Impact case study database

Both Allegranti and Claid’s research uses dialogic methods to focus most immediately on the participants in their choreographic and somatic work, who, as a result of engaging with these dialogic dance methods, experience improved psychological, cognitive and physical wellbeing. Dance becomes a way to learn about ageing, illness and loss in embodied and progressive ways. Allegranti and Claid also use dialogic methods to broaden understanding of a given situation or practice (intentional falling, living with YOD), and to build practical tools for future application (e.g. in therapists’ work, artists’ collaborations and their relationship to audiences, or the daily lives of families affected by illness and loss).

1. Enhancing the psychological, cognitive and physical wellbeing of those experiencing ageing, illness and loss along with their families and carers

Allegranti and Claid have worked closely with diverse groups of participants to develop projects which engage with the experiences, circumstances and embodied knowledges of their members. As part of her Moving Kinship hubs (methodology discussed in R1 and R2) developed with and for diverse audiences, Allegranti has created bespoke performances in collaboration with 36 families living with YOD. Claid’s research has similarly engaged participants in the process of its development and has helped participants in a public workshop at Tower Bridge manage their vertigo as well as improved the psychological, cognitive and physical wellbeing of the Elderflowers, a group of 14 older people from a former mining town in South East Northumberland.

The inherent methodology of mutual recognition in Allegranti’s Moving Kinship project has evoked feelings of empowerment and improved the wellbeing of the participants. Allegranti’s use of dialogic methods, emphasising engagement, capacity and co-creativity ( R1, R2), has enabled participants to mourn losses and address taboos through safe, playful choreographic engagement. The reach of this research has been substantial: internationally established Moving Kinship hubs have been attended by 1,140 people in venues across Japan, Norway and the United Kingdom ( IMP1). The combined psychological and kinaesthetic benefits to participants are demonstrated by feedback following the participatory hubs: one family carer commented that the dance was a ‘nice way for us to be together as a family in complete contrast to normal. To move, be in contact, to just be with each other. All centred around dementia, a burden we all face day to day – but it came as a release rather than a reminder.’ Another reported that, ‘It was incredibly liberating to see mum enjoy and be so engaged in the dance; for the first time in a while I was able to leave her to herself and her own enjoyment without feeling guilt or responsibility. It was so incredibly cathartic for me and let me release a lot of anxiety and stress.’ Equally, the dances also allowed the participants living with YOD to express themselves. As one reported, ‘I have Fronto Temporal Dementia, non-fluent. Can’t speak or sing. Music, art and dancing is best for me’. Another wrote of her experience, ‘I enjoy the intense expressions on faces and the body emotive movements. I feel like moving… also being part of a group making close connections feels good’ ( IMP2).

In 2015, Claid’s research, which demonstrates the clinical usefulness of the practice of falling in Gestalt psychotherapeutic practice ( R5), underpinned a public workshop held at Tower Bridge. Claid worked with 15 members of the public who experienced vertigo and fear of heights, using somatic and mindful falling skills to help them manage body-based sensations that arose without allowing fear to take over. This enabled them to walk over the glass walkway at the bridge, which is 42 metres above the Thames ( IMP3). Media coverage enhanced public understanding of the use of falling to combat the effects of vertigo. Before the workshop, Claid appeared on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, working with an ITV presenter who experiences vertigo to walk the glass walkways ( IMP4), reaching the programme’s approximately 1,000,000 daily viewers.

Claid’s participatory project has also inspired a group of older residents of the area of Northumberland around Woodhorn Museum, who in 2016 commissioned a project to enable people in the area to create and take part in inspiring and high-quality arts experiences. South East Northumberland is a particularly deprived area of the UK, following the demise of the coal mining and fishing industries. The core issues for this group are ageing and economic decline. Claid’s research on falling – how working with gravity can bring psychological and metaphorical support – informed the devising process for participants as well as their choices of material and ways of film-making ( R5, R6). As a result of the work, Claid produced a choreographic film with filmmaker Lucy Cash, called A Long Side ( R6). Participating in the film resulted in enhanced wellbeing for those involved. Of taking part in the film, one participant reported that, ‘I have done things I would never have without the encouragement of others’, another that ‘I have arthritis in my hands… When we first started they were painful—as we went on, they got better’ ( IMP5).

1. Shaping the practice of dance artists and health professionals

Due to the clear benefits of these dance and choreographic methodologies for those participating, dissemination of Allegranti’s and Claid’s research and dialogic methodologies have shaped and enriched dance and health practitioners’ practice as they have learned how to better support their own and others’ wellbeing through adoption of these principles into their practice.

Comments by the approximately 250 participants in Claid’s workshops on falling ( R5, R6) in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US attest to the new inspiration experienced by dance artists and the motivation they felt to bring the new practices to which they were introduced into their art. One described the experience as having ‘given me a new paradigm through which to engage with my life/ world/ studio practice’ and said she would incorporate Claid’s dialogic process into her work: ‘The way in which we… engage with vulnerability and support… was very useful for my practice…I will use what I have learnt in future rehearsal processes’. An attendee of a workshop in 2018 reported that her practice would ‘benefit from a boost in confidence in pursuing the potential intelligence of embodied practice’, whilst another commented that she would, ‘create more time for falling – and work with contact improvisation/Aikido and gain a sense of technique needed to fall and catch or be caught falling – safely.’ The resilience she would gain from practicing embodied falling would benefit her work as a workshop facilitator for Child Assault Prevention UK: ‘If I can become more comfortable with falling and model an acceptance to fail and make mistakes... I will develop a greater resilience to bounce back. In turn by modelling this to the children/ young people I work with… they too can build more resilience and bounce in adverse situations’ ( IMP6).

Similarly, workshops led by Claid ( R5, R6) for psychotherapeutic organisations in six countries (Australia, Finland, Italy, New Zealand, the UK and the US) resulted in the adoption of her research by psychology practitioners. One psychotherapist claimed the workshop had ‘impacted both my psychotherapy practice as well as the training that I teach’ and further reported that he subsequently used falling as a metaphor to support issues of loss ( IMP6). The reach of Claid’s work is evidenced by the approximately 60 participants in the workshops and the range of their own practices in which they embedded the findings of the research, and extended to their networks of associated organisations, workplaces and relationships ( IMP1). One participant in a workshop in Italy noted that he would now include exercises in group therapy settings ( IMP6). The reach of the research has been extended to business contexts; for example, a psychotherapist now uses Claid’s discursive methods in personal development training for the Senior Management at Ingram Micro, an IT company with offices in 170 countries ( IMP7).

Similarly, the Moving Kinship methodology was disseminated internationally to approximately 260 dance, music, theatre and psychotherapy practitioners through workshops and collaborations in Japan, Norway and the UK ( IMP1). This has informed the practice of dance and theatre artists across the globe, causing practitioners to re-think methods of engaging with artistic creation as a form of embodied activism. Allegranti’s Moving Kinship performance hubs (methodology discussed in R1 and R2) involved dialogic collaboration with the professional dance artists who worked with Allegranti to choreograph bespoke responses to the stories of these families. The hubs profoundly affected the dance artists’ understanding of the value of their somatic practices, artistic skills and psychological investment. As one dancer reported of the experience, ‘I have been inspired by the dance movement psychotherapy approaches Beatrice works with to find an honest and heart-felt response to my creative work. This has allowed the emotional integrity of the participants’ stories to shine out through our movement’ ( IMP2). Another noted that dancing in the hubs had evolved his dance practice in directions he would not have considered otherwise. It affected the dancers personally as well: ‘My dad is living with dementia and the process allowed me to engage with performance in deeper and more meaningful ways […] The progressive nature of these sessions, and the exchange of energy from dancers to participants results in a dialogic exchange of energy and emotion... where all participate as equals’. This dancer has gone on to use Moving Kinship methodology in his inclusive dance practice with around 100 stateless people in Japan, Thailand and the UK ( IMP8).

1. Embedding dance interventions for ageing, loss and YOD within major healthcare organisations

Since 2017, Allegranti’s Moving Kingship hubs (drawing from R1- R4) have been incorporated into the recommendations of major health and cultural organisations and included as part of social prescribing in GP surgeries. This creative and psychosocial intervention enabled Allegranti to hold 24 monthly hubs for families working on referrals from Haringey and Merton Councils; St George’s NHS neurology unit; Dementia Action Alliance; Public Health England in collaboration with Merton Arts Space and Merton Council; and Alexandra Palace. The hubs provide an important means for these organisations to achieve their missions and aims; for example, Alexandra Palace designates their work with Allegranti as ‘a flagship project… helped raise the profile of the charity as a place that supports community cohesion, wellbeing and somewhere that people might seek support or advice’. Allegranti’s research has become embedded widely in referrals for those living with YOD, and in 2017, Dementia Action Alliance and Public Health England cited the work as an exemplar of ‘innovative creative practice in dementia’. In 2020, Surrey Arts Partnership commissioned the hubs across the county, expected to start in 2021, as allowed by government regulations ( IMP9).

The reach of Allegranti’s research amongst both dance and health practitioners has been essential to embedding socially and psychologically imbued dance practice as a means of achieving positive outcomes for families living with YOD, providing an example of best practice for how artistic research can be used to benefit end users. 24 screenings of Allegranti’s dance film I Can’t Find Myself ( R3), a discursive resource for enhancing kinaesthetic communication with lay and professional dementia carers, reached a total audience of 1,412, including medical professionals, with further screenings reaching the Alzheimer’s Society in 2017 and the Dementia Pathfinder’s Annual Award Ceremony in 2016. Comments from attendees emphasised how the film empowered them to ‘[recognise] again how much you can help people with art’ and to acknowledge ‘how non-verbal communication through touch and movement can help’ ( IMP10). The screendance was the cover story of Therapy Today, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy’s magazine, reaching over 40,000 monthly readers ( IMP1) and has subsequently been used as a family support and staff development resource by Dementia Pathfinders ( IMP9).

After the success of I Can’t Find Myself, Allegranti developed a full-length production based on her research ( R1- R3) and the hubs. The performance, I’ve Lost You Only to Discover I’ve Gone Missing ( R4), has toured to 11 venues to date as a work-in-progress, reaching an audience of 580. Allegranti created a short film that includes an extract from the performance. An audience member stated that, ‘it has reminded me of how important co regulation is, particularly with people who have dementia… I will approach any other contact… with a renewed sense of connection’; another that they had realised their need to ‘move, express’ more ( IMP1).