Together again in Hampton!

This article appears in the Bayside Seniors Newsletter

Thursday the 14th of January saw a glorious, outdoor, physically distanced, COVID safe return to the Hampton Senior Citizens Centre of the long running Dance for Parkinson’s & Wellbeing Hampton group.  After ten months of not seeing some members, learning new technology and transitioning to online classes the group was excited to be able to meet again.

This long running group managed to survive and thrive during the lockdown thanks to strength of the community (see here for what the wife of one of our dancer’s did with her time in lockdown) and the willingness of many of the members to learn new skills and adapt to meeting and dancing at home in an online environment via Zoom.  Luckily this group was well placed to move into the challenges of meeting ‘online’, having received a Bayside City Council Community Grant in 2019 to build a website, film a class and make it available for all to see and try via the website.  

Dance for Parkinson’s & Wellbeing Hampton wanted to do this to encourage others in the wider community to join the fun and felt that by having a website with information and a ‘try before you buy’ class video there it would allow people to get a sense of what they do and how it can help others find enjoyment and community through dance.  

Beginning with a cuppa and morning tea, a good catch up is had before the class begins to dance.  This ‘dance’ may not be what you might think of when you think of dance, it begins seated and you don’t need a partner!  Drawing on a broad range of movement styles, these dance classes have something for everyone and great music to boot!  The music for the class is as much of a fun filled mix as the movement with regular sing-alongs taking place as the group dances.  

The structure of a class is drawn from long established Dance for PD out of the US, in which all lead teaching artists are trained, bringing their own enthusiasm and experience to make the class enjoyable as possible.   

Dance for Parkinson’s & Wellbeing Hampton is open to all who love to move to music and may find things physically challenging.  More information can be found at http://dance4all.online, this website was built thanks to the support of Bayside City Council, thank you to the council and especially to the Healthy Ageing team for their unflagging encouragement during these COVID days and always!

We hope to see you on a Thursday from 10am at the Hampton Senior Citizen’s Centre, Service Street, Hampton.  

This article is dedicated to Noreen & Roger who we lost over December & January, we miss you and send love to your families.