A research team in Finland set out to find how dancing during childhood affects men later in life. The study focused on men who took dance lessons as children between the 1990s and 2008.
Those who were interviewed said dancing was a positive way of expressing their bodies and helped their self esteem. The study also shows that while dancing helped men understand their own bodies, it also helped them in reading the body language of others.
The men who were interviewed also said dancing made them more accepting of being in a diverse group of people, and aided them in building a “sense of community”.
Separate studies have shown that dancing improves a person’s brain health by supporting motor, emotional, and intellectual brain functions, can help to fight depression, assists in reducing the risk of dementia, and stimulates nerve growth factors helping to intervene and treat neurological diseases, like strokes, Parkinson’s disease, and cerebral palsy.
Scientists have also revealed that a person’s dance style is as unique as their own fingerprint. Researchers from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland discovered that every person’s dance style is unique, so much so that computers are able to detect who a person is just by identifying their dance style.
Expressing one’s identity may help men in confronting identity crises.
“Although men say they have evolved in the last 40 years, they haven't. They are in a transition state without an idea of where they want to go or what they want to do," said Paul A. Buongiorno, a clinical psychologist, in an article published by The Washington Post in 1993. According to Buongiorno, the “modern man” is struggling with how his identity is seen both at home and in the public eye.
Dancing can also tell researchers a lot about the dancer’s personality, including if they are extroverted, introverted, neurotic, how they’re feeling, and whether or not they are able to empathize with others.
While the boys who were in dance groups as kids had the ability to move freely and express their own unique “fingerprint” through dance, the environment gave them a place free of judgment unlike their schools and homes.
“Many of the interviewees pointed out that dancing is a way to express oneself physically without competition or measuring the performance. Dance served as an outlet for discussing the important questions in life,” says study author Dr. Kai Lehikoinen.
“Body awareness is part of humanity, and we increase our knowledge of the world through our senses. If people ignore the bodily dimension of themselves, it reflects negatively on their wellbeing. Everyone has equal rights to develop their own body awareness. That’s why men should get to dance, too,” adds Lehikoinen.
Unfortunately, there is a social stigma surrounding the sport of dance which leads some to view it as effeminate, with women often outnumbering men as participants. And while attitudes towards dance may vary depending on culture, dancing typically subjects the athlete to an audience’s gaze, a societal aspect which is seen as more acceptable to be inflicted upon women.
The interviewees said they felt pressured by peers to conceal their favorite activity, and that ultimately, giving it up inflicted trauma on the then-adolescents.
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