Dance-based exercise interventions in older adults: a narrative review examining the effects on depression, cognitive-motor function, mood, and quality of life.

Dance-based exercise has emerged as a promising non-pharmacological approach to support healthy aging by simultaneously engaging cognitive, motor, emotional, and social functions. This narrative review synthesizes evidence from randomized controlled trials and selected clinical studies investigating the effects of various dance modalities, including social dance, Latin dance, square dance, tango, and dance-based exergaming, on depression, cognitive-motor function, mood, and quality of life (QoL) in older adults. Overall, current evidence suggests that dance-based interventions may improve executive function, global cognition, attention, memory, balance, gait, mobility, and lower-limb strength. Several studies also reported improvements in depressive symptoms, mood, social engagement, and QoL. Rhythm- and dual-task-based dance programs have been proposed to enhance cognitive-motor integration and may contribute to improved neuromuscular coordination and sensorimotor performance. However, considerable heterogeneity in intervention characteristics, participant populations, outcome measures, and study quality limits direct comparisons across studies and precludes definitive conclusions regarding the superiority of dance over conventional exercise or the underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Overall, dance-based exercise appears to be a feasible and enjoyable multimodal intervention with the potential to benefit cognitive, motor, and psychosocial health in older adults. Nevertheless, further well-designed, adequately powered, and longitudinal studies with standardized intervention protocols are needed to clarify its long-term effectiveness and the mechanisms underlying its potential benefits.