Families in York living with dementia urged to take part in dance project
York St John University wants people to answer the question 'if dementia was a dance, what kind of dance would it be?'
Last updated 20th Apr 2021
Researchers from York St John University’s Moving Minds project are looking for participants into a study of dementia and dance.
York St John senior lecturer in dance Elaine Harvey has been offering free weekly dance sessions for people living with dementia and their friends and family members for the last four years.
With lockdown putting a stop to the meetups, Elaine Harvey is leading research which seeks new connections between dance and dementia. The Moving Minds project explores dance as a way of conveying dementia and the physical experience of living with the condition.
The research group are calling on those with a dementia diagnosis, or anyone close to them, to take part in the research and answer one specific question: 'if dementia was a dance, what kind of dance would it be?'.
Answers to this question will be brought together to create a sound collage of voices which captures something of the lived experience of people with dementia.
Elaine told Greatest Hits Radio York: "I started Moving Minds back in 2016, and I've also worked in the area of community dance for around 20 years.
"I've seen first hand how dance can work in a transformational way. My paternal grandmother had dementia, and so we witnessed that as a family and ways of trying to connect with her.
"We witness that transformational potential of dance in the sessions all the time. Sometimes we see it in very small ways, but sometimes in very clear and profound ways; it could be someone who enters the room making minimal eye contact, and by the end of the session there's direct eye contact and communication.
"Sometimes people come to the sessions with very little in the way of verbal communication, but having some and having moved together there are suddenly memories and conversations.
"It also enables people to find ways of developing clearer non-verbal communication. It's particularly significant for the couples who come to the sessions, who say it helps them to sustain their shared identity as a couple.
"It's also important for people who don't have dementia who come to the sessions with a family member of friend who is affected; it helps to bring them together.
"Many of the services who support dementia have had to close down because of the pandemic, and we haven't been able to be in the same room as everyone from Moving Minds for over a year.
"It's been tough, but it has given us a space to think about how dance impacts people with dementia in a different way".
Researchers are hoping to collect the majority of responses by the end of April.