Dance group Movement for Life celebrates £10,000 grant

Local Dartington community dance group, Movement for Life, is today celebrating after being awarded £10,000 funding from the National Lottery Community Fund. The funding will support the group to deliver creative dance to increase emotional & physical well-being in family, female carer and women’s groups. 

Movement for Life is supporting community to re-connect through both in-person and online sessions at low cost to participants and often free to those in need. ‘’After all that community has been through in the anxiety of uncertainty and separation, as body-based practitioners we’re happy to support all ages of community back into easeful breathing, relaxed movement and playful connection,’’ says community group founder Leela Fisk.    

In studios around Totnes, sessions invite people back into focus on the comfort and safety of their own bodies after such a time of societal change and distancing. Popular sessions, Sunday morning Family Dance draws community of all ages to play in family groups and local community.  Movement sessions on Wednesday mornings invite mothers & female carers to shed the cloak of caring for two hours of breathing space.  One ongoing participant says, ‘’These sessions are such a valuable space for expression and exploration of movement and emotion.”  

An important strand of events is delivered alongside, online, and has continued to grow since the first lockdown. The online expressive movement series, Movement for Wellbeing, welcomes women from the wider South West and particularly encourages women who are hesitant to re-integrate into in-person settings. As an ongoing series, sessions grow a community of women who are finding value in guided self-care and movement practice in their own homes, many of whom are caring for dependents or continue to shield.  

"I find I connect very deeply, despite this being over zoom and with people I have never met before," says one ongoing participant. "I feel much more 'in my body' with much more access to feel all areas after,” says another.

Movement for Life is a community group that has thrived during the hard times of the pandemic - in adapting and responding at every curve. Now, they are focused on supporting re-connection. 

Readers can find information on the Movement For Life website https://www.movement-for-life.org

Leela Fisk says: “We’re excited to have the funding to support community to re-connect & focus on healthy connection with our own bodies and each other.  We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund have again recognised our work in this way .''