The study, one of the largest of its kind, finds that children and adolescents consistently reported more positive mood after structured dance classes than before them — across every skill level, instructor, and dance style examined.

LIVERMORE, Calif., June 16, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Raising the Barre – In one of the largest prospective field studies to examine session-level mood change in recreational youth dance, children and adolescents reported maintained or improved mood in roughly 86% of dance classes, according to peer-reviewed research published in Frontiers in Psychology.

Study associates structured youth dance classes with maintained or improved mood across 4,000+ sessions.

Across more than 4,000 class sessions, students’ mood ratings after class were consistently higher than before. Skill level, dance genre, instructor experience, time of day, and day of week made no significant difference to the size of the effect, suggesting the benefit is a general property of well-run dance classes rather than something that requires a specific style, schedule, or instructor.

“What I find incredible is not just that the kids felt better after class. It’s how consistent it was. It didn’t matter what style they danced, how advanced they were, or who was teaching. It showed up for the whole class,” said Tiffany C. Henderson, the study’s lead author, co-founder of Tiffany’s Dance Academy, Twinkle Star Dance Academy, and the non-profit Raising the Barre.

Research began in 2024 as the capstone project of Henderson’s applied positive psychology studies at the University of Pennsylvania and was conducted in collaboration with faculty members there.

With rising rates of youth anxiety and depression reported internationally and many youth mental health resources focusing on clinical intervention, dance represents a widely accessible activity to potentially support young people’s physical, mental, and social wellbeing.

Building on the initial findings, studies are now being led by Dr. Monica Ellwood-Lowe, assistant professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education and director of the Minds, Experiences, and Language Lab, to investigate the role of dance and executive and cognitive function.

“We have the incredible opportunity to delve deeper into these initial findings, to watch in real time as children learn and perfect new dance skills,” said Ellwood-Lowe. “In close collaboration with Tiffany’s Dance Academy and the Twinkle Star Dance curriculum, we will investigate children’s moment-to-moment learning dynamics, how those dynamics interact with the broader classroom environment, and how all of this shapes children’s development over time.”

More information is available at https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1719704/full.