Benefits of dance for the health and well-being of youth: comparison with athletes and sedentary

This study aimed to enquire about the potential benefits of dance among young people and its relationship to perceived well-being. To this end, this preliminary research juxtaposes a cohort of young dancers with athletes engaged in other sporting activities and a control group of sedentary young people. Using mixed methods, 96 young people were recruited and asked to complete a questionnaire, while 9 dancers and choreographers were interviewed. The questionnaire assessed subjective well-being using the KIDSCREEN-10 Index, perceived benefits and barriers to physical activity using the Benefits and Barriers to Exercise Scale, and body image using the Multidimensional Body-Body Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ). The main results show that, although there are no significant differences between dancers and athletes or sedentary people, dancers score higher on well-being perceive both more benefits and barriers to physical activity than the other groups and seem to attach greater importance to others' external evaluation of them, their fitness as well as their evaluation of their physical appearance. From the participants' point of view, dance can be assimilated to other sports in terms of demands, but it is also specific in certain expressive or communicative aspects. It shares with other sports the demands and difficulties of reconciling sport and academic/professional and family life. The above findings can have practical implications for education, sport and public policies.