Middlesex University’s Year One students participated in workshops based around community dance. ‘Community dance is a strand of participatory dance practice defined by particular values, intentions, qualities and methodologies’ (FCD, 2006). From any type of dance you are able to communicate it’s norms and values of technique, confidence and strength to mundane life to benefit yourself which is making community dance increasingly popular. People who have taken part in community dance get to experience and translate these values making the experience almost addictive for first-time performers. It also enables people from all backgrounds to participate in rhythmical movement together, making it popular in today’s society. Community dance is inclusive, meaning that anybody who wanted to participate can be accommodated to, whilst it giving all people a chance to learn about dance and developing personal creativity further through the learning process of the workshop. ‘You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have’ (Angelou, M. n.d). Not only is it fun and expressive, it also has many physical and mental health benefits which contribute to the growing popularity of using community dance for people struggling with health issues. Results of using dance to counteract these issues are weight loss, increased confidence and improved strength and flexibility.
Community dance has been used to help people with health conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease affects older people who have a reduction of a chemical called dopamine due to the loss of substantia nigra which are nerve cells. People who have Parkinson’s have symptoms such as tremors (uncontrollable shaking of body parts), slow movement and stiff, inflexible muscles. Evidently, dance would help relieve the tension that people suffering with Parkinson’s disease face in everyday life which ultimately improves their health. Dance would be making them feel physically better, affecting their mental health by improving their mood because the community dance they participate in would be alleviating the chronic pain that they face in everyday life. ‘Dance for Parkinson’s’ was developed by the Mark Morris Dance Group (referred to as MMDG) for people to build social skills, relieve pain and to have fun. The movement started in Brooklyn, America when MMDG developed a programme for the Brooklyn Parkinson’s Group. ‘Participants are provided with the opportunity to explore movement and music in a variety of ways, guided by trained teachers who integrate different forms of dance – modern, ballet, folk, tap, improvisation and choreographic repertory.’ (Dance for Parkinson’s, 2015). MMDG then toured the UK and included a programme to increase awareness of Parkinson’s disease that included workshops for people to attend who wanted to continue the work of Mark Morris in the UK. Classes have continued in the UK for people with Parkinson’s focussing on the factors people with the disease face such as coordination, flexibility and balance, aiming to improve these factors for the individuals who suffer with the disease. The ‘Dance for Parkinson’s’ project then sparked different affluent constitutions such as Rambert to look into other diseases and health issues that could be made more bearable for sufferers by using community dance as a coping mechanism. Rambert started to look into Dementia and Alzheimers disease which is where sufferers memories break down until they forget how to do basic tasks. Rambert now runs separate classes for these diseases that include working with a partner to build social skills and looking through the history archives of Rambert as a memory-jogging exercise. Because of ‘Dance for Parkinson’s’ and the chain reaction that it has had in the UK, so many peoples lives have become slightly easier and happier, all down to the movement of the body. This clearly shows that dance and health compliment each other exceptionally well.
Each of the workshops the students took part in at Middlesex University had a theme or variety of people involved, for example Counterpoint, a dance company for over 55’s who aim to change perceptions of the elderly whilst showing that age shouldn’t restrict your movement. The company took part in the class with the students to show the company’s aim of changing perception. Members of Amici, a company that integrates disabled people and regular dancers participated in a workshop and emphasised their intentions of developing their understanding of movement further by learning from one another. Another workshop with one of the University’s lecturers, Maga Radlowska, was based around teenagers and dance. ‘61% of 10-17 year old girls have self esteem issues in the UK’ (Dove Global Girls Beauty and Confidence, 2017). Dance can help mend these issues by prompting teenagers to develop confidence through movement then translate to everyday life. Michael Joseph taught a workshop on boys and dance that included the style Capoeira, he believed that because of the stylistic features such as high kicks and jumps as it makes young boys feel masculine and powerful, affecting their mental health positively.
A project named ‘Salsa on prescription’ in Gloucestershire aimed to improve health by increasing physical activity, targeting those who were experiencing ill health. The project was structured by Stroud District Council due to the need to increase physical activity over the district, they found that community dance was an alternative activity for health improvement. People with health issues, mostly elderly, were referred by a medical professional to join the class taught by a professional salsa teacher for 12 weeks. At the 12th week the medical professional reviews the patient’s progress. Medical professionals found that there were many improvements in the patients health such as weight loss and asthma being improved. Figures have shown that 80% of the patient’s health and particular reason why they were referred to the classes had improved (Plymouthdance.org.uk, 2018). ‘Deterioration in physical functioning is partly the result of the lack of physical activity’ (Dance Movement Therapy: Theory and Practice, 1992) This project shows that the community dance that the patients did had an impact on them, from the patients deterioration of health that made them weaker, to starting to become more physically fit by participating in the Salsa sessions thus making them stronger and more able to do things in everyday life that they wouldn’t have been able to do without the Salsa classes they took part in. Students at Middlesex University related to this as the dance workshop with the theme of ‘Boys and Dance’ taught by Joseph, used Capoeira to teach. The class included high kicks and martial arts inspired actions because most boys are intrigued by high energy exercise which is physically challenging and fast paced. As the students were challenged by the motif’s that were included in the workshop similarly to the patients participating in ‘Salsa on Prescription’ it shows that when you are being taught a new type of movement you have had no previous experience in, it may challenge your body comparably to high intensity movement would which increases your endurance of fitness further, affecting your health.
Another project in Bristol named ‘Restaged Schools’ Dance and Health’ wanted to involve more deprived children in more dance engagement activity. Set up by Bristol City Council and Active Bristol, the aims were to introduce more deprived children to community dance because of their low levels of physical activity. 158 children in years five and six participated in weekly activity over a four month period for a performance at the end of the four months. ‘Sessions were designed to combat a number of health and fitness issues; namely improving resting and recovery heart rate, core strength, cardio vascular strength, balance and flexibility.’ (Plymouthdance.org.uk, 2018). The results found that the children had improved cardio vascular activity, heart rate recovery and confidence because of the project. Confidence was developed through the lead up to the performance which is extremely important for 10-12 year olds leading up to secondary school. As well as getting an introduction to dance, the students mental and physical health improved because of the project they had taken part in. It gave them the opportunity to explore personal creativity and possibly inspire individuals to start dance classes to keep fit. The students at Middlesex found that during the ‘Counterpoint’ workshop the elderly participants thought that being involved in workshops with younger people would be intimidating but concluded that the students made them feel at ease which developed their confidence when performing movement in front of them. It enabled the movement quality to be better and more fluid which altered the perception of elderly dancers to the students which is Counterpoint’s aim. This shows that when participants in community dance are confident, no matter what age or ability, anyone can make dance look easy.
In conclusion it is clear that dance and health are able to rely on each other to benefit a variety of people. Incorporating dance into exercise to benefit health has proven to be a fun way to become more healthy as well as understanding the movement of the body and knowing what personal limits are, people are able to develop endurance of fitness further. The projects included have demonstrated that community dance is an engaging activity, it develops constant creativity through experiencing different styles of movement in workshops whilst being in an inclusive environment that everyone is welcomed into.