3 Ways Dance Lessons Can Build Your Shy Child's Confidence
As a parent, it can be difficult to watch your shy child struggle to make friends or participate in activities. Shyness can also affect your child's academic performance, as they may experience anxiety about raising their hands to volunteer answers, participating in class discussions, or giving presentations in front of the class. Shyness isn't something that your child can just overcome because they want to, but there are things you can do to bring them out of their shell and build their self-confidence, and dance lessons can help with that. Take a look at a few ways that dance lessons can help build your shy child's confidence.
Dancing Provides Socialization Opportunities
Dance lessons are a great way to help your child socialize. Your child might have difficulty striking up a conversation with kids at school, but in a dance class, students have a common interest to talk about. That alone can help spark a conversation.
Unlike many extracurricular activities, dance lessons (at least for beginners) usually aren't competitive. Competition can be healthy, but it can also be intimidating for some kids, making them more anxious about interacting with the kids they're competing with. Many styles of dancing, like ballroom and ballet dancing, are actually cooperative, meaning that dancers have to work together as partners or groups to perform the dance correctly. This can inspire camaraderie between the dancers, which can help them make friends more easily.
Dancing Allows Students to Master New Skills
Your child doesn't have to be the second coming of Fred Astaire or Ginger Rogers to learn to dance competently. While some kids do aspire to go onto competitions or dance careers, it's fine to take dance lessons just for fun, and there are plenty of dance moves that your child can master even if they're not fated to go on to become famous dancers.
For beginners, learning dance steps is largely about practice and repetition, and soon your child will begin to notice that what seemed complicated at their first lesson now comes easily. When children begin to master dance steps and movements, their confidence will grow along with their skills.
Dancers Learn to Project Confidence
If you've ever taken dance lessons, you know that dance teachers are sticklers for good posture and purposeful movements. That's because, in order for dances to look beautiful when performed, the dancers need to project physical confidence. They do that by standing up straight, moving with confidence and grace, and trusting their partners to move correctly with them.
You've probably heard the expression "fake it till you make it". This is what dance students can do with their knowledge of how to look confident. Appearing confident can actually help your child feel more confident – the simple act of standing up straighter and taller can be a confidence booster. Your child will find that when they're feeling nervous in other situations outside of dance class, standing taller and squaring their hips and shoulders can actually alleviate some of their anxiety.
There are so many different styles of dance that almost anyone can find a style that they're interested in. Take a look at the lessons offered by dance studios near you, like Academy For The Performing Arts, to find a style of dance that appeals to your child.
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