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25 Feb 2011 11:18:33
Research on the impact dance can have on young people’s health and wellbeing is currently being carried out by the University of Bedfordshire.
The Go Dance 2012 dance science project is in association with Youth Dance England and The Junction in Cambridge.
The 10-week creative dance programme is taking place in three schools across the region where there is currently poor dance provision. The schools are Holy Rood Catholic Primary School in Watford, Hertfordshire; Quarry Hill Junior School in Grays, Essex; and Norwich Road Community Primary School in Thetford, Norfolk.
The first week of testing was in January followed by 10 weeks of dance activity for an hour each time and then another week of testing in early April.
Lead researcher is Elsa Bradley, a lecturer in dance at the Bedford campus, while Dr Angel Chater, a Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology, is supporting the project along with Dr Steve Kozub, Principal Lecturer and Psychology Subject Leader, who will be analysing the data. Niamh Morrin from the Division of Sports Therapy is assisting with data collection at the schools.
Elsa said: “The emphasis is on creative dance and we will see how it affects the children’s physiological and psychological wellbeing. We will see if there is a change in exercise behaviour when there is now provision of dance. Basically, do the children do dance if it is available to them and then continue with it?
“The project is inspired by London 2012 and the hopes that this large-scale event can inspire people to get moving.”
Three leading dance artists are involved in the project – one of the University’s own dance lecturers, Sadie Hunt, Norfolk Dance’s Sarah Lewis and Katie Ryan from the Luton-based Kadam dance group.
The University’s dance students have volunteered to undertake data collection as well as part of the growing Junior Research Institute (jRI) initiative. The project’s concepts are also discussed in lectures and it has inspired the final year dissertation of Dance and Professional Practice student Kate Donovan who is looking at children’s perceptions of dance and whether they change when they are exposed to it.
The project’s findings will be presented at the University’s dance science conference, From Motivation to Movement, at the Bedford campus on 24-25 June. They will also be published in the community dance journal Animated and abstracts will be submitted for peer review in the Journal of Applied Arts and Health.
The above photo shows a participant from Quarry Hill Junior School in Grays, Essex (supplied by Sarah Joynes)
Latest news» 2011» February» Can dance science project inspire the next generation?
