Association of Senior Dance Participation with Mental Well-Being and Functional Performance in Older Women: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background/Objectives: Community-based activities supporting function and well-being are increasingly relevant. This cross-sectional study examined senior dance in older women, focusing on participation duration and additional regular physical activity. Methods: Participants were 160 women: 66 in senior dance only (SD), 34 in senior dance plus additional regular physical activity (SD+PA), 30 physically inactive older women, and 30 physically inactive younger women aged 25–40 years. Eight outcomes were assessed. Welch’s ANOVA and prespecified Welch–Satterthwaite contrasts with Benjamini–Hochberg correction were used; duration analyses used partial Spearman correlations adjusted for weekly attendance and age. Results: Overall group differences were observed for all outcomes (all p ≤ 0.002). Seven outcomes remained significant in the first planned contrast, which did not isolate a dance-specific association. No SD versus SD+PA difference remained significant after correction. Longer SD participation was associated with better Timed Up and Go (rₛ = −0.428, 95% CI −0.610 to −0.204), 30-Second Chair Stand (rₛ = 0.425, 95% CI 0.200–0.607), and 2-Minute Step Test performance (rₛ = 0.423, 95% CI 0.198–0.606; all q = 0.0013). WBI-5 did not remain significant after correction (q = 0.061). Conclusions: Longer participation was most consistently associated with integrated functional performance, extending observational evidence beyond short-term intervention settings. Prospective studies are warranted; causal effects cannot be inferred. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT07170241.