Artlift is excited to pilot a NEW, free dance course for adults living with chronic pain. The course was carefully co-designed by people living with pain, a senior physiotherapist and dance inclusion specialists during a 2022 research project.
Participants will be supported to explore and develop their own movement ‘vocabulary’ through a series of fun exercises and approaches. They’ll build strength, confidence and skills in ‘translating’ different exercises and movement sequences into their own movement possibilities. Taking inspiration from music – whether Bhangra, Afrobeats or Chill – and developing movement range through use of props, different mobility aids, breathing and vocal techniques and/or the space and furniture around us, participants will (re)discover the joy of dance.
The 10 session course starts at The Club at Tuffley Park, Linden, Gloucester on 22 September. To secure a place participants can download a Chronic Pain referral form from the ‘Join in’ page on our website, or professionals can refer someone they are working with by downloading a form from the ‘Refer to us’ page. The deadline is Monday 31 July 2023. To get a place, participants simply need to be 18+ and:
- be registered with a GP in Gloucestershire
- be happy interacting with others living with chronic pain
- be able to follow basic instructions
The approaches used draw on the ‘Dance Unstuck‘ toolkit, developed by top international inclusive dance professionals and based on principles of Universal Design of Instruction, Five Dimensional Flow and approaches developed with the co-production group in our research sessions. Click here to see and hear how these approaches impacted on them in the short promotional video on our Evidence of Impact page.
If you would like to find out more, click on ‘Dance Unstuck’ on our ‘Courses’ page, or contact Cath on cath@artlift.org.
Artlift’s dance and chronic pain research and this Dance Unstuck pilot is generously supported by NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board.
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