Dancer not Dementia

Dancer Not Dementia Challenges Dementia-Related Stigma Through Dance

Too often, stereotypes and prejudices reduce the identities and experiences of people living with dementia to their diagnosis of dementia. Canada’s National Ballet School’s (NBS) Dancer Not Dementia initiative is a documentary film and campaign that challenges dementia-related stigma by celebrating the creativity, joy, playfulness, community and connection of dancers living with dementia and their carers.

Co-produced by NBS and KITE Research Institute – University Health Network, the film features a participatory dance program called Sharing Dance Older Adults (SDOA) that creates a sense of community and joy with its emphasis on artistry, creative expression and social engagement. The overall campaign, designed to counter the dominant tragedy narrative of people living with dementia, focuses on the creativity and abilities of dancers living with dementia.

The Research

Dance

Participation in SDOA has the potential to counter stigma associated with dementia by supporting the embodied, playful, and imaginative engagement of people living with dementia (Kontos et al., 2021). So often we notice what someone living with dementia can’t do, but dance helps to focus on what is possible. The music alone often inspires participants to start dancing, and the narratives offer dancers the opportunity to immerse themselves creatively; each movement or inspiration for a movement is introduced in the context of a narrative or image about common knowledge/experiences and it is up to the participants how they wish to perform or express the movements. There isn’t just one way to participate.

In one example of the Commute to Work Dance, in which participants are imagining they are using some mode of transportation to travel to work, the following was observed: A family carer turns to his wife, who is a resident participant and, as they circle their hands around each other mimicking cycling, he says to her, “I got in an accident on my bicycle.” He laughs and leans in to her. She responds, “Oh we’re going really fast now” and they both laugh. She says “wooo!” and laughs as her husband speeds up his cycling motions (Kontos et al., 2021, p. 718).

Film

Documentary film – and particularly films about dance – is rarely used as a way to innovate education about stigma associated with dementia. Featuring people living with dementia engage in dance and sharing their own stories about their dance experiences challenges the ‘tragedy narrative’ that is so common in popular fiction films about dementia. Dancer Not Dementia also illustrates how dance can bring people into relationship with each other, which is crucial for the creation of relational caring communities.

The film has been seen by audiences around the world; it is changing knowledge and attitudes about dementia and is creating more inclusive practices for people living with dementia. Stigma is central to the global public health response to dementia so Dancer Not Dementia, as a film and campaign that aims to challenge this stigma, is well-positioned to inspire policy and practice reform to more fully support people to live well with dementia.

Initiative Partners

NBS collaborated with the following partners on this initiative: Baycrest Health Sciences; Baycrest’s Kunin-Lunenfeld Centre for Applied Research and Evaluation (KL-Care); Brandon University; KITE Research Institute – Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network; Trent Centre for Aging and Society at Trent University; and University of Manitoba.

References: Kontos, P., Grigorovich, A., Kosurko, A., Bar, R. J., Herron, R. V., Menec, V. H., & Skinner, M. W. (2021). Dancing with dementia: Exploring the embodied dimensions of creativity and social engagement. The Gerontologist, 61(5), 714-723

For more information visit:

En: https://www.nbs-enb.ca/resources/community/dancer-not-dementia/

Fr: https://www.nbs-enb.ca/ressources/communaute/dancer-not-dementia/