Dancing is ingrained in almost every culture and has been a part of human history for as long as it’s been documented.
There are many theories as to why humans started dancing, it could have been the way people communicated with each other before we developed language, similar to how birds dance for their mates.
Another reason could have been to communicate spirits for favours like various examples of rain dances, or most likely it was just a way of celebration and expression.
We might never know why humans started dancing, but we can find out why we continue to dance.
“I can’t live without it, it’s something I’d want to do for the rest of my life” says Michelle Corredor, a dancer for BRDRless studios.
Corredor has been dancing ever since high school, when she joined her school’s kpop club. It started as a fun hobby but quickly found herself ingrained in the culture of dance and find a home in the community.
“I find that when you’re surrounded by people that love dance as much as you do, it’s a lot easier to connect and bond with them.” says Corredor.
Michelle often goes to social dance events, events where people gather and dance together for hours at a time. Coming from Colombian descent, Michelle has started to focus more on latin dances like Bacheta and Salsa, and says she’s met a lot of people in the latin community through these events, but highlights that dance is for everyone and that she loves seeing people from other cultures dance to what she grew up listening to, “the main idea is that people love to dance and so it doesn’t matter where you’re from,” says Corredor.
Dancing can just be a social activity or hobby for people but for Corredor, at BRDRless Studios, she focuses on performance dance in order to showcase her skills at events and competitions.
Corredor has always been a competitive person as she grew up competing in chess and piano tournaments, something that she says helps her with dance competitions now.
“All three obviously require different training but I think it all feels similar in the sense of having to put in a lot of hours into practicing, I find the rush is the same.” Says Corredor.
It’s proven that physical activity helps boost a persons mental health positively but for someone so ingrained in the community, how does it feel to not be able to dance? When Corredor hurt her leg, she was sidelined for a couple weeks and couldn’t handle being away from the art she loves so much.
“I felt significantly more depressed. I knew I had to be patient again to be able to dance again, there are a lot of studies about how dance boosts mental health, and other cognitive functions like memory retention,” says Corredor.
If you’re looking for a new activity that is physical, boosts mental health, and has a welcoming community, dance might be for you. Those are only a couple of reasons as to why humans dance, and don’t worry if you’re too embarrassed to start dancing because,
“I think anybody can do it and everybody can dance, at the end of the day, dancing is just for fun, and it’s a passion that anybody can pick up.” Says Corredor
