Tahsin Rahman Oshin
Dance is an art form that many of us know of- a graceful physical performance, which the brain is able to orchestrate, signaling our muscles and joints on how to move. There are quite a few neural mechanisms related to dance that can offer insight into the human brain and how it’s able to execute such coordinated behaviors.
Dancing improves a lot of brain functions on a variety of levels. Our muscle memory allows us to learn to perform a dance with thinking much about the steps. Such exquisite body movement is a marvel to witness in both a physical and psychological way. When we move, we employ neurons and body chemicals to control the muscles that affect the joints, movement, and balance. The nervous system activates groups of muscles, referred to as “motor modules,” which work together to achieve a wide range of motion. Such exquisite body movement is a spectacle to observe in both a psychological and physical way. When we move, we actually employ neurons and body chemicals to control the muscles, affecting the joints, movement, and balance. The nervous system activates groups of muscles, referred to as “motor modules,” which work together to achieve a wide varieties of motions.
The shift from actively thinking about the dance moves to performing them intuitively causes a shift in brain activity from the cerebrum — the “thinking part” of the brain that controls voluntary movement — to the cerebellum, which controls equilibrium and balance, and coordinates movements signals produced in other parts of the brain. Altogether, this allows us to carry out the movements effortlessly.
Our brains are malleable, thanks to a mechanism known as neuroplasticity. While we’re not able to regenerate our limbs, we can build up our brains by forming new connections. Gray matter — where the majority of neural cells are held — can shrink and grow, leading neural connections to either copy and refine themselves or weaken and sever, respectively. Evidence suggests these changes can lead to changes in our abilities. Dancing integrates several brain functions involved in kinesthesia, following musical rhythm, and emotion, all of which boost our brain connectivity.
Dancing can help prevent brain diseases and increase mental insight at all ages. A 2013 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found freestyle dancing, which requires rapid-fire decision making, is essential to keeping a sharp mind because it forces the brain to regularly rewire its neural pathways, especially in regions involving executive function — mental skills to help us get things done — long-term memory, and spatial recognition — using reasoning skills to decipher objects in 3D and draw conclusions from them based on limited information.
Going back to muscle memory, whenever we hear music and immediately start dancing without thinking, we access our cerebellum, which understands how to move our muscles quickly. There’s proof of this when we start thinking about our dance moves; it gets in the way of our automatic thought processes, and we end up fumbling the moves.
“All of the actions listed above are due to increased blood flow, neural response when we listen to music, the psycho-social response we have when we interact with other people and the muscle-tendon junction response for stimulation of strength or balance in the human body,” said Rodriguez.
Tahsin Rahman Oshin is a feature writer at the Daily our Time who has a passion for performing arts and fashion. She is a high school graduate, loves cats and plans to build an animal shelter in future.