5 Ways to Dance Away Your Holiday Stress

CURB HOLIDAY STRESS WITH THE MAGIC OF DANCE

By Jules Szabo

“Fine! I’ll just go alone,” you blurt out to your five precious family members who are eating and whining at the dinner table.

That’s how holiday stress can manifest. One minute, as seasonal demands descend upon everyone, you think you’re fine handling them on top of your family, job, and home… and the next minute you explode like a pubescent teenager.

Why, for adults, aren’t holidays full of magical growing trees, dancing candy canes, and a handsome life-size nutcracker, the way they were for many of us as children? Where did the magic of the Nutcracker and holidays go?

As wives, mothers, daughters of aging parents, and employees of challenging jobs, the deafening demands of holiday parties, shopping lists, and incessant holiday songs seem to drown out that simple, sweet, intoxicating joy we felt as children when Clara successfully defended her newest BFF with no more than a ballet slipper.

There’s something about the pixie-dust wonderment of dance, both on the stage and in the studio, that connects us to our happy inner child. I submit that reconnecting with our free-spirited, wide-eyed, fantastical, dance-love-child can help calm the soul, even during the worst holiday chaos.

Here are 5 simple choices we can make that enable dance to infiltrate and lift our weary holiday spirits:

1. INSIST ON GOING TO SEE AT LEAST ONE TRADITIONAL HOLIDAY BALLET

Whether it’s a professional production or a local studio recital of The Nutcracker, or any other holiday production, the inevitable spirit uplifting these holiday shows provide will be well worth the price of admission. Extra holiday bonus points are noted for supporting your local dance studios and/or performance venues.

2. FILL YOUR PERSONAL AIRWAVES WITH TCHAIKOVSKY’S NUTCRACKER MUSIC

Let’s see if changing up our go-to musical narration with Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker makes us smile a bit more behind our earbuds and in our cars and kitchens. Even the best of us become weary of cheeky Christmas songs while doing holiday shopping, but it’s nearly impossible to keep our hearts from swelling during Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers.

3. TAKE A MINUTE TO YOURSELF AND WATCH BALLET CLIPS ON THE INTERNET

To kick the holiday blues, search “ballet” and just start scrolling. Whether it’s an outstanding ballerina, a full ballet class, or an adorable 4-year-old learning how to dance, these videos are certain to relax and inspire us.

4. TRY AN ADULT DANCE CLASS DURING THE MIDDLE OF THE HOLIDAYS

It sounds crazy. It sounds impossible. With a thousand additional things on our plates, the last thing we could possibly do is face our fears and take a dance class, right? Wrong. Don’t think too much about it - just search “best online dance classes to try at home” or “online dance classes for paraprofessionals” and take a chance on one that offers free trial classes!

5. GET EXCITED ABOUT FINDING AN ADULT DANCE CLASS THAT YOU CAN START TAKING REGULARLY

Let’s explore this idea for a minute... Just imagine finding an adult dance fitness class that we truly loved. Imagine the positive impact this would have on our bodies and spirits; imagine the friends we would make. It’s not that hard to search for either in-person or online options. Maybe this year, the gift of dance is the best holiday gift we could give ourselves.

The holidays are supposed to bring us joy. Sometimes we just need a little nudge to push us into a good place. Reconnecting to the magic of dance has a unique and dependable way of decreasing our heart rates, calming our nerves, lifting our spirits, and reminding us of the things we love most in life.

Start with a holiday show and see whether your rediscovered love of dance will spill out onto our loved ones as well.

And who knows? Maybe this holiday season, instead of sitting alone, you’ll find precious faces sitting beside you, with their eyes all ablaze as a girl and her prince fall in love watching dance.

Jules Szabo, founder of The Dancer’s Workout® (TDW) is a classically trained ballerina from the UNC School of the Arts and former corporate executive who helps busy working women, mothers, and empty nesters rediscover their love of dance. She specializes in the paraprofessional dancer (adult ballet, jazz, and contemporary dancers who are not beginners and not professionals, who simply love dance over other forms of exercise). Learn more at www.thedancersworkout.com