Rock n Roll Dance -Teach Your Children!
19/10/2013
Category: general
The benefits of teaching children Rock n roll Dance.
Teaching your children rock n roll dance may prove to be a life-saver for them.
- a budding Rock n Roller
When it was first released in 1969 few of us understood much at all of its true meaning. As we have grown older we have seen the erosion of healthy-living values. Drugs, violence and rampant self-focus have gained an increasingly powerful grip over the minds of our young.
Every parent has to face the awkward dilemma of how to keep their children safe, yet feeling happy and fulfilled while trying to live a rewarding life themselves. If you leave your kids 'on ice' while you pursue your own interests, that's exactly how you might find them!
Keeping children close and getting them involved in an activity that they love is the obvious solution.
Rock n Roll dancers with children (or grandchildren) have an ideal opportunity to do that. Dancing Rock n Roll is a great family activity. Children love music just as much as adults and they enjoy dancing if they're given the opportunity to learn. Dance can help them to appreciate the benefits of structured activity. Since it's also very much a visual art, it can help them to develop self esteem as well as learning constructive social skills within a defined community.
The suppleness and litheness of the young can make fast, exciting dance styles like Rock n Roll look extremely good. How often do we older dancers look with envy on a pair of teenagers dancing prettily and wish to God that we could still move like they can? What a shame it is to rob young people of an opportunity to express themselves in such a meaningful and enjoyable way.
But, how can children learn to boogie if their Mama Don't Dance and their daddy don't Rock n Roll? What programs are available to teach those who can't learn from their families?
Bob Couch, an enthusiastic Rock n Rolling semi-retiree in Adelaide, South Australia has spent some time giving dance lessons to children in primary schools. He found the experience highly rewarding. Bob says "you get a variety of reactions from the kids when they realise it's partner dancing. The girls are always enthusiastic. The boys over a certain age are a bit less so, but once you get them past a certain stage and they realise that they look good you can't hold them back!"
Hopefully there are plenty more kind souls like Bob who will give their time to ensure that youngsters are offered a valuable opportunity to learn among other things that there is more to life than television, X-Boxes and party drugs.
Rock n roll dance is also a great fitness activity. That's something a lot of kids just don't get enough of nowadays.
Recently I visited the website of Cairns Rock n Beat n Boogie. They are a Rock n Roll dance club who teach styles to young students with over 100 participants aged from 4 to 18. You can visit them at https://cairnsrocks.wetpaint.com/. It would be a nice idea to compile a list of Rock n Roll dance schools for young students. If you know of any, please feel free to pass their details on to me.
Originally published 20th January 2007