Give Ballroom Dancing a Whirl

Quick Win

Dancing increases the brain’s mental flexibility — the ability to switch attention between one task and another — a skill that becomes ever more important as we age.

Try This Today

• Join a group. Find out if there’s a USA Dance chapter in your area. If you’re near one, attend a chapter social dance. They often begin with a one-hour dance lesson.
• Try other options. If you’re not near a chapter, try finding ballroom classes offered by other groups, such as:
  • Local college continuing education programs
  • City or county recreation departments
  • Organizations such as the YMCA, community centers or Elks or Moose lodges
• Find a meetup. Search for dance groups or classes on the group-activity site Meetup.com.

Why

Dancing engages multiple regions in the brain, including sensory and motor circuits, according to a 2020 report on music from AARP’s Global Council on Brain Health. It can also improve your working memory, according to a study that followed 333 adults aged 55 and older who participated in a Latin dance program, reported in 2022 in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. Partner dancing has important social benefits, too: The interactive experience of moving together promotes connectedness and strengthens the brain areas devoted to empathy, according to a study of 81 young professional dancers and nondancers published in 2022 in Human Brain Mapping.