Who told that dancing is only for girls? There are many boys with a great talent in dance, which remains unexploited or is never discovered since they are not given the right opportunity. Despite the fact that parents usually encourage their children to participate in sports activities, when it comes boys and dance…things seem to be somewhat different. From an early age, boys grow up with the cliché that “dancing is for girls”. Let’s not kid ourselves. The big fear of parents is whether dancing affects “negatively” their sons. Definitely, there are dancers who exaggerate in their movements and expression since they also consider that they are great despite that everyone understands that they are not good at it. However, this does not apply only to dance. In every sport, exaggeration and arrogance have a great impact on the image of athletes. Dance is an exceptional physical activity both for men and women. It strengthens and sculpts the body, boosts the muscles while it increases the balance and the coordination of upper and lower limbs. If your child chooses to learn dancing, do not panic. By following some simple advice, you will feel very sure about the progress of your child in dance as well as you will help him feel comfortable with himself and acquire self-confidence for what he loves.
Encourage him to develop his dancing skills. If you find out that your son has the dancing bug, do not discourage him. Help him develop his talent and, in particular, to discover which genre or genres of dance he prefers.
Provide your child with male role models. Watch together dance shows by professional dancers, visit dance schools or rent a movie that deals with dance (e.g. “Step up”, “Mambo kings”, “Take the lead”, “Shall we dance”). Show him that men can also dance with great success. Compare dance to other sports. You can often remind your child (and yourself too) that dance is a sport that contributes not only to the exercise of body muscles (including heart) but also to the strengthening of the body frame. Dance is the second-best aerobic exercise after swimming.
Give him the freedom to stop dancing whenever he wants to. In case of heavy workload of activities, do not force him (directly or indirectly) to stop dancing; you should simply remind him that it is not mandatory to learn dancing right now but if he wants to, he can take dance classes at a later stage. If he really loves dancing, he will pursue his dream when he is ready for that.
The Ancient Greeks believed that dance is a gift given by gods to humans. Being staunchly committed to the idea that social dance makes our life beautiful and humans better, we struggle constantly to promote dance.