Celebrating movement and inclusion
Advance’s Activities Co-ordinator, Christine Lewis, speaks to us about the customer dance group in Hackney she organises and how it supports customer wellbeing.
I started working as Advance’s Activity Co-ordinator in October 2024 and since then, I’ve been proud to have set up numerous events and initiatives for customers across a variety of our schemes.
Dance is a great way to meet new people, express feelings and incorporate movement into your day, all while having some fun.
We wanted to be able to provide this, for free, in a safe and comfortable space for Advance customers, so they were able to explore and enjoy a new hobby in a way that suited them. We found a local dance group that was being held at a church in Hackney, however there was an entry fee, so we took over the class for three terms and enabled free classes, exclusively for Advance customers.
The class is completely flexible to suit everyone that wants to participate, with some customers coming along for the last half an hour or so, and we have some keen movers and shakers that want to take part for the full hour! It’s a fun and interactive class, all the participants get involved with their support workers, so that if people feel like they’re looking silly, everyone’s in it together!
Ollie teaches the class and incorporates lots of different dancing styles: there’s been scarf dancing and action-based dance moves, like brushing your teeth or combing your hair. At the end of each lesson, someone’s favourite song is played and everyone gets to freestyle!
We spoke to some of the attendees in the lead up to International Dance Day, to see what they enjoyed about dancing.
Yasmin said: “Everyone’s happy when they’re dancing”, while Daniel said that he “likes to communicate with the dance teacher through music.” Daniel has found that he can particularly improve his spoken communication by asking Ollie what song he’d like played during the classes.
We love being able to provide free and fun activities and groups for everyone to get involved in, so keep your eyes peeled to see what we’ve got going on in the coming months!