Ageing Well is one of several arts and health projects carried out by Bournemouth Borough Council’s Arts Development team in partnership with other agencies. 

The project aimed to:
1. Give older people at two residential centres the opportunity to participate in dance/movement as a healthy, enjoyable and creative activity engaging both spirit and body - and to stimulate talk about music and dance.
2. Provide training opportunities for staff and professional development for locally based dance practitioners to ensure sustainability of this kind of dance/movement opportunity.
3 Inform more people about the value of arts and health activities.

These aims were achieved through the following objectives:
1. Dance/movement/life stories sessions led by an experienced dance practitioner, musician and life story worker.
2. A training programme for day centre/residential home staff and local dancer practitioners.
3. Outputs such as photographs, post cards or a booklet (featuring participants own memories of dance/music) and a video for use by participants and professionals.

Ageing Well - a Dance/Movement & Life Stories Pilot Project

The pilot project involved older people from Merstone Hall and Maryfield Home care homes in Boscombe. 

The project began with a training day to explore ways of developing creative movement/dance activities with older people led by Jasmine Pasch from Jabadao, the National Centre for Movement Learning and Health. The training was offered to centre managers with one other member of staff and it was also offered to local dance practitioners. 

Following training there were springboard sessions at each centre led by Jasmine Pasch and a musician. This was an opportunity to gradually introduce the project to participants.

Read an account of the training day and a springboard session. (Opens as a PDF in a new window)

Jabadao National Centre for Movement Learning and Health introduce the practice and principles behind this person centred approach and offer some ideas to introduce movement into the lives of both frail elderly people and those with dementia. This is where it all begins, with people of any age, frail or boisterous, to be at home in their bodies. There is no prior knowledge required for this day.

Jasmine Pasch: "I believe that arts, dance, music and drama can make us healthy and happy, can make us feel good. I am keen to find out what factors enhance psychological and physical well-being and foster resilience and what destroys these. Through engaging in arts activities with one another we may experience 'magic moments'. It is these tiny moments of meaningful experience, no matter how fleeting they may be, that hold the key to human health and wellbeing."

The project also involved a 'reminiscence' or life history meeting led by the Arts Development Officer on the theme of dance and music memories. Resulting memories were collected into a booklet: One Good Tune - Remembered Forever (February 2007 press release opnes as a PDF in a new window).