Dancing in the Sunlight
ROD WEBB visits a tea dance, organised by Dance Hastings for people with dementia
In 2018, four women who met through Hastings Salsa, decided to organise social dance events and activities in the Hastings area that are accessible to all. Six years later, Dance Hastings, a registered charity, is still going strong.
The activities are designed for anyone with complex needs. There are currently weekly in-house dance sessions in residential homes and care homes and an extremely popular weekly community class at the Parish Room in Hollington for wheelchair users and adults with learning and physical difficulties.
The latest venture is a series of free monthly ‘dementia friendly’ tea dances held in the Arthur Easton Centre at St Michaels Hospice, made possible by generous donations through crowdfunding with matched funding from East Sussex County Council.
I was greeted at the door by Teresa, a ‘dance buddy’ wearing a bright yellow sash, and entered a room full of sun and music. The kitchen was crammed with about ten other dance volunteers getting the food ready.
Soon the hall was filling up with ‘guests’ and their carers. As they took their seats at tables decorated with flowers, the room was already buzzing with chatter, music and dancing as dance buddies took to the floor.
There seemed some initial reluctance for guests to respond as Phillipa Beagley, a trustee and dance facilitator explained what would happen next. But when Leila Newman, the other dance facilitator, placed a chair at the centre and showed us all the seated dance moves to Sweet Caroline, we were off – me in my own uncoordinated way.
And that’s how it continued, music, fun and laughter; some up dancing with a dance buddy, some joining in sitting down – including one woman of 108. The sheer joy in the room was extraordinary. I’d been told the emphasis was on “fun and enjoyment and the benefit of socialising”. So that clearly worked! Not only that, but most of the expected 24 ‘guests’ actually turned up.
Another new initiative is community disco sessions, which were offered over a three-week period. These were particularly popular: and if I couldn’t properly imagine how they went before, I can now. But so that I can see for myself, I plan to go along to one of the regular community sessions – just for the hell of it.
One carer at the tea dance with her ‘plus one’ is a regular at the community dances. She told me: “They are absolutely fantastic and for all abilities, including dance moves that wheelchair users can do. And there’s a wide variety of really great music, all run by happy, friendly volunteers.” That’s all I managed to write down, but she was bubbling over with enthusiasm.
All this comes with dedication and training. Dance Hastings was recently awarded a grant from Sport England to pay for eight community dance practitioners to access training with Para Dance UK, who champion inclusive dance across the country. Six practitioners recently completed the course, and three more are doing the training, enabling Dance Hastings to offer additional free sessions across the community.
Not resting on their laurels, trustees are still busy fundraising to subsidise further inclusive accessible community classes, especially for those with complex needs and those with moderate learning disabilities. Recently, Sussex Community Foundation granted £5,000 from the Lawson Endowment Fund which will facilitate extra sessions for wheelchair users.
And why not volunteer? One dance buddy described how she was looking for a volunteering opportunity where she could have an immediate impact and see the people that she was helping; and Dance Hastings was exactly that: “The participants love coming, they say it all the time, and I love helping. It gives me a buzz for the rest of the day. It is joyful every week and very humbling to know that I can make a difference.”
If you would like more information on how to get involved as a volunteer or how you or someone you know could benefit, visit dancehastings.co.uk/about
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