Dance and Diabetes As an Elegant Tool to Fight This Condition

Dance and diabetes they say is an elegant way to help keep this condition at bay. This is what this tribe is doing to reach the people to keep them healthy for they are at higher risk to develop diabetes. We can do the same and dance away our pains and getting two birds in one shot. Not only are we getting the exercise but also we can socialize and have fun dancing and listening to the music.

Shelley Bointy demonstrated how to do a two-step dance. This was part of a workshop at Haskell Indian Nations University. She was showing the teachers how to use the round dance of the Native Americans so they can use it to motivate the students to prevent diabetes by exercising.



This song and dance workshop was organized by Shelley Bointy. This was where the Red Lake Singers from Minnesota performed a dance song. The group ranged in age from 21 to 67 years old. A group of Lawrence teachers joined them. At first, they did a slight shuffle with the left foot, then right. Pretty soon they were circling the room.

Right in front was Johnny Smith singing and beating the drum. The upper bodies moved to the beat of the drum and pretty soon they were sweating and feeling winded. The songs were short but they enabled the group to exercise for diabetes. It helped the teachers learn to use the round dancing of the Native Americans to motivate people to exercise and stop diabetes.

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Institutes of Health have been working together for several years on intervention programs directed at the Native American children. In addition to the song and dance, they employ examples from the past to develop healthy behaviors.

The 67-year old in the group had been singing and dancing for decades with these singers and dancers. After he had a heart attack, his doctor recommended that he should keep on dancing. He therefore continues to do the round dancing to keep his own condition properly managed. What a fun way to prevent complications by combining dance and diabetes.