Weekly Dance Sessions for people living with a dementia, their family, friends & carers.
- Enjoying movement & wellbeing
- Building relationships & resilience
- Sharing joy and stories.
Dancing with Dementia is a collaboration with Cambridge County Council.
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Dancing with Dementia addresses the physical, behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia.
We look after the needs of the participant both as individuals and within their various relationships in the group.
- We provide a welcoming and safe environment.
- We prioritise care, comfort, and compassion; the principles of inclusion and intrinsically rewarding activity determine the structure of the sessions.
- Our goal is to improve quality of life for all participants.
Dancing with Dementia is about joy, humour, spontaneity and enhancing relationship with others.
Exercise is known to be the most powerful contributor to reducing cognitive decline in dementia.
Dancing with Dementia integrates exercise within the wider stimulus of dance and combines physical activity with imagination, story, relationship, adding restorative cognitive, social and affective components.
Dancing with Dementia:
- Reduces stress, anxiety and depression.
- Enhances mood and relaxation and sense of wellbeing.
- Enhances memory recall.
- Builds quality of relationship.
- Enhances quality of life.
- Improves neural connectivity and cognitive function.
- Maintains physical ability, strength and coordination.
- Combats deconditioning and general muscle weakness.
- Is polycentric (different movements) and polyrhythmic (varying music).
- Facilitates improvised (constantly changing, meaningful) movement as opposed to exercise ( repetitive, impersonal movement) which in turn supports creativity, imagination, expression and confidence.
To find out more about joining the dance sessions, contact filipa
“Opportunities such as Dancing with Dementia need to be available on prescription, it is such a simple idea, however, so professionally run, it has provided opportunities to form new friendships for people and has been ground-breaking in the way that it has reduced carer breakdown.”
Jonathan Ward, Manager at Birches Day Centre
“I firmly believe that these lively friendly sessions, with our dancing family, helped my friend to slow the process of his dementia. It certainly helped to make his living with dementia more bearable.
Our weekly sessions were one of the highlights of his week. It was very noticeable that he, along with the other members of the group, were happier, more interactive and moving better at the end of each session.
We came to regard the group as a very special accepting ‘family’ where our behaviour, memory lapses, or inability to do things were readily accepted and not a cause for worry. The structure of the sessions, with things carried out in similar order and based upon music that is familiar to all of us, enabled people to relax and have fun.”
Helen Durrant, close friend to participant
“Kate is 81 years old and has had Alzheimer’s disease for 7 years. When Kate attends the sessions we see some of the ‘old Kate’ return, she dances, sings, interacts with everyone in the group and relaxes too. As Kate’s condition progresses our sessions become more and more important. While her speech has deteriorated she continues to dance with such joy. It is so apparent to us that the dancing is the highlight of her week and if we could attend a session every day we would, as the benefits go beyond the short time they we attend. While many aspects of dementia are very sad these sessions clearly bring joy to Kate and they have improved her life in a way that is difficult to measure.”
Bridget, Kate’s daughter-in-law