BUFFALO, N.Y. — At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Candice Marie Barlow’s dance classes became therapy to those who came — helping connect them to others in a time of isolation.
“Dance therapy, I believe, helps your emotional health, your mental health and your physical health,” Barlow, the founder of Dance Therapy With Can Marie, said. “Dance has been around for thousands of years beyond the music and the movement — it is an expression.”
Dance therapy is the use of movement to promote emotional, social, mental and physical into one activity.
It helps people with physical health including strength, coordination and cardio health, but it also helps with stress reduction and even with relief from anxiety and depression, according to the American Dance Therapy Association.
Mental health and physical health are not separate — stress and anxiety can negatively impact your body.
Symptoms of stress and anxiety include headaches or body pain, high blood pressure in addition to loss of sleep and tension, according to The National Institute of Mental Health.
For regular Briandi Little, the connection between the mind and body was clear.
“We don’t realize how much movement is therapeutic,” she said. “It’s releasing endorphins, not just because you're physically active but you’re engaging with people. Everyone is happy to be here and you go home with that feeling.”
The classes are just as beneficial for social connection.
Barlow stopped the classes during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic but after several people messaged her saying they missed them, she found ways to offer the class and meet the necessary safety protocols — whether that was through Facebook Lives, socially distanced at parks or even with masks on.
That connection is what makes the class special, said Barlow.
“They were able to be free during that time when we felt very confined and alone,” she said.
Dance Therapy with Can Marie takes place Monday and Wednesday at 7 p.m. and on Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. at Nottingham Terrace.
It costs $8 per class.