spine. Looking down at your phone can bring the head forward several inches. Imagine the impact this has on the spine when it happens hundreds or even thousands of times per day, every day, for years! What are today’s kids going to look like a few decades from now? Are they going to be hunched over like a proverbial old granny at the age of 50? No wonder doctors are worried about the long-term impact.
Ballroom dancing demands good posture to perform it properly. When the head comes forward, it affects not only your own balance, but the balance of the couple, making every movement more challenging, so it’s a major focus of technique. As a result, kids learn how to hold their posture and how to make that a habit. They learn how bad posture impacts their visual appearance and their ability to move efficiently. They are more aware of good posture and work harder to make it part of their lifestyle.
2. Self Confidence
We all experienced the stress of growing up. There is lots of pressure to conform to the expectations of others, leading to a natural lack of self confidence. Even the most self-assured kids on the outside are often struggling with their belief in themselves.
Ballroom dancing provides a source of confidence that helps children believe in themselves, not just as dancers but in many other dimensions of life. While it’s true that they can develop confidence as part of a sports team, those situations are based on how the entire team is doing. A hockey team performing poorly through a season often leaves the kids on the team feeling deflated. In contrast, ballroom dancers are working as partners with one other person, or even without a partner as found in Solo competitions. They see their placements improve over time, support one another, and celebrate one another’s progress.
As I stood with the very large group of kids during the awards ceremony at the Canadian Championships, I was impressed by the way the entire group was cheering for every competitor, even those with sixth or seventh-place finishes. It made all the children feel special and was delightfully encouraging.
Of course, later in life there’s an even greater value in knowing how to dance. Boys who grow into adulthood with that skill know they have something the other men don’t have: the ability to lead a woman on the dance floor, and it goes a long way to helping them get through many challenges of life unphased because they know they have a super power.
3. Partnering
One of the more interesting reasons why I love seeing kids involved in ballroom dancing is how it impacts their ability to work with a partner of the opposite gender. Compare a boy who plays hockey with one who ballroom dances, and watch them interact with girls their age. You’ll see a remarkable difference in their maturity level. Boys who ballroom dance learn to work with girls, to protect them, to listen to them, to understand how their actions impact their partner, and to set goals together. It’s quite remarkable. We raised three girls, but if I had a boy I would definitely want him involved in ballroom dance for those reasons alone.
4. Awareness of Body Mechanics
Another benefit of ballroom dancing is that kids develop an understanding of body mechanics. How one movement impacts something else. Balance. How to move efficiently from one foot to the other. How to make movement seamless and effortless. Of course, these things can also be learned in other activities and sports, but it’s nice that it is also one of the benefits of learning to dance.
Best of all, with dancing this awareness is tied directly to music and musical interpretation, which is a bonus that doesn’t happen in any other activity.
5. Goal Setting
All sports and many non-physical activities involve goal setting, so this is certainly not unique to dance. It’s important for children to learn how to set and work toward goals. Ballroom dance makes it easy. Competition is a great way to do that, because it sets a hard date by which they can establish a specific goal: a skill level, a certain mark, maybe even just getting one more judge to mark them one place higher than last time. Goals can also be set based on learning or perfecting individual figures or actions.
As you can see, there are a number of ways that children benefit from ballroom dancing. I would love to see more boys involved, as we find in Europe. There seems to be a mindset in North America that “boys play hockey, girls dance,” which is a sad statement about our culture. A great many European men know how to dance because they started in school. As a result, these men tend to be more comfortable around women than many North American men, with an innate sense of confidence, poise and maturity that stands out from the crowd.
Wouldn’t you like your kids to grow up with those qualities? Consider getting them involved in ballroom dance.
To help you understand how a kids competition can look, here’s the Canadian Junior Ballroom Championship from 2024:
