People Dancing

Diane is a freelance dance artist, lecturer and consultant offering professional development, arts and health projects, evaluation and mentoring.

She is a tutor on the annual summer school organised by People Dancing and runs an Introduction to Community Dance course for the Japan Contemporary Dance Network. In the UK she delivers training and follow up mentoring for dance artists, volunteers and activity leaders working with groups in a range of settings around the country.

Diane is one of the leading practitioners in community dance and her textbooks An Introduction to Community Dance Practice and Age and Dancing: Older People and Community Dance are set books on undergraduate community dance programmes in the UK and abroad.

She is a dance artist whose career has included working in education, managing dance projects in diverse community settings and training staff in arts, health and social care. Diane is a 2014 Winston Churchill Fellow and has worked with community dance practitioners in Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. In 2017 she contributed to the British Council’s Creative Ageing Conference in Korea. She is an Associate Artist and Honorary Life Member of People Dancing.

If you would like to contact Diane about her work you can do so via her email address: diane.amans@googlemail.com

Guide for Community Dance with Older People, Korea 2019. 

 

In October 2019, the Community Dance Project was held in Sangwol-ri, Yecheon, as part of the Korean-English cultural and artistic exchange program between the Gyeongsangbuk-do Office and the British Council in Korea. This dance project aims to make dance more accessible to everyone by embracing those who are not considered part of the arts and culture program, such as the elderly.

Community Dance with Older People in Yecheon, Korea 2019. 

In October 2019, the Community Dance Project was held in Sangwol-ri, Yecheon, as part of the Korean-English cultural and artistic exchange program between the Gyeongsangbuk-do Office and the British Council in Korea. This dance project aims to make dance more accessible to everyone by embracing those who are not considered part of the arts and culture program, such as the elderly.

Dance and Dementia

  

Bolton Dementia Support joined in with other organisations to learn how to use dance effectively for people affected by dementia. The Trinity Trotters evolved as Bolton Dementia's version of dance exercises.

Goat Hotel

  

Filmed on location at a hotel in Crete that was never finished and saw no guests. The local animals slowly moved in and made it their home. Created by Diane Amans, Andrea Buckley & Dan Williams.

Courses that Diane runs

• Creative approaches to community choreography
• Leading Dance with Older People
• Small Dances: working with individuals or with very small groups of people
• Dance and Celebration
• Practical ideas for Intergenerational Community Dance
• Dance and Dementia.

Feedback from course participants

"I found the course incredibly well thought out and jam packed with useful ideas … I feel so much more confident now about my own sessions and have taken a lot from this course." 

"I was really struck by the emphasis on making enjoyment and engagement of the participants the priority of a class… it has really shifted the way I think about my role as a teacher. It has encouraged me to think less about bringing everything and knowing everything to a session but to have the confidence to be able to respond in the moment to the participants and their needs."

"As well as thought-provoking stuff there was just so much useful, practical information and so many ideas - health considerations, props, music, exercises, etc. For someone just starting out doing this sort of thing, I found this all incredibly useful."

Amans, D. (ed) 2017 An Introduction to Community Dance Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Amans, D. (ed) 2013 Age and Dancing: Older People and Community Dance Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan

Amans, D. 2018 Choreographic approaches in the community context in Butterworth, J. and Wildschut, L. (eds) Contemporary Choreography: a Critical Reader. Abingdon: Routledge

Amans, D. 2017 Dance as Art in Hospitals in Karkou, V. Oliver, S. & Lycouris, S. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Wellbeing. New York: Oxford University Press

Amans, D. 2007 At My Age: An Intergenerational Dance Project in Kuppers,P. and Robertson, G. (eds) The Community Performance Reader Abingdon: Routledge