Dance Your Way to a Healthy Body & Mind

With the hype of shows like abc's hit televsion show 'Dancing With the Stars', Natural Awakenings speaks with one of New Yorks leading latin dance and ballroom schools right in the heart of Midtown Manhattan near Penn Station to find out why dancing does a body good!

What goes on at NYSDC?

The main focus of NYSDC is the social aspect of ballroom dancing. We believe that by giving our students VIP treatment and focused, expert training we can help them improve confidence in all aspects of their life. We offer one on one instruction to couples and individuals. We also have group classes and organize social parties.

How does dance affect one’s Health?

Dancing Does The Body Good! On TV shows like Dancing with the Stars, celebrities often leave the show looking more physically fit than when they started. Weight loss, muscle toning and stamina, are not just benefits for Celebrities. Everyone can benefit. When a person enters our studio for the first time we ask them what they want to get out of dance? Many of the answers we get relate to the physical benefits of dance, but although there are a lot of benefits from individual or team sports, not many such sports can help you improve the quality of your relationship with your partner as much as holding your partner in your arms and dancing to music can! Not only does Social Dancing improve the physical look of your body, but also it can tremendously boost the psychological and emotional sides of your life. Recently we asked a student (with a very stressful job), “Why do you dance?” Her answer was short and simple: “To relax!” Of course we all know that exercise releases endorphins, which make you feel good. Apart from relaxation, improved quality of your personal life and many other reasons why people who dance are happy, there are long-term benefits as well. A recent study by the New England Journal of Medicine proposes that dancing makes you smarter! The study evaluated various activities that can reduce the risk of dementia later in life. The results: Reading reduces risk of dementia by 35%, Cycling, Swimming & Golf by 0%, and Frequent Social Dancing reduces such risk by 76%! While the other activities can improve physical health, they are repetitive and don’t require instant decisions. Learning new dance steps, leading or following your partner while on a busy dance floor is not only fun, it’s good for you.

Where are you located?

We are centrally located in Midtown Manhattan on West 35th Street between 8^th and 9th Avenues.

How do you connect with the community?

Through our partnership with Natural Awakenings and Stonehenge Partners, we want to reach out to the community of New York to show them the benefits of dance and how it relates to health, happiness and well being. The owners of the New Yorker Social Dance Club are also very active in bringing the benefits of dance to the youth of America. One of our partners is in fact a director of a foundation that teaches dance to 4000 children a week for free in the Florida school system.