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By Any Measure

By Any Measure

No art unconsidered

Shake It Up: The Benefits of Free-Form Dance May Rival Those of Other Forms of Movement

March 6, 2025 by Sunil Iyengar Leave a Comment

When we talk about the arts and DIY, we commonly refer to craft activities or teaching oneself how to play a musical instrument. But what could be more DIY than free-form dancing? The adjective says it all. Free-form, freestyle, or free dance is a series of unstructured, personally directed movements in which creativity and improvisation are at a premium. In a recent article based on Arts Endowment-supported research, Northeastern University’s Aston McCullough asserts that free-form dancing should become more widely known as a healthy physical activity. To most people, after all, the option is instantly available.

The starting-point for McCullough’s article—which appeared last November in PLOS One—is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. The guidelines state that adults should do at least two-and-a-half hours of “moderate-intensity” physical activity per week. However, the guidelines also say that physical activity bouts “of any length” can contribute to health benefits, provided that the activity is of “moderate-to-vigorous” intensity. 

If this is true, then it should be possible by dancing however one would like—even on a sporadic basis—to attain levels of physical activity conducive to health gains. But how do we know that self-determined regimens of free-form dance can meet this threshold? Enter Dr. McCullough.

In a small, pilot study, 48 adults between 18 and 85 years old were asked to “dance in their usual fashion” with and without music they had pre-selected. These bouts occurred for five minutes each. Twice, the subjects were asked to dance to an intensity they perceived as “moderate,” and twice to an intensity they perceived as “vigorous.” The bouts were separated by a three-minute rest period. 

The adults took lab tests before the session, and, while dancing, each wore a calorimeter and a heart monitor. It turns out that most participants were excellent judges of their physical activity levels: when asked to dance solo to a “moderate” intensity—with or without music—all managed to reach moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, as measured by percent of heart rate reserve (HRR) or metabolic equivalents (METs) used. 

When asked to dance at “vigorous” intensity, with music, 92 percent of subjects engaged in vigorous physical activity as measured by percent of HRR. Without music, it was 94 percent. In terms of METs, more than 80 percent of dancers to music rated vigorous physical activity, compared with 58 percent of those who danced without music. 

At the group level, too, “a self-determined moderate or vigorous intensity was sufficient for eliciting a moderate-to-vigorous [physical activity] intensity,” McCullough writes. Indeed, “some participants tended to perceive they were dancing at lower intensities than were otherwise observed” via oxygen uptake or heart rate responses, he notes.

Overall, preliminary evidence shows that, at the group level, absolute physical-activity levels “elicited during self-determined moderate intensity solo, free-form dance bouts are of a similar intensity to those reported for ballroom dancing with a partner, ballet barre sequences, modern dance classes and performances, and other modes of [physical activity, or PA] like bicycling at 9.4 mph or walking backwards at 3.5 mph,” the article concludes. Moreover, no dance-specific training is required, McCullough adds. “Free-form dancing is immediately accessible to most everyone, and it is a [physical activity] mode that is unhampered by PA barriers such as neighborhood walkability.”

I might just stop here to wriggle around in my cubicle. Cue the music.

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About Sunil and Josephine

Sunil Iyengar directs the Office of Research & Analysis at the National Endowment for the Arts. Under his leadership, the office has produced dozens of research reports, hosted periodic research events and webinars, led strategic plan development for the agency, and established research and … [more] about About Sunil and Josephine

By Any Measure

Aesthetics meets analysis in a monthly series of podcasts and blog posts from the National Endowment for the Arts.  Once upon a time, writers and artists were skeptical—if not morbid—about the application of science to questions of natural beauty, aesthetics, and arts and culture. Think of … [more] about By Any Measure

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