Making Waltzing Compulsory

[DavidY]

According to BBC Radio 4's "The World Tonight", the Chinese are going to make dancing compulsory in schools from September - including teaching the older children to Waltz.

Real Player Link here (it's about 40 minutes into the programme) but it will probably only work for 24 hours I think.

They're doing it to combat childhood obesity, apparently, although the correspondent from China was dubious about whether the children themselves would want to do it.

[ducasi]

Good idea – almost all schools in Scotland teach dancing, and I think it should be made compulsory to catch the ones that don't.

Here's a Guardian article about the Chinese campaign.

[David Bailey]

Yeah, but waltzing's not exactly aerobic activity is it?

[DavidY]

Yeah, but waltzing's not exactly aerobic activity is it?

Maybe not, but I certainly use more energy at a ballroom lesson than at MJ.

When you've been told to "take bigger steps" often enough , you're actually moving about a lot in a waltz. Quickstep even more so.

[Mythical]

"Most importantly, letting students waltz will create hotbeds of adolescent love. That is not good. Schools work very hard to prevent students from falling in love too early."

[straycat]

Yeah, but waltzing's not exactly aerobic activity is it?

Perhaps not ... but done properly, it's still good exercise. And even in its gentlest form, it I'm guessing it's a lot more exercise than the kid in the photo ever gets...

[DavidY]

"Most importantly, letting students waltz will create hotbeds of adolescent love. That is not good. Schools work very hard to prevent students from falling in love too early."

Looks like the prospect of hotbeds has caused them to amend the policy..
BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | China takes steps to curb passion

[happygoldfish]

Yeah, but waltzing's not exactly aerobic activity is it?

Yes it is. Exactly. See:

http://cks.library.nhs.uk/patient_in...aflet/exercise

Exercise is exertion of the body's muscles. The aim of exercise is to achieve a beneficial level of fitness and health, physically and mentally.
There are many different ways to exercise. Those who want to lose weight as well as increase fitness will probably take part in organised aerobic exercise, such as circuit training, step-aerobics or dance classes.

Aerobic exercise is called cardiovascular exercise.

This means that it raises the heart rate, causing blood to circulate more quickly around the body and deliver more oxygen to the muscles.

http://www.bhf.org.uk/thinkfit/print...606&artID=7269

Activity will make you feel good and can also:

Improve the health of your heart and circulation
You need to do endurance-type activities such as brisk walking, gardening, cycling, swimming, dancing, jogging or tennis. Endurance activities are sometimes called aerobic or cardiovascular activities. As well as strengthening your heart they use up calories, helping with weight control.

And see also http://www.ceroc-manchester.co.uk/benefits.html

Takes your breath away, doesn't it?

[Baruch]

Yeah, but waltzing's not exactly aerobic activity is it?

I dunno - the Viennese Waltz looks pretty aerobic to me.

[Gav]

I dunno - the Viennese Waltz looks pretty aerobic to me.

I prefer Viennese Whirls myself. Do they count as aerobic exercise?

[Baruch]

I prefer Viennese Whirls myself. Do they count as aerobic exercise?

I think that depends how you eat them, and how far you walk to buy them.

[purplehyacinth]

There is a lot to be said for having more waltzing. IMHO there is not enough waltzing (and in particular, good waltzing) in the world.

(not that I like waltzing or anything )