Let's dance
This post is written by Jane, one of our osteopaths. It covers the benefits of dance to a range of mental health issues raised in the BBC programme 'Dancing to Happiness' presented by Darcy Bussell.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0btt5n1
Best wishes from Jane and everyone here at Eyre Place.
Dance and mental health
It’s my turn to write a blog and I am going to wax lyrical about dance again, but this time for a slightly different reason. We all know that dancing benefits your body, improving strength, muscle tone, posture, balance, bone health, energy levels and mobility, but it also benefits mental health. Early in December, the BBC aired a programme called ‘Darcey Bussell: Dancing to happiness’, which I watched over the Christmas break. Did any of you catch it? As someone who is passionate about dance, it really struck a chord with me, especially as it focussed on the positive changes dance can bring to mental health.
Teenagers
The
programme is hosted by the delightful Darcey Bussell, who introduced
the audience to four groups of people with first hand experience of the
benefits of dance upon their mental health. The first is a group of
teenagers who each have their own mental health challenges such as
asperger’s, anxiety, depression and issues with confidence/self esteem.
The group all took part in a six-week programme, which allowed them to
jointly choreograph a dance, which they later performed to their
families. The process afforded them a safe environment to make friends,
to voice the issues that they struggle with and to express their
feelings through dance, thus providing them with an outlet for those
feelings. At the end of the six weeks, the group and their families
reported some really positive changes, such as a feeling of having grown
as a person, feeling mentally stronger, increased body confidence, and
feeling more positive about the future.
Parkinsons
The second group
of people each had a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and were taking
social dance classes as part of Parkinson’s research at the University
of Hertfordshire. The benefits of dance for this group were numerous.
Physically, mobility and balance increased, whilst fatigue decreased,
and mentally, there was an improvement to social behaviour, short and
long term improvements to mood, increased motivation to carry out
activity the day after dance class, stimulation of present day memory,
as well as reminiscing/triggering memories from the past.
Silver Swans
The
next group Darcey visited was a group of ‘Silver Swans’. The Royal
Academy of Dance have set up the Silver Swan initiative to encourage the
over fifties, at a time when retirement might lead to isolation and
loneliness, to return to ballet or take it up for the first time. Darcey
joined a group for their weekly ballet class and heard how the
attendees, the oldest of which was a sprightly eighty-four, had
benefitted from dance. Amongst the numerous social and mental benefits
were: feeling younger, feeling less isolated and lonely, happiness, a
feeling of floating out of the room and the opportunity to temporarily
forget ones problems. The eldest member of the group voiced how it was
the first thing that she had done on her own after losing her husband
and although she was terrified to go to the first class alone, she felt
100% better after.
Dementia
Darcey travelled to the Eric Liddell
Centre in Edinburgh to meet the final group of
people - those living with varied levels of dementia, who attend weekly
seated-swing dance classes. Although it was said that some of the
attendees couldn’t remember the previous weeks class, or even the
teacher, they often remembered the music and sometimes would even
pre-empt themovements, indicating that the dance classes were
stimulating their memory. Three wonderful statements that some of the
attendees made to camera were that they were ‘motivated to move more’,
feeling more ‘alive’ and that dance was ‘the only enjoyment I get’.
That’s a pretty good outcome for anyone!
Dance is back in my life
I really
enjoyed the programme because it really resonated with me. I am a life
long dancer, at least so far, and there is a reason for that – there are
so many benefits, both physical and mental. Having returned to ballet
and tap in the last two years, as well as taking up zumba, I have
realised that I don’t feel like me when dance is missing from my life,
it really is a part of me. I hadn’t realised until I watched this
programme quite how much of that was because of the mental benefits, as I
always think of dance as being entirely physical. There is such joy in
moving to music, in feeling like you are learning something new, or
improving what you already know and in challenging your short and long-term
memory, but there is the social side too. I am terrible at making new friends, partly because I quite like being
on my own, but mostly because I am really quite painfully shy in a
social setting, and so I often avoid putting myself in to one. Although
the dance I do is individual in terms of not needing a partner, going to
dance classes challenges my shyness and puts me in an environment that I
can meet new people who have shared interests. This has been
especially important having moved to Edinburgh three years ago, not
knowing a soul other than the soul I live with. It is all too easy to find yourself quite isolated, and
not even realise it, so I am grateful to dance and dance teachers
everywhere for giving me and others a reason to leave the house, to meet
new people, and to jump up and down like a fool for an hour. For me,
and in terms of exercise, there is no better feeling than dance – it is
the only form of exercise I truly enjoy and is the only exercise I am
motivated to do. This programme has highlighted why, and I am so glad
that dance is back in my life.
Keep dancing
If any of the above feelings or challenges resonate with you, or apply to someone you love, whatever age you/they are, whatever physical or mental health problems you/they may or may not have, maybe now is the time to make a positive change, and maybe Darcey has provided us with some inspiration on how. In the words of Tess and Claudia on Strictly… keep (or start) dancing!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0btt5n1
Best wishes from Jane and everyone here at Eyre Place.
Dance and mental health
It’s my turn to write a blog and I am going to wax lyrical about dance again, but this time for a slightly different reason. We all know that dancing benefits your body, improving strength, muscle tone, posture, balance, bone health, energy levels and mobility, but it also benefits mental health. Early in December, the BBC aired a programme called ‘Darcey Bussell: Dancing to happiness’, which I watched over the Christmas break. Did any of you catch it? As someone who is passionate about dance, it really struck a chord with me, especially as it focussed on the positive changes dance can bring to mental health.
Teenagers
The
programme is hosted by the delightful Darcey Bussell, who introduced
the audience to four groups of people with first hand experience of the
benefits of dance upon their mental health. The first is a group of
teenagers who each have their own mental health challenges such as
asperger’s, anxiety, depression and issues with confidence/self esteem.
The group all took part in a six-week programme, which allowed them to
jointly choreograph a dance, which they later performed to their
families. The process afforded them a safe environment to make friends,
to voice the issues that they struggle with and to express their
feelings through dance, thus providing them with an outlet for those
feelings. At the end of the six weeks, the group and their families
reported some really positive changes, such as a feeling of having grown
as a person, feeling mentally stronger, increased body confidence, and
feeling more positive about the future.Parkinsons
Silver Swans
The
next group Darcey visited was a group of ‘Silver Swans’. The Royal
Academy of Dance have set up the Silver Swan initiative to encourage the
over fifties, at a time when retirement might lead to isolation and
loneliness, to return to ballet or take it up for the first time. Darcey
joined a group for their weekly ballet class and heard how the
attendees, the oldest of which was a sprightly eighty-four, had
benefitted from dance. Amongst the numerous social and mental benefits
were: feeling younger, feeling less isolated and lonely, happiness, a
feeling of floating out of the room and the opportunity to temporarily
forget ones problems. The eldest member of the group voiced how it was
the first thing that she had done on her own after losing her husband
and although she was terrified to go to the first class alone, she felt
100% better after.Dementia
Darcey travelled to the Eric Liddell
Centre in Edinburgh to meet the final group of
people - those living with varied levels of dementia, who attend weekly
seated-swing dance classes. Although it was said that some of the
attendees couldn’t remember the previous weeks class, or even the
teacher, they often remembered the music and sometimes would even
pre-empt themovements, indicating that the dance classes were
stimulating their memory. Three wonderful statements that some of the
attendees made to camera were that they were ‘motivated to move more’,
feeling more ‘alive’ and that dance was ‘the only enjoyment I get’.
That’s a pretty good outcome for anyone!Dance is back in my life
I really
enjoyed the programme because it really resonated with me. I am a life
long dancer, at least so far, and there is a reason for that – there are
so many benefits, both physical and mental. Having returned to ballet
and tap in the last two years, as well as taking up zumba, I have
realised that I don’t feel like me when dance is missing from my life,
it really is a part of me. I hadn’t realised until I watched this
programme quite how much of that was because of the mental benefits, as I
always think of dance as being entirely physical. There is such joy in
moving to music, in feeling like you are learning something new, or
improving what you already know and in challenging your short and long-term
memory, but there is the social side too. I am terrible at making new friends, partly because I quite like being
on my own, but mostly because I am really quite painfully shy in a
social setting, and so I often avoid putting myself in to one. Although
the dance I do is individual in terms of not needing a partner, going to
dance classes challenges my shyness and puts me in an environment that I
can meet new people who have shared interests. This has been
especially important having moved to Edinburgh three years ago, not
knowing a soul other than the soul I live with. It is all too easy to find yourself quite isolated, and
not even realise it, so I am grateful to dance and dance teachers
everywhere for giving me and others a reason to leave the house, to meet
new people, and to jump up and down like a fool for an hour. For me,
and in terms of exercise, there is no better feeling than dance – it is
the only form of exercise I truly enjoy and is the only exercise I am
motivated to do. This programme has highlighted why, and I am so glad
that dance is back in my life.Keep dancing
If any of the above feelings or challenges resonate with you, or apply to someone you love, whatever age you/they are, whatever physical or mental health problems you/they may or may not have, maybe now is the time to make a positive change, and maybe Darcey has provided us with some inspiration on how. In the words of Tess and Claudia on Strictly… keep (or start) dancing!
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