Have you ever thought that ballet might boost your wellbeing? Perhaps you dance, or used to dance. Perhaps you enjoy listening to ballet music, or watching ballet, either live in a theatre or streamed or on TV. For World Ballet Day, I'm exploring how ballet might improve wellness and mood. Why might it do that? In three main ways: ballet opens up space away, fires the imagination, and combines music and movement.
Ballet as space away? Most ballets usually have an element of entering other worlds, of fantasy and imagination and dreaming. Costumes, lighting and music combine with the dance to conjure up a new and magical setting and scene. Think Swan Lake – dancing swans, a love triangle, good versus evil. Or Coppelia, where a doll comes to life. Sleeping Beauty is an absolute fairy tale, with a castle, an evil plot and a happy ending. Not every ballet has fantasy about it, but it's a strong thread running through so many.
Perhaps it fits. Seeing characters dancing, you have to suspend your disbelief anyway – like with musicals, where characters burst into song at any moment. Not an everyday event! Ballet feels like it is set apart, an enchanted world. That lifts the spirits, boosts mood, opens up some time out from the everyday, from routines which might be boring or depressing.
Ballet firing the imagination? Not only is it fantastical, but narrative is so integral to ballet too. It can be wonderful just to watch dance for the movement alone, but the narrative adds drive and purpose. It's easier to focus on the dancing and lose yourself in the spectacle if you're following a strong story or plot, wondering how it will all unfold. If you already know the story, seeing how every familiar twist and turn of the plot is presented is compelling. Narrative is known to have real impact on wellbeing, which is why drama, theatre, film and books all draw in such audiences or so many readers.
And ballet combining music and movement? Music's wellbeing benefits have become well known, the most recognized of all the arts. Music lifts mood, calms, expresses feelings, and can draw out response in people even with advanced dementia, who struggle to communicate. Combining music with movement, then, builds another element into music for wellbeing – whether dancing yourself or seeing others dance, you respond to the music as ballet steps fit the rhythm and mood.
Think about trying ballet for wellbeing – either dancing, or enjoying ballet performed by others. Open up a new space for boosting your mood. It would be great if you have thoughts to share. Just go to Medley's Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002 Thank you.
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