A unique approach to support health and wellbeing could soon become mainstream, as Scotland’s flagship ballet company announces a new partnership focused on reaching people living with neurological conditions and long Covid through dance.

Scottish Ballet says more than 400,000 people since 2013 have benefitted from its array of health and wellbeing classes, online resources and research studies.

Scottish Ballet says its latest programmes – which are now being launched under the banner of ‘National Centre for Dance Health’ – offer a non-medical intervention to help people self-manage their symptoms.

The organisation hopes a two-year SB Health partnership with the Health and Social Care Alliance will see its projects increasingly prescribed to people living with long covid, dementia, multiple sclerosis (MS) and Parkinson’s.

The roll-out of social prescribing in Scotland has been limited by a lack of quality-assurance of programmes and mixed enthusiasm and knowledge of non-medical interventions among GPs, according to a recent parliamentary inquiry.

The creation of a Scottish Ballet Health Partnerships Manager role – the first of its kind in Scotland – will build further bridges between the arts and health and wellbeing, and support wider cultural change within the sector.

The Artistic Director and CEO of Scottish Ballet, Christopher Hampson, says dance can benefit everyone:

“As an organisation, we are dedicated to using and sharing our skill, expertise and passion to bring the benefits of movement to people of all ages and backgrounds.

“The work of the SB Health team centres the company’s commitment to inspiring on stage and beyond, connecting with communities in Scotland and beyond to promote the physical and mental benefits of movement for all.”

As a form of exercise, the organisation says ballet offers many health and wellbeing benefits including improved posture, balance, coordination. strength and flexibility – but classes also offer participants the chance to try a new hobby, gain confidence and socialise with new people.

Scottish Ballet’s SB Health initiative is made up of pioneering multigenerational dance programmes, offered both in the Glasgow studio and online.

The award-winning dance teams currently offer three specialist programmes for people living with neurological conditions, each of which has been designed in close collaboration with healthcare professionals.

Professor Jonathan O’Riordian, a consultant neurologist at NHS Tayside, says the patients he has referred to SB Health classes have seen improvements in both their physical and emotional wellbeing:

“I have and continue to refer patients to these sessions. The feedback has been excellent. Patients feel a sense of belonging and the combination of music and movement re-engages their physical and emotional wellbeing. When I mention this support network almost all are happy to become involved.”

Scottish Ballet has now launched a new project, ‘Engage’, which aims to help some of the 150,000

people in Scotland estimated to be living with long COVID.

The new programme of live and digital movement resources aims to build confidence and resilience, and has been designed in collaboration with medical professionals and those living with the condition.

This comes as the Scottish parliament’s COVID-19 Recovery Committee launched an inquiry into long COVID, with a focus on available therapies and rehabilitation.

The Medical Director for the Royal College of General Practitioners, Dr Gail Allsopp, whose organisation was involved in the design of the new ‘Engage’ programme, says the dance-based project will make a real difference to those living with the long-term effects of COVID-19:

“Co-production with patients and clinicians means this resource is based on evidence and current approaches to care and we hope it will be useful for GPs and their teams to signpost their patients to, who require support in the community where appropriate.”

NHS staff and other key workers can also benefit from movement and mindful resources on offer from the dance company, as part of its Health at Hand programme.

Scottish Ballet will soon offer a digital resource for users of British Sign Language, and next month will launch a project in secondary schools to encourage young people to explore their identities, as part of the company’s commitment to ‘celebrate the dancer in each of us’.

Heather Elland, a participant in the SB Health ‘Elevate’ programme for people with MS, says that taking part in the programme has completely changed the way she lives with her condition:

“I dance, I feel free. I’m free of judgements, I’m free of obligation, I’m free of responsibilities and it just gives me the chance to be me.”

To find out more about Scottish Ballet and SB Health visit: https://www.scottishballet.co.uk

Read more: Music’s potential to help with dementia; Lack of structure holding back social prescribing; Alternative pathway inquiry reveals obstacles

Sign up to our bulletin for key health & social care updates straight to your inbox and you can follow healthandcare.scot on Google News.