What are Physical Activities?
activities which involve
Physical activity is defined
as any bodily movement
produced by skeletal
muscles that requires energy
expenditure. Physical
inactivity (lack of physical
activity) has been identified
as the fourth leading risk
factor for global mortality
(6% of deaths globally).
Moreover, physical
inactivity is estimated to be
the main cause for
approximately 21–25% of
breast and colon cancers,
27% of diabetes and
approximately 30% of
ischaemic heart disease
burden.
Regular and adequate levels
of physical activity in adults:
 Reduce the risk of
hypertension, coronary heart
disease, stroke, diabetes,
breast and colon cancer,
depression and the risk of
falls;
 Improve bone and functional
health; and
 Are a key determinant of
energy expenditure, and thus
fundamental to energy
balance and weight control.
The term "physical activity"
should not be mistaken with
"exercise". Exercise, is a
subcategory of physical
activity that is planned,
structured, repetitive, and
purposeful in the sense that
the improvement or
maintenance of one or more
components of physical
fitness is the objective.
Physical activity includes
exercise as well as other
uses the body as an instrument of
bodily movement and are
done as part of playing,
working, active
transportation, house chores
and recreational activities.
Increasing physical activity
is a societal, not just an
individual problem.
Therefore it demands a
population-based, multi-
sectoral, multi-disciplinary,
and culturally relevant
approach.
What is Dance?
Dance, patterned and rhythmic
bodily movements, usually
performed to music, that serve as
a form of communication or
expression. Human beings
express themselves naturally
through movement. Dance is the
transformation of ordinary
functional and expressive
movement into extraordinary
movement for extraordinary
purposes; even a common
movement such as walking is
performed in dance in a patterned
way, perhaps in circles or to a
special rhythm, and it occurs in a
special context. Dance may
involve a fixed vocabulary of
movements that have no meaning
in themselves, as in much of
ballet and European folk dance,
or pantomime and symbolic
gestures may be used, as in many
Asian dance forms.
Importance of Dance as Physical
Activity and Recreational
Dance is more than the exploring
of different ways to make a shape
or learning a series of steps to
music; it is a way of moving that
expression and communication.
Through dance, students learn
teamwork, focus, and
improvisational skills. Dance
awakens new perceptions in
children which help them learn
and think in new ways.
Children need to express and
communicate their ideas and to
be given the opportunity to make
creative decisions, even at a
young age. This decision making
promotes self-esteem and
independent thinking for
children. Learning the movement
of others helps expand the child’s
movement vocabulary while
creating one’s own movement
will put the child in a teaching
role and give her the chance for
her voice to be heard. Giving the
students the freedom of making
choices within a structure
encourages them to reach beyond
what comes easy to them and use
their imagination, thus allowing
them to test their own personal
boundaries.
Dance also enables students to
better understand themselves and
the world in which they live.
Through the arts, teachers can
often teach children to recognize
the contribution of all cultures to
the fabric of our society and
increase the understanding of
diversity and values of all people.
Dance lends itself well to this
task through learning traditional
dances and creating new ones
based on children’s ideas. Dance
also enhances skills of
perception, observation, and
concentration which will
undoubtedly help students in all
of their school subjects.