Tango and Health

Psychological and Physical Health Benefits of Dance

Tango: The dance that changes everything

Ben Lovejoy – Tango: The Dance That Changes Everything (YouTube)

Entrainment

Follow Your Heart: Dancing To Be Felt, Not Seen–Dr. Christiane Northrup

There are many studies that demonstrate the psychological benefits of movement and dance.  Here is an article published in Psychology Today.  Others easily can be found by searching the Internet.

Parkinson’s Disease

Patients with Parkinson’s disease who took part in regular tango dance classes for 20 sessions showed significant improvements in balance and mobility when compared to patients who did conventional exercise, a new study by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis shows.  (Uploaded Feb. 1, 2008.)

Alzheimer’s Disease

Patients embrace Argentine tango as new therapy for Alzheimer’s.  (Reuter’s article, Buenos Aires, Aug. 31, 2009.)

Neuroscience News reports that dancing reverses signs of aging in the brain.  See the Neuroscience News article.

Blind and Visually Impaired

Argentine Tango for the Blind and Visually Impaired – The Shimmy Club, Inc., a not-for-profit organization’s innovative You Move Me Tango program funded in part by The Children’s Trust, provides free classes that teach social-style Argentine Tango to blind, visually impaired and sighted youth.  The You Move Me Tango program impacts communities with its message of inclusion.  It encourages a healthy lifestyle that includes the joy of sharing, regular recreational activity, and the generation of a social community for visually impaired youth.  In this video, You Move Me Tango students, with support from the Miami-Dade County Dept. of Cultural Affairs, celebrated their newfound passion by performing for the public and dancing with members of the local tango community. (Oct. 2, 2009).

Tango and Mindfulness

Sara Melzer published an article in Psyche – know your self, on dancing tango that addresses the often underused power of attention. See: https://psyche.co/ideas/dance-showed-me-the-untapped-power-of-our-attention-muscle.