Three organisations who have been pioneering evidence-based arts and health programmes, and who are part of the largest ever study into arts and health, will be coming together to present a free symposium for artists, organisations, researchers, health partners and commissioners with an interest in scaling on Thursday 27th June. (Eventbrite here)
Launched in 2019, SHAPER (Scaling-up Health Arts Programmes: Implementation and Effectiveness Research) is the world’s largest ever study into the impact and scalability of arts interventions on physical and mental health, led by King’s College London in collaboration with UCL, and supported by a £2.5m award from Wellcome. The three arts partners taking part in the study, and leading the symposium, are Breathe Arts Health Research with Breathe Melodies for Mums, English National Ballet with Dance for Parkinson’s – PD-Ballet®, and Rosetta Life with Stroke Odysseys.
We sat down with English National Ballet to understand the work they’re doing with Dance for Parkinson’s – PD-Ballet®.
What is Dance For Parkinson’s, and how does it work?
English National Ballet has been delivering its evidence-based Dance for Parkinson’s (DfP) programme since 2010. Known as PD-Ballet®, was upscaled and tested at King’s College Hospital as part of SHAPER. Led by Professor K. Ray Chaudhuri, Professor of Movement Disorders and Neurology at King’s College London, it saw people living with Parkinson’s join ballet-based classes over 12 weeks, incorporating live music, dance, rhythm, and voice and led by specialist ENB associate dance artists and musicians.
Each of the three participant groups (grouped according to motor symptoms – mild, moderate, and severe), attended a block of 12-weeks of ballet-based sessions, interwoven with rhythm and voice exercises. The sessions were inspired by ENB’s contemporary repertoire – Akram Khan’s Giselle – and led by ENB specialist associate dance artists and musicians. The weekly sessions culminated in a sharing celebration event for carers, family, and friends. All participants had an opportunity to see an ENB production and enjoyed social time over tea and biscuits following each weekly session. The content of each dance session was designed to be joyous and uplifting, to enhance freedom of expression and fluidity of movement, to develop postural stability and flexibility of the spine and improve balance within the context of a welcoming and inclusive environment.
What do participants say about the project?
Some of the feedback we’ve had is that the programme “has been instrumental in not only helping me combat feelings of depression and isolation but also in reigniting a spark of pure joy within me.” Others have said “My attitude towards myself has changed.” And ““These additional experiences (costume tour, screening, rehearsal) were such an unexpected bonus. One of the down sides of Parkinson’s is that life can become monotonous, internally and externally (mentally and physically). These experiences took me outside my normal experience of life and enriched it enormously.”
What do healthcare professionals you’ve worked with say about the project?
We and healthcare professionals have done a lot of investigation and evaluation on the project, and findings suggest the activity and social aspect help to reduce social isolation; it benefits emotional and social wellbeing; it helps to stay motivated and maintain an active lifestyle; it improves stability, fluidity of movement and posture; and it reduces the interference of symptoms on everyday life.
Dance for Parkinson’s from English National Ballet (ENB) is upscaled and tested as a dedicated PD-Ballet® programme in partnership with King’s College Hospital. The lived experience-focused research is led by Professor K Ray Chaudhuri, Professor of Movement Disorders and Neurology at King’s College London and a Consultant at King’s College Hospital. Having been developed using the framework of English National Ballet’s longstanding Dance for Parkinson’s programme, PD-Ballet® sees people with Parkinson’s join weekly ballet classes over 12 weeks, incorporating live music, dance, rhythm and voice, with specialist ENB Associate dance artists and musicians. Dance for Parkinson’s has been shown to reduce social isolation, benefit emotional and social wellbeing and improve stability, fluidity of movement and posture to support everyday life.