Playful and conscious dance for seniors

"Playful and Conscious Dance for Seniors" (90 minutes 1/t) is a ten-part movement education program that combines physical health, somatic awareness, and the joy of creative movement. The lessons are based on developmental movement patterns (Bartenieff Fundamentals) and Laban's movement analysis, and gradually develop stability, balance, spatial orientation, coordination, and mobility.
The course is primarily intended for seniors, but it is also suitable for younger participants from the helping professions (e.g., physical therapists, social workers, educators, caregivers) who want to draw inspiration for working with the older population or are looking for new ideas for their own self-care and regeneration.
The program works on several levels:
• Anatomical-kinematic exercises improve joint mobility, gently strengthen and support balance, and include developmental patterns.
• The somatic component leads to awareness of "what I am doing, what I am feeling, what I am experiencing" and strengthens the sense of control and the ability to "I can."
• The emotional-expressive and dynamic level opens up different qualities of movement and allows for the safe expression of a whole range of emotions through dance and gesture, evoking feelings of joy and relaxation.
• The social dimension promotes cooperation, relatedness, playfulness, acceptance without shame, and joint creation.
• The artistic dimension allows participants to compose and share joint movement/dance in the present moment as a supremely artistic experience.
In our research, we have shown that in addition to physical effects, somatic dance also has significant cognitive benefits: it improves attention, memory, planning, and brain flexibility, and promotes coordination, spatial orientation, and a sense of confidence in movement. It contributes to improved self-confidence, mood, and the elimination of internal censorship, opening up space for playfulness, creativity, and the joy of shared movement.