{"id":1459871,"date":"2022-05-02T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2022-05-02T12:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1459871"},"modified":"2022-05-02T08:00:53","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T12:00:53","slug":"5-reasons-to-get-off-your-couch-and-take-up-social-dancing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/5-reasons-to-get-off-your-couch-and-take-up-social-dancing\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons To Get Off Your Couch And Take Up Social Dancing"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F5-reasons-to-get-off-your-couch-and-take-up-social-dancing%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1459871&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/9372204725_f8483aeb02_k.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Screen-Free Week <a href=\"https:\/\/screenfree.org\/\">starts<\/a> on May 2, so if you and your family are hunting for something that will entertain, exercise, and educate you, look no further than social dancing.<\/p>\n<p>I grew up in Texas hill country, which means I grew up going to \u201ckicker\u201d (a.k.a. country-western) dances. It wasn\u2019t Friday night unless my high school friends and I were out doing the Texas two-step, the Cotton-Eyed Joe, the Schottische, the polka, and the waltz. There were usually a few rock-and-roll classics thrown in, too, but the bulk of the dancing was social dancing, where you touch your partner and move your feet in an established pattern.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t realize at the time that I was learning a skill many young people \u2014 in fact, many people, period \u2014 are never exposed to. My son, a recent high school graduate, reports that his school dances involve more group and line than partner dancing. Often the kids just get in a big circle and take turns freestyling. <\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s nothing wrong with that kind of dancing, but if that\u2019s all you\u2019re doing, you\u2019re missing out on something that will make your life richer. Here are five reasons to learn to social dance and to teach your children.<\/p>\n<h2>1. It\u2019s Civilized\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>Social dancing is not about freestyling, showing off your own moves, or making yourself the center of attention. It\u2019s about coming together with another human being to create something of beauty, form, and order. <\/p>\n<p>In social or ballroom dancing, there are clear roles, with the man and woman each having a part to play, and designated steps, requiring a leader and a follower. Things don\u2019t work properly if the steps aren\u2019t performed correctly or if someone doesn\u2019t play his or her part.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To those who say such a setup is sexist because the man is traditionally the leader\/determiner of moves, I hasten to point out that historically it is the woman who gets to decide whether she\u2019s even going to dance with the man in question. He puts himself out on a limb, risking the pain of rejection, to ask the lady to honor him with her attention for the duration of a song. Who\u2019s in control? It all depends on your point of view.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>2. There\u2019s Always Something New to Learn<\/h2>\n<p>When I went to college, the dancing changed from country-western to club dancing (no comparison on the civilized scale). When I got married, had children, and moved to the Midwest, dance all but disappeared from my life.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But about 10 years ago, my husband and I decided to take a class where we learned West Coast Swing, the foxtrot, and even a little rumba. We had the time of our lives, then dropped the lessons for another 10 years. <\/p>\n<p>We recently took them up again and are again having a blast. We are still beginners, still mostly terrible, with much to learn. But that\u2019s part of what\u2019s wonderful about social dance: There\u2019s always a new step, a more advanced move, a way to get better, look better, and interact with one another more gracefully.<\/p>\n<h2>3. It Encourages Intimacy<\/h2>\n<p>You can\u2019t dance with your significant other without touching each other, looking at each other, and talking to each other. You can\u2019t dance with someone you\u2019re mad at. You can\u2019t dance with a partner while sitting with headphones on, staring at a screen, listening to your own playlist. <\/p>\n<p>By its very nature, social dance makes you share yourself with another, interact with another, and make room for another. If that \u201cother\u201d is your own beloved and romance ensues, all the better.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>4. It\u2019s Good for Your Physical, Emotional, and Psychological Health<\/h2>\n<p>For many of us, nothing chases away the blues like a favorite song. I can be leaving the office at the end of an absolutely dreadful, mind-numbing day, but if a bouncy, joyful, toe-tapping song comes on the radio (I\u2019m one of those dinosaurs who still listens to the car radio), the ugly starts to fade away almost immediately. <\/p>\n<p>Various studies have recorded the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/the-athletes-way\/201310\/why-is-dancing-so-good-your-brain\">physical<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/brettsteenbarger\/2020\/10\/31\/moving-the-body-transforming-the-mind-the-psychology-of-dance\/?sh=7fd0287a3ef7\">emotional<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.psychologytoday.com\/us\/blog\/the-athletes-way\/201805\/the-powerful-psychological-benefits-dance\">psychological<\/a> benefits of dance, but you don\u2019t really need a study to tell you that dancing to your favorite music is a fun way to get some exercise and elevate your mood (especially for those of us who have trouble sticking to an exercise program). Dance with a partner, and you add the advantage of meaningful social interaction.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2>5. It Keeps You off Screens, During Screen-Free Week and Beyond<\/h2>\n<p>True confession: In the waning months of the Covid-19 lockdown, my husband and I ended our dance lesson hiatus by way of an online program called \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/showheroff.com\/\">Show Her Off<\/a>.\u201d I unreservedly recommend it. The man behind the program, Hunter Masters, is an excellent, encouraging teacher who doesn\u2019t try to turn you into professionals but offers helpful principles, easily learned moves, and a lighthearted, fun approach to teaching couples to dance.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In his teaching, Masters regularly refers to what he calls \u201cthe dance effect,\u201d whereby a fun dip or twirl invariably puts a big smile on the dancing lady\u2019s face. He counsels men to remember that their primary role is to provide a \u201cframe\u201d whereby the lady can shine (because that\u2019s who everyone is looking at) and to be gentle and subtle with cues (because ladies have \u201cpower steering\u201d and don\u2019t need to be thrown this way and that).\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Throughout, the subtext is that ladies are to be cherished and that men are to do the cherishing. In a time when good manners, traditional gender roles, and old-fashioned chivalry are on the decline, the message of \u201cShow Her Off\u201d and of social dance in general is sorely needed. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s ideal if you can pursue it without a screen. But if an in-person dance class is not readily available to you, an online program is the next best thing \u2014 and ultimately, you have to put the screen aside, get off your rear, and move.\u00a0Perhaps just wait until after Screen-Free Week.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Cheryl Magness is managing editor of <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.lcms.org\/\">Reporter<\/a>, the official web magazine of The Lutheran Church&#8211;Missouri Synod. She writes regularly on issues of faith, family and culture. The opinions expressed here are her own.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Screen-Free Week starts on May 2, so if you and your family are hunting for something that will entertain, exercise, and educate you, look no further than social dancing. I<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":736,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1459871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1459871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/736"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1459871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1459871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1459871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1459871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1459871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}