Mental Health Benefits of Ballet for Children (and Adults!)

My non-ballet friends typically have a pretty dire impression of ballet.  They think of Natalie Portman's character in Black Swan: depressed, probably suffering from every anxiety disorder, and bulimic.  My experiences working with children have been nearly entirely positive when it comes to ballet and their mental health.  The young dancers seem to grow into teenagers very comfortable with their bodies, proclaiming, "I'm a size Large" with pride and becoming such well-rounded and confident young women.  Being a dance teacher, I feel as though we're constantly observing our students, and I can tell when a three year old doesn't want to participate because a cold is coming on or if a teenaged dancer is having a difficult time in school.

My first experience teaching ballet was at a Women's Center while I was living in Colorado.  The class was a creative movement/pre-ballet class for children under 5 and all victims of domestic violence.  In my ballet classes at Ballet Petite, I rarely run into the child who feels too self-conscious to try something for the first time: leaps, running on tip toes, twirls, anything.  I remember when I first started work at the Center, the children were very reserved and I tried to stay positive.

"Let's stand on one leg!"  I said.

"I can't," said one 4-year-old girl.

"Sure you can, let's try all together."

"No.  I can't do that."

"Does your leg hurt?"

"NO!  I CAN'T STAND ON ONE LEG!"

"Okay."

I had to rewrite all of my lesson plans.  I made a weekly theme in all my classes, printed it out and gave it to their grown-ups.  This week was zoo week.  This week was ocean week.  This week was Paint week.  I can say this is where I learned to teach creative movement.  I had to mask dance moves in playing pretend and take the pressure off of these children.  It was incredibly rewarding when the girl did stand on one leg while we were "painting" with our knees and her face lit up as she realized it.  

Of course, the Ballet Petite students are typically uninhibited, longing to move and learn, and trying things they're not sure they can accomplish.  In the midst of all the bad rumors out there about ballet, I do want to point out some proven (beyond just my experience) mental health benefits.   

Washington State University study led by Deanna Hope Berman, ND, CM is a Washington State-licensed Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine. Her specialties include working with people with insomnia, anxiety, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and many other issues of the mind and body. The study found that ballet benefits mental health for children in the areas of self confidence, stress, connection to others, and depression.  The two that seem most relevant to current children is stress and focus.

Stress:  There's an artsy way it relieves stress, but the more scientific method is that is that dance increases serotonin, the same chemical found in anti-depressant medications.  People struggling with eating disorders, fibromyalgia, depression, anxiety often have low production of serotonin and ballet is a great natural way to increase production of this neurotransmitter (along with taking the anti-depressants for those who need it.)

Focus: Ballet requires a lot of memorization and learning how to do sequence of movements.  These skills can help children with ADD or ADHD and it helps everyone improve memory by exercising those muscles in the brain.

I wish I knew how the little girl who could finally stand on one leg turned out, but as her family move on and my new crop of students came in, I was just left with the feeling she left my class a little better than she was before- in body and mind.

 ~ Miss Jenna

 "Dance is the song of the body," - Martha Graham