Friday, November 29, 2019

Online Dancing, Why Not?

Yes, you can learn all your dance steps online, at home, in school, with your friends, anywhere.  YouTube makes it possible.  Here are just three examples of what you can get yourself into, if you are curious to learn …

(Please return to this page at 


after you are finished on YouTube, to see more dance samples and for the rest of the story.  Thank you.)


THAT exercise will keep you in shape, too.  You even won’t need a partner for doing it, although, of course, having others doing it with you will be a lot more fun.  But, maybe, Hip Hop is not what you had in mind for dancing.  So, here is an example at the opposite end of the dance spectrum, classical ballroom dancing,

Solo Waltz from the the 2018 Russian Championship:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2L5JMZtufE

Maybe, if rather conventional ballroom dancing is for you, so that you’ll be able to step on the dance floor at the next wedding party of your friend, or your own, why not start with

Slow Foxtrot, a Basic Lesson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4dpzKOcVaw

OK.  Now you got the picture.  Yet really this is only the very beginning.  The web is full with dance instruction videos for all types of dances.  Plus, of course, there is a wealth of DVDs out there giving you the same thing, like, for example, from Arthur Murray Dance Studios


where, if everything fails, you can go to and have an in person dance lesson for singles or couples.  However, ONLINE is a lot cheaper, or even cost free, and available way beyond Arthur Murray’s 270 studios worldwide.

Enjoy!


Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Tango Your Way to Brain Health

from “Energize Your Brain” by BrainHQ Posit Science San Francisco:

Studies show that dancing reduces stress and improves mood—but also that it can improve cognitive function and reduce risk of dementia. One study compared dancing to biking, swimming, reading, doing crosswords, and playing golf, and found that of those activities, dancing was by far the best for the brain. Here are some ways you might incorporate dancing into your life:
1: Read this article from Stanford about how to make dancing as “intelligent” as possible. It will help you understand what types of dancing are best, and what you need to do to get the most brain benefits from dancing.
2: Sign up for a dance class, ideally one that’s partner-based. It can be a more advanced class for a type of dancing you already know, or a beginners’ class of a dance that’s new to you. Go to class and try your hardest while you’re there to learn the moves and respond to your partner’s moves.
3: Going to or hosting any parties? See if you can get the room dancing!
4: Dance at home! Get on YouTube or another video website and follow along with dancing tutorials, like this one for basic tango, this one for waltz, or this one for moonwalking. Keep practicing until you master a video, then move on to a new one.
Why is dancing good for the brain? 
Here’s a brief description of why dancing is especially good for the brain from Dr. Michael Merzenich: “Complex dances require you use multiple senses at the same time—sight, sound, and motion—coordinating your movements in time with the music and your partner’s steps, all while remembering a routine. That kind of multimodal activity gives your brain a great workout, in addition to the aerobic benefits of exercise.”
Reach BrainHQ at http://www.brainhq.com

Sunday, November 10, 2019

Good Parenting 101

What should a “Good Parenting” course look like?

Obviously, it would need to be geared to the particular audience to be reached, which means that under no circumstances can it be ONE course.  It rather needs to be an educational program going through different levels, the last of which to be an ongoing advisory with feedbag and consultancy available, consultancy ad-hoc by real people, online and on the phone.  Services like this already exist, for instance like the telephone number 911 for a general emergency, or 1-800-273-8255 to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.  Except that as of now no national (or international) “Good Parenting” hotline exists.

However that’s what ought to be established:  A “Good Parenting” educational program which should be running day and night for all ages, essentially being available to everyone throughout his/her entire life.  Maybe its name could be different, say instead “Family and Friends” or “Human Societal Membership” or something else.  The name won’t matter, but what is being taught will:  how to grow up as a human as part of a family, a community, a world, and becoming a better human exemplar till the day of death.  All of this is truly what good parenting is all about.

So, naturally, this educational program to the very young will look quite different than already the next level up to, say, 6 and 7 year olds.  And on and on. The word “parent” will probably not even appear in the early levels of the curriculum, but rather the ability to understand what is good and bad, desirable and not desirable, will be developed.  Relationships will be made clear, and how certain interactions produce predictable results.  The different forms of “love” will be realized, such as the love of parents and child, sibling to sibling, the family, the neighbors, the town and country, other country’s citizens, and the ultimate, a romantic love partner.

I guess, at age 10 or thereabouts the word “parent” and the concept of “parents” can be introduced, starting with the love parents bring along for their offspring from the day of their conception to forever, the sacrifices they make, and what else their job is as parent to do or supply.  Plus that a lot of responsibility comes along with that task, such as protecting their kids from harm, keeping them fed and clothed, making sure they go to school and learn, and so on.

When in their teens, the “Good Parenting” studies become a lot more important, and are more likely better understood because the youngsters’ minds are fully there, sharp and bright, by then.  Actually they’ll be hungry for learning anything at that stage, and certainly all about “Good Parenting,” a world not too far ahead of them.

Yet, the educational program ought not to end when they turn 20, because “Good Parenting” is really an ongoing activity which they are going to be involved with for the rest of their lives, either as someone being parented or not, or as a parent, eventually grand parent, great grand parent …


Society as a whole, and each member thereof individually, would greatly benefit if “Good Parenting” became a national program like learning the ABC.  It wouldn’t need to cost a fortune because most of it, particularly for the higher levels, could be done ONLINE.