Don’t be surprised if you and your better half take ballroom dance lessons, and your partner seems to have an unfair advantage.  The truth is, they do if they study martial arts. The sport that will help you become a better dancer is Martial Arts.  

I’d like to point out that, in fact, the question that’s asked more often is, “Does dancing make me a better ___________? (Fill in the blank with your choice of sport.)

In any case, my experience with martial artists is that they easily transfer their skills to other activities.  This helps them pick up ballroom dancing very quickly.

How do ballroom dancing and martial arts help each other?

Let’s look at some of the things they have in common.

Martial Arts Forms and Dance Choreography

The first thing you need to know when you begin to dance or do martial arts is what direction to move. For this reason, step patterns and forms practiced over and over again are the keys to making consistent progress. Memorizing the moves to the mind and the body will result in more fluid movement.

Therefore, if you’re training as a martial artist, you already know how to store these crucial moves to your memory. So much so that picking up steps in ballroom dance will be a piece of cake.

Using Legs, Arms, and hands

Both dancers and martial artists have a warm-up routine of stretches to elongate and strengthen their muscles. This flexibility teaches them an awareness of how the legs, arms, and hands are to be used.

Turns and spins

Turns and spins are a big part of dancing and martial arts. The turning action requires:

Fighting or self-defense and dance partnership actions

It’s one thing to practice by yourself, but it’s quite another to have a partner or opponent. Fighting or practicing self-defense with others teaches you to be mindful of where they are in space and how their actions will affect you.

Dance partnership skills are the same with the main difference being one is leading and the other is following. Nevertheless, paying attention to how they move is the way to have a fun and safe dance.

Focus

Determination and inner strength are emphasized in martial arts. Read here to learn about the tenets of Tae Kwon Do.

The better dancers never give up on doing the best they can. Dedicated and passionate about their art, nothing can stand in their way when it comes to achieving their goals.

What’s the bottom line?

Like dancing, martial arts must be taught.  There’s no such thing as a born dancer or martial artist. Time spent in class with instructors and other students prepares future dancers and martial artists for when they get up in front of others.  This goes for competitions, recitals, performances, and social dancing.

By the way, regardless of what sport or art you’re pursuing, I hope you’ll take a minute to check out this Dance Safari post, “Improve Your Ballroom Dancing with These 10 Habits“.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a hobby that will also prepare you to learn how to ballroom dance, martial arts is the way to go. Get yourself to some classes and know that you’re future is safer and more fun than if you don’t.