Dance for Dementia
Supporting people living with Dementia through the joy of dance, music and socialisation.
English National Ballet introduces Dance for Dementia, a dance and cultural programme that supports people living with Dementia in enjoying dance classes accompanied by live music, social time, and access to dance performances and behind the scenes opportunities. English National Ballet’s classes are led by an experienced team of Associate Artists and supported by a team of volunteers. The programme invites people living with Dementia, to share a creative experience along with their families, loved ones and carers.
About Dance for Dementia
Dance for Dementia offers welcoming and open dance classes, designed to engage the body and mind. Creating a space to creatively explore movement, these joyful classes are inspired by ballet and contemporary dance techniques and include seated and standing exercises for all abilities. English National Ballet’s classes take inspiration from the company’s repertoire, such as Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, creatively exploring the themes, music, and characters that make the productions sparkle.
Why dance?
Dancing encourages freedom and expression, whilst positively increasing strength, mobility, and wellbeing. Studies have shown that dance can be an effective practice to mitigate some of the negative effects of dementia, and out of all of the performing arts practices, dance has emerged as one of the most impactful to people’s lives, with many feeling the benefits of the classes, for days after.
It puts me in a different zone, I can imagine myself somewhere else, you can sing and dance freely: there is no judgement here.Dance for Dementia Participant
Join a Dance for Dementia class
English National Ballet currently deliver weekly Dance for Dementia classes at our world-class studios, the Mulryan Centre for Dance, in East London. The Mulryan Centre for Dance is a dementia friendly building, accredited by the Mayor of London and Alzheimer’s Society.
All ages and experience levels are welcome.
You can learn more and book Dance for Dementia classes here.
Thank you for such great care and consideration made to the environment at your establishment in ensuring it is a dementia-friendly environment. The consideration to mirrors, yellow indicator signage in the lifts, at exit points and the bathrooms provided great assistance for service users to orient within the building.Specialist Dementia Officer
Volunteer Programme
English National Ballet’s Dance for Dementia programme is supported by a generous team of volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering, please see our volunteering page for our Dance Health programmes, which provides further details and a form to register your interest.
Click here to find out more about volunteering with Dance for Dementia
Dance for Dementia in the Community
Connecting with local community groups, care homes and memory cafes is an important aspect of English National Ballet’s Dance for Dementia programme. English National Ballet aim to reach more individuals living with Dementia in the local communities and offer individuals the opportunity to take part in creative taster workshops. In the community, English National Ballet has recently partnered with Arts 4 Dementia delivering a 10-week term of Dance for Dementia classes for people in early stages of Dementia at the Tree House in Elephant Park, Southwark, introducing dance and music to the participants of their art programme.
Following the Mindful Movers programme, English National Ballet, continued their connection with two Barchester Care Homes, Derham House based in Upminster, and Westgate House based in Stratford, local to ENB’s headquarters. English National Ballet have been delivering blocks of weekly Dance for Dementia classes at Westgate Care Home since 2023, to residents living on the Memory Lane communities, or who may be at risk of developing Dementia.
English National Ballet additionally committed to curating a ‘toolkit’ for care staff to utilise at Derham House Care Home, which provides helpful information on how care staff can successfully delivery their own dance workshops within their homes. Care Home staff were trained to use the resource, which included information on English National Ballet repertoire, themes and suggested exercises.
Dance for Dementia is generously supported by The Linbury Trust, Backstage Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation, and the Vandervell Foundation. (*confirmed as of August 2024)
