I started working with Watford Community Housing trust in October 2013. Initially it was to teach some dance a few hours a week in a couple of local centres. Like all new things, it began slowly but those who did come for a session began to enjoy it. Some liked to watch as they were not so mobile. I realised after a little while, it was also about communicating and allowing some of the elderly clients to chat about their “old times”.
I introduced the Watford Trust hand Jive which allowed some of the less able to join in with the session in a more active way. In fact a couple of them came up with hand/arm movements to include in our routine. Eventually, we had 12 movements in our Hand Jive and my last session in April had 8 people. Dance movement definitely has a great benefit both physically and mentally with the elderly. I could see the improvement in them over the 6 months. Each time I finished the session, they would all be asking if I was coming back the following week.
