People Dancing

It was heartening to welcome so many of you to our recent Autumn online launch of People Dancing’s Dance, Health & Wellbeing Network. It seemed like the perfect moment to begin to share thoughts, conversations, challenges and opportunities across this fascinating and broad-ranging field of creative practice.

As we know this work is not new to our sector, but in recent times Creative Health has gained significant momentum, and it is now recognised as not just an optional ‘add-on’ but a vital part of holistic health and wellbeing (1). A substantial and ever-growing body of evidence (2) supports this, showing that whether through participation, cultural experiences, or opportunities for individual expression, creative health activity can support physical, mental health, reduce loneliness, encourage creativity, and build stronger more connected communities.

People Dancing’s approach is to support the engagement of people as dancers in joyful, innovative artistic activity rather than as patients (3).

Our vision is, as always ‘people at the centre and art at the front’.

In my introduction to our recent dance health & wellbeing edition of Animated (4) I recall Penny Greenland’s article for Animated in Spring 2005 (5) We Can Do Hard Things, written almost exactly 20 years ago.

At the time, Penny’s writing served as a call to action for the articulation of greater specificity in the breadth of dance practice across the health and wellbeing space. With dance practioners clearly taking the lead. Because Penny recognised that by more clearly defining what we do well, this can better support the health sector to know what we do, and that it works. Penny argued it is this clarity that will help the health sector to further understand, navigate and integrate dance in and across their work to promote health and wellness with greater equity, access and positive outcomes for all.

‘But at this point’, Penny argued, ‘we the practitioners must take the initiative , articulate our practices, and identify our partners. Sort ourselves out’. (5).

Reflecting on this 20 years later...we are really doing this, and many of us in partnership with the health sector directly. So many of you are already doing hard things, which means patients can become dancers, and families and communities can participate in skillfully led creative dance experiences.

Together, though we must also articulate and recognise the complexities across the field. We must acknowledge that this work exists both intersectionally and in specific spaces and recognise the inequities that many communities experience within and across health and wellbeing. This network will evolve from this perspective.

At the gathering, Louise Katerega, People Dancing’s Head of Professional Development, shared with us a little of her experience at the African Routes 25 conference which considered how living in an unequal society affects our wellbeing. In this context, Louise reflected on the ‘power of a network' and her own ‘improved sense of wellbeing around a sense of connection with like minded others’.

So, we want to create a space for continued learning, connecting and advocating, alongside the opportunities, challenges, needs and wants that you identify for your work. If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to share your thoughts on our Padlet please do so by 19th December 2025.

We hope that future newsletters will be full of your news, activities, courses and perspectives (via blogs, vlogs and articles). Make sure you are signed up to become part of the regular network to continue to receive future information, and tell us about your work and projects.

It is my hope that our dance health & wellbeing network will continue to support, drive, and enact Penny’s call to action that we can do hard things and as Chris Stenton, People Dancing’s Chief Executive said, ‘this is space we will inhabit together…its about realising the potential for development’.

Yaël Owen Deputy CEO, Head of Health & Wellbeing, People Dancing

yael@communitydance.org.uk

References

(1) Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing, July 2017, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing, Inquiry Report Second Edition

(2) ncch.org.uk/uploads/Introduction-to-Creative-Health-Extract.pdf

(3) Chappell, K., Redding, E., Crickmay, U., Stancliffe, R., Jobbins, V., & Smith, S. (2021). The aesthetic, artistic and creative contributions of dance for health and wellbeing across the lifecourse: a systematic review. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being, 16(1)

(4) Animated Autumn 25: Dance, Health & Wellbeing focus

(5) Animated Spring 2005.