DANCING AND GOOD HEALTH
THE dance is its own justification. It needs no excuse, nor do the many millions who share its delights need to be told how beneficial it is to them. They know that they are healthier and happier men and women, and therefore get more out of life and give more to others, because they dance. If the purpose of life is, in the words of an immortal document, the pursuit of happiness, surely those who train their bodies to move in harmony with natural laws are fitting themselves for capacity to enjoy all that life brings. To live well requires good physical health, for which a prime requisite is an abundance of pleasant exercise. Not alone to those who are free from the necessity of the various forms of exertion that are termed "work," but to every human being, exercise is as necessary as food. To those whose daily callings involve substantial physical labor, the need for exercise is just as great as for those of lighter employments. And nowhere can there be found so satisfactory a bodily exercise as in the dance. Sports, outdoor games, horseback riding, etc., have their place, but are available to a comparatively small percentage of all the people. Now that the introduction of the automobile has turned America into a nation of riders on soft cushions, the need for proper exercise has become more important than ever.
To live well, breathe well, sleep well, the body demands activities that will develop and strengthen it. The most delightful form in which this want can be supplied is in the dance.
The universal desire of mankind is for enjoyment; the qualification of physical, mental and aesthetic needs. To enjoy requires the possession of the Roman prime essential; a sound mind in a sound body. So closely are physical and mental health related, so complex the reactions of a disordered nervous system on bodily health, or the effect on the mind of physical weakness, that the wisest doctors do not pretend to say this illness is either wholly mental or physical. They do know that some violation of the laws of right living, some neglect to follow natural impulses, is chiefly responsible for the long list of ills that afflict mankind. And they are unanimously agreed that proper diets and an abundance of exercise are far better than cures; they prevent disease.
It is not necessary to go into physiological details to explain why the well-nourished body demands suitable exercise. That it does is an admitted fact. The question that confronts the millions who know that their bodily condition is not what it should be is: "What must I do to make myself stronger, and capable of enjoying life better?" The obvious answer is: "Dance."
In dancing there is found a form of exercise that stimulates circulation of the blood to the remotest finger tip; that develops, under proper training, every muscle; that aids digestion to perform its functions of supplying nourishment to every tissue of the body, and brings to the dancers the glow of vigor and animation. These effects of the dance have long been proved by the experience of millions of men and women. Other millions who have not yet tried it will sooner or later make the experiment. They will find that life takes on a new outlook, that instead of listless indifference they are actively interested in many things that they formerly ignored; that with restored bodily vigor they have quickened minds and better appreciation of all their daily contacts with their fellows, and that they are enjoying each day's existence with a zest never known before.
The dance is a physical, mental and moral upbuilding. It brings a greater capacity for success in the daily tasks and duties. It stimulates and restores. It shows the door to the glooms and welcomes gladness. It brings self-confidence in undertaking new enterprises, and banishes the mental depressions that result from bodily ills. It forms new circles of agreeable companions, and affords opportunities for congenial friendships. It avoids wasted expenditures for nauseous drugs and doctor's bills. It puts humanity in harmony with fundamental natural laws, and makes of all who resort to it healthier, happier and better men and women.