Why Performing Arts Education Is Essential in Schools
Students from Los Penasquitos Elementary School, San Diego with SCB Artistic Director Toby Batley
When school districts have to make budget cuts, arts education is typically one of the first programs to get axed. Yet performing arts education, including ballet, theater, and music, is essential for the holistic development of grade school students as they prepare to become productive, conscientious members of society. This comprehensive approach to education not only nurtures artistic talents, but fosters a range of skills vital for personal and professional success.
Here are some key benefits of performing arts education that are anything but disposable.
Healthy Self-Expression and Cognitive Growth
Activities like dance, theater, and music allow students to process complex emotions and challenges in healthy ways, enhancing their ability to communicate and empathize with others. This can be particularly vital for young people from marginalized communities and unstable home lives, as the performing arts are a proven deterrent of delinquency and drug use. Ballet, with its expressive movements and rich storytelling, is an excellent example of a performing art that allows kids to explore relatable narratives from a variety of perspectives.
Comprehensive Fitness and Physical Health
Dance disciplines like ballet offer an attractive alternative to traditional physical education, particularly for kids who don’t enjoy sports or conventional exercise. Practicing dance promotes strength, flexibility, coordination, and endurance, providing a balanced physical workout that is both enjoyable and challenging. This is essential given that learning healthy fitness habits at a young age can help to prevent obesity throughout kids’ lives.
Workplace and Life Skills Development
Performing arts education is instrumental in building key workplace and life skills. Teamwork, communication, empathy, goal-setting, discipline, personal accountability, and problem-solving are all cultivated through the process of learning a discipline and preparing for a performance. They’re also a must in any kind of workplace or relationship as well as in social, political, and civic arenas. In short, performing arts training prepares young people to be thoughtful and functional adults.
Cultural Inclusivity and Social Awareness
Inclusive performing arts programs play a crucial role in engaging all kinds of student populations, fostering a sense of community and cultural awareness. Through these programs, students gain valuable exposure to peers from various backgrounds, creating opportunities for cultural exchange and the challenging of harmful stereotypes. This works especially well in globally recognized performance disciplines like ballet, a universal language that needs no words to tell its stories.
Boost Your School’s Performing Arts Curriculum With Southern California Ballet
Southern California Ballet is a world class dance facility in San Diego that trains dancers for a professional career, empowers people for a life of success, and welcomes the community to be part of an extraordinary experience. Our mission is to empower aspiring dancers to reach their full potential and to elevate the community through educational programs and imaginative performances.
To diversify audiences and make ballet accessible to groups that have traditionally had limited access to it, Southern California Ballet runs several community and school outreach programs focused on creating new opportunities for engagement. Give your child a high-quality performing arts education by enrolling them in our summer intensive program or summer dance camp!
Southern California Ballet’s training philosophy has been carefully honed by its artistic directors with the goal of providing effective, healthy, and foundational ballet training. We offer classes for people of all ages (4 years old and up). Learn more about our classes and levels and reach out to join our academy today!
