I am delighted to be speaking next Monday at the Culture Health and Wellbeing International Conference about the importance of artistry in dance and health practice.

My presentation ‘The value of artistry in dance and health contexts‘, will bring together many of the threads of discussion I have recently written and presented about in connection with my own practice in dance and health.

In my piece, ‘artistry…?’ I talk about the value of developing artistic integrity and intention when teaching in community contexts. In my feature for ‘world dance for parkinson’s day…‘ I consider how we can shift the focus away from health rationale and onto the dance as artist within dance and Parkinson’s contexts. Lastly in my recent reflection on ‘dance for health, an alternative approach…’ I discuss the recent work I have done with dance for health Rotterdam developing an artistically driven CPD model which is underpinned but not overshadowed by rationale.

All these themes will be underpinned by my recent research on the value of equality in community dance contexts and how a focus on artistic integrity and authenticity of the artist can lead to a natural opportunity for collaboration and co-creation; whereas a directive or didactic approach driven by ‘benefits’ and externally measurable goals can lead to a traditional hierarchic power structure which seems to devalue the artistry in favour of rationale.

Following the conference I will write a more detailed piece on my presentation and discussion with delegates and peers.

More soon..!