Our Care to Dance? project provides life-enhancing, quality physical activity to the residents of local care homes across Warwick and Leamington Spa through weekly dance and movement workshops and a professional live dance performance. The project gives us the opportunity to make new connections in the local area, which is very important to us, in line with our aim to enrich the lives of people in our community.

For each Care to Dance? project we deliver weekly dance and movement workshops for the residents over the course of 12 weeks. The sessions are open to all residents in the respective care homes and often becomes a highlight of the week for many.

During the project, our Creative Learning Dance Artist Camilla Lloyd, works with up to 20 people in each session at each care home, including people with dementia, physical disabilities and sensory impairments. By engaging the residents in gentle, fun dance exercises, Camilla aims to get them to connect with each other, maintain their motor skills, improve their mobility and coordination, and for them to have an enjoyable experience, giving them an activity to look forward to.

The project has had a significant and positive impact on the residents of the care homes who have taken part so far, generating excellent feedback from staff and the families of residents taking part.

As well as physical benefits, the sessions also had cognitive benefits for the residents who took part. From session to session, they were able to recall more advanced movements than at the start of the project, supporting them cognitively. The residents with dementia were able to listen to music that they recognised and felt comfortable with, sometimes reigniting memories from their younger years.

Family members are also able to come and join in the sessions providing a meaningful and rich experience for them to take part in with their loved ones. These are crucial elements in supporting people as they grow older, and their bodies and lives change.

During the projects, a few participants have developed their mobility to the point that they have been able to stand up to join in rather than undertaking the activities in a seated position. This showed a real development of confidence and trust, as well as increased strength and mobility.

As well as physical benefits, the sessions have also had visible cognitive benefits. From session to session, many residents were able to recall more advanced movements and the workshops have focused on redeveloping their sense of rhythm. This has helped the residents with their memory and engaged them to think more during each session. One resident, who has a medical condition which affects her movement, was able to work on her hand eye coordination during the sessions. When participating in a throwing and catching task in one of the routines with bean bags, initially she was unable to let go of the bean bag, but in the final two sessions she was able to throw it.

As part of the project, two of our professional Motionhouse dancers go along to one of the sessions and perform one of our breath-taking duets, to entertain and inspire the residents and care home staff. Taking our live duet performances to the care homes breaks down barriers to accessing high quality cultural activities by bringing a professional performance directly to the residents. The response to the performance is always extremely appreciative and highlights the impact of dance in fostering community connections and emotional expression.

Care to Dance? has been delivered and generously supported in the following care homes:

Gainsborough Hall supported by Leamington Town Council & The Big Give

The Royal Leamington Spa Nursing Home supported by Leamington Town Council

Park View Care Home supported by St Mary’s Hall Trust

Sycamores Care Home supported by Warwick District Council

Cubbington Mill Care Home supported by Warwickshire County Council and The Baron Davenport’s Charity