English National Ballet

Dance for Parkinson’s offers people with Parkinson’s, their carers and family member’s an artistic and engaging dance activity within the professional environment of English National Ballet. Saturday dance sessions in Kensington offer an insight into the way a production is put together with input from Company dancers and musicians and there is the added opportunity to see English National Ballet performances.

Programme

English National Ballet is expanding its Dance for Parkinson’s programme nationally over three years creating more opportunities for regular dance and cultural activities for people with Parkinson’s. Pilot programmes will be delivered in partnership with our hub partners from 2012 and include Pavilion Dance in Bournemouth - Dance South West; Merseyside Dance Initiative in Liverpool; and South East Dance Studios – South East Dance.

Research

English National Ballet commissioned Dr. Sara Houston and Ashley McGill, University of Roehampton, to research the benefits of Dance for Parkinson’s. The ground-breaking findings are collated in the report: English National Ballet: Dance for Parkinson’s, An Investigative Study. Top medical charity, the Bupa Foundation, recently awarded Dr. Sara Houston, University of Roehampton, its Vitality for Life Prize for her research on English National Ballet’s Dance for Parkinson’s programme.

Bupa Award Press Release

Recent activities

This autumn, English National Ballet visited the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff for the first of our awareness activities. People with Parkinson’s, their family members and Parkinson’s specialists from Cardiff and the surrounding areas took part in a workshop afternoon introducing the English National Ballet Dance for Parkinson’s model. The session was inspired by the glittering production, Strictly Gershwin, and participants were invited to see the performance at the Wales Millennium Centre the following week.