People Dancing

From the editor

This issue focuses on some of the different ways that dance artists are approaching health issues: a project that encompasses the wider health issues of participation in dance though a partnership between dance and the sports sector in East London; dance's contribution to a mental health project; and Protein Dance working in a hospital school. Finally we look at an ambitious international initiative of the Connect Team at Sadler's Wells, which worked with young people in the UK and Namibia looking at HIV and sex education.

We have also developed further our Professional Framework for Community Dance and this issue publish some current definitions of community dance, a set of core values for the profession and a code of professional conduct.These were identified during our original consultations with FCD members and the dance sector more generally as priorities, and have been produced with the support of our development partners. The article sets out some of the ways in which we hope you can use them to support your work, test their effectiveness, and let us know what you think.

In the coming months we will be publishing a series of policy documents that the staff and Board of the Foundation for Community Dance have been working on, to assist us to clarify our priorities for the coming period and to assist our members in providing a rationale for them to engage in these areas of work. The policy areas are: Dance and 2012;Dance and Disabled People; Dance and Health; Workforce Development and community dance in an International context. Our intention is to evolve future issues of Animated to reflect all of these priorities, to better support our readers and associates in their work.