About BID | Dance123

About

Body Image Dance was established in April 2011, initially with the intention of promoting the potential benefits of music and dance in this area of mental health, through a performance of the choreographed music.

The project took its inspiration from the creation of a new piece of contemporary dance music Dance 123 written by Stafford composer Ellie Davies, describing how it feels to have a negative body image and to suffer from an eating disorder. The idea of using music and dance to express feelings and improve mood was immediately attractive to a number of people including Staffordshire University and Newcastle under Lyme College and those working in the field of mental health in Staffordshire.

During the following six months, funding was obtained from a number of sources including local businesses, Newcastle Borough Council, Big Lottery Fund, which awards money to local community groups and projects, and Staffordshire County Council. Artists were commissioned, and with Ellie Davies and Stoke based choreographer Amy Tomson the work was choreographed.

The work was performed at Newcastle under Lyme College in September 2011, to 150 invitees from the fields of education, industry, local government and health. This performance was filmed by Newcastle under Lyme College Student business team Alert Design who had also prepared a short trailer describing the background to the project.[1] They went on to produce a short documentary about Dance 123, in December, for the Stoke Your Fires Film Festival.[2]

Following the initial performance, a broad based group of interested parties including educationalists and those working in mental health, met several times to discuss how to develop a workshop designed to raise awareness of the issues raised in Dance 123. During this period, Body Image Dance won the Newly Formed Group of the Year award at Newcastle CVS Awards dinner on 28th November 2011. At the same time, Professor Sarah Grogan, head of the faculty of Health Psychology, Staffordshire University, and leading exponent on body image, suggested carrying out a pilot study using Dance 123, as a means of establishing the potential benefits of dance in enhancing positive body image.

With input from students and senior staff at both Staffordshire and Derby Universities, a pilot study was carried out with students at Newcastle under Lyme College in February 2012. The results were very positive, and two papers were submitted for publication in leading health and Psychology journals. These were subsequently published and can be found elsewhere on this site.

BID was very encouraged by the diversity of its supporters and the great enthusiasm for the projects potential. Supporters include: Beat (the national charity for eating disorders who provided a young Ambassador to the project), the South Staffs PCT Cluster commissioning adviser, South Staffs and Shropshire Healthcare Foundation trust (ED Unit) the West Midlands SHA and La Scala ballerina Mariafrancesca Garrittano.

Promotional events were held in June 2012, with open days at Derby University and Newcastle-under-Lyme College. In July the YMCA asked Body Image Dance to add input to the All Party Parliamentary Report on body image. A PR event was also held at Birmingham Arts Festival and Stafford Arts Festival in September 2012.

A recent piece of research carried out by national Eating Disorders charity Beat among Young sufferers in the West Midlands showed that 25% of the young people surveyed would access music therapy,18% dance therapy and a further 11% both if such therapies were available. Currently they are not.

Regrettably, despite the positive results obtained from the pilot study, no further funding was forthcoming and it was not possible to pursue BID’s research further. It is hoped that by sharing its work with National Eating Disorders charity BEAT however, some further benefit will be forthcoming.