Top 5 things that everyone wants

And how partner dancing can help you attain it.

#1 - Good Health

Most people realize that good health is the #1 most important thing when they've lost their health or are unable to do something because of their lack of health. Imagine not being able to enjoy the home of your dreams because you can no longer climb the stairs due to your knees which are too weak to support your weight. Imagine having to control what types of foods you can eat because it might put you at the risk of diabetic shock.

There have been many studies done on how minimal exercise can help promote better overall health. As little as 15 minutes of low-impact activity can have beneficial results on weight, sugar levels and immune system.¹ Most people's top excuses for not exercising are lack of time and simply not enjoying the boredom of a "workout".

Dancing is relatively low impact activity that can have all the benefits of exercise without the boredom often associated with working out. In particular, partner dancing activates the body in ways that help promote cardiovascular activity, weight loss, increased metabolism, strength and flexibility.² It also activates the mind by promoting coordination and musical sensitivity.

Best of all, partner dancing is a social activity. The subtle and positive interaction with other people has been proven to release chemicals in the brain (dopamine³ and oxytocin⁴), which have been shown to help promote our immune system⁵.

At the end of the day, all you've got is your health. It is sometimes a reflection of how you take care of yourself...and it's generally the first thing a potential mate sees in you. So if you're looking for an activity that will promote good, overall health – Partner Dancing might be your magic pill.

References:
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2. Sixwise.com
3. ehow.com
4. Fastcompany.com
5. Shape.com

#2 - Love

The #2 thing that everyone wants is love. However, love is very subjective – so let's call it: a substantially caring relationship with one or more individuals. This relationship might be either sexual or non-sexual and sometimes can produce offspring. That's about as broad as I can get...but most people are looking for it, no wonder it's so hard to find.

Partner dancing gives you an ability to communicate physically. If we were to look at the animal kingdom, many species use a form of "dance" or synchronized rhythmic cadences to show that they're on the same "beat" – a symbolic way of saying that they want the same thing.

One of the easiest ways to find love is not by trying to chat it up at the bar, but literally by looking for it. A person who is attracted to another person will behave differently than they would if they were not interested. Usually the body language is substantially more revealing than the words.

Partner dancing is all about these body-language micro-rhythms. The learned ability to lead or follow makes each person highly sensitive to touch and how the body moves. Simply speaking, every time a person copies another person's body movement, we have expressed a form of flattery (which can be conceived as an innocuous and unconscious (honest) form of attraction / approval).

In the crazy road to finding love, we might need to pay close attention to body language and micro-rhythms. Partner dancing helps you hone in on this skill...which in theory, makes it easier to be conscious of the little moments that might help identify a match for a substantial caring relationship.

Might you be wrong a few times? Sure! But, the trial and error process on the dance floor gets you closer to love in the most fun of ways.

#3 - Friendship

Friendship is one of those overused terms. We tend to use the word "friend" to describe people we've just met and people who we've known since our childhood. Even though the term "friendship" may be extremely subjective, our own human nature seems to crave relationships that are meaningful. Let's assume that there are two simplistic levels to meaningful-relationship hierarchy: acquaintances and friends. Partner dancing can help you make many acquaintances and help you nurture some of those relationships into true friendships.

Acquaintances are aplenty as soon as you start partner dancing. This is just part of the deal even for a day-one beginner by virtue of the fact that as soon as you start dancing, you'll actually be touching someone. This takes a certain amount of trust and risk that initiates a "getting to know you" scenario. Once even a simplistic dance has occurred, people are more inclined to be friendly and cordial.

True friendships are established over time and most people find this type of relationship after developing many degrees of "acquaintances". Partner dancing enables a person to establish a high level of credibility of another's behavior both on and off the dance floor. How one dances is not only determined by a person's level of proficiency but by how a person asks someone to dance, enjoys the music or how they act when they're not dancing. A person's body language usually reveals more about them than their words ever could.

If you're looking for a good way to find many of the forms of friendship, then partner dancing will give you endless possibilities.

Here's an excellent article about 8 Psycological Terms to Help Strengthen your Friendships. They are all applicable to the partner dance world.

#4 - Acceptance

Let's face it, as much as we want to be unique, we also want to be accepted. It's the great conundrum! How can we be individuals, when we also want to be part of something bigger?

Partner dancing allows you to be both individually unique in your own style or ability while also being a part of a collective partnership.

Now, imagine that your dance partnerships span many different and diverse people. The more people with whom you're able to dance, the more accepted you become. Partner dancing is an amazing way to become intermingled a group of people because everyone depends on everyone else to effectively communicate in a physical realm.

Partner dancing gives you an incredible opportunity to even out the playing field. It's not about economics, age or political viewpoints – it's about how you physically interact with another person. Many times, a person doesn't even have to be the best individual dancer to be a great overall partner. Your acceptance is entirely based on how you treat and interact with other people...just how it should be. We call it, "dance-karma".

#5 - Appreciation

Most people tend to want to know that what they do has meaning or "value". For the big things, like providing a service, people are paid as a form of consideration or appreciation for the quality of their work. However, for the subtler things in life, appreciation can be as simple as a smile or the words, "thank you".

Partner dancing brings out a high level of appreciation because there is a dependency between two people to cooperate towards one common goal. Most social dances, like swing, hustle, salsa and tango, end with both people thanking each other for the dance. It's a simple form of appreciation recognizing each person's attempt to make the dance the best they could.

On a community level, each individual dancer is instrumental in the success of the group. This means that it is common to have positive feelings associated with being with a group of people who are very excited to see you. Best of all, this is true for people of different dance ability. Some dancers are less experienced but are very fun, some are working though challenging movements but maintain a positive attitude, and some dancers are quite proficient but are still excited about the introducing someone to the dance that they love.

If you're looking for a positive environment that appreciates your willingness to learn a new "language", then you will be highly appreciated and greeted with many smiles.

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