Dancing and Swimming?

Tempo, rhythm and the coordination of arms (stroke), core, with legs and feet. Swimmers use various tempos - so does dance and music. If my wife ever finds out about those "tempo trainers" for your swim goggles, I'll be wearing one on my ear next time we dance at weddings and other events. :D

I danced ballet, tap and jazz from ages 6 to 14 while also swimming. I then gave up the dancing until I was 24. I gave up dancing when I decided to get back in to swimming at age 30. I can definitely see a relationship between tap dancing and swimming. The rhythm is in both activities. As for the pointing toes, dancing helps the ankles in kicking. One of the pre-workout stretches we do is a modified dance move - while standing on one leg, kick the other leg forward and back and then side to side. I am the only one on the team able to do this move while balancing. All others have to hold on to something for balance.

i've occasionally felt like swimming in rough water is like dancing a tango.... the ocean always leads.

Laura. There may be similarities between dance and swimming but I don't understand how there could be any relationship between the two. In one way, they are mutually exclusive. The amount of training time required to be a good swimmer or dancer eliminates the possibility of pursuing another serious activity. I was a good swimmer and competed on a top ten Division 1 team in college. I have a daughter who is a very good competitive dancer.

Hello everyone, Me, I think swimmers and dancers share grace, excellent body awareness and pointed toes :-) And more, but now it's up to you! Thanks, Laura I am living proof that this is not the case, although I wasn't feeling very graceful in the water today either...

The dance world is populated by many more unpleasant, nasty people than swimming. This is due to the nature of the activity. Swimming is measurable. Our performances are timed. They are not subjective or given a judged score. Nothing in dance can be measured or timed, so all scores and judge's opinions are considered disputable by chubby mothers who are living vicariously through their daughters' activities.

It all depends on the type of dance too. There are many different ways of dance...and I don't see how most of the "movements" at the clubs have anything to do with swimming.

I've noticed that the really fast swimmers are graceful and the slower swimmers are not graceful. Therefore, I could only see ballet as being beneficial to swimming. I think focusing on whole body movements in front of a mirror could carry over to swimming. I think there is alot of arm over head movements in ballet. This could expose a lack of range of motion and could reveal to the participant how graceful movements in the body should feel. Hey, if they use ballet for football players, it's gotta work for swimmers.

Hey, if they use ballet for football players, it's gotta work for swimmers. disney fantasia dance of the hours 3 hippopotamus - YouTube

I am assuming you do not mean synchronized swimming? Otherwise, I don't really see a connection between the two. As a quick example, consider size -- male gymnists would max out at 5'8" while most D1 male swimmers would be 6'2" or taller. It is totally different bodies.