Rhythm Is Life, Specially designed for Seniors

A World of Rhythm at your Feet!

 
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Dance really is for every BODY.

At Heartdancers, we believe that everyone should have access to the life-changing health benefits of dance and movement therapy. We provide weekly live-streamed dance classes and tailored dance therapy programs to support a diverse range of peoples and organisations. Our classes are run by Culturally and Linguistically Diverse dance facilitators to provide a safe, nurturing and inclusive space to learn, play, connect and support the wellbeing of everyone in our community. Every 4-6 Weeks, we explore a new style of dance with our diverse team of dance facilitators, such as: Latin Rhythms, Flamenco, Cumbia, Indian Classical Dance, Bollywood, Indian Folk Dance, African Rhythms, Disco, Hip-Hop and Contemporary Dance! We welcome you to join us and support our vision!

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Rhythm Is Life is a customisable and inclusive program transforming lives through the power of dance.

As well as providing a weekly community dance therapy class, we work with aged care organisations, retirement villages, disability service providers, special needs organisations, mental health clinics, community centres, in-home care and respite services. Our Rhythm Is Life program can be tailored to suit the unique context, needs and preferences of your organisation or community group - including online, face-to-face classes or hybrid formats. The cultural component of our Rhythm Is Life program provides its participants with a unique and inclusive opportunity to learn and experience cultural and traditional dances from around the world. This is part of Heartdancers' vision to foster social cohesion, inclusion, respect, understanding and celebration of the cultural diversity of the Australian community.

The Health Benefits Of Dance

Dance is a multi-dimensional activity. Cognitively, it requires learning of complex motor sequences, procedural memory, attention, visual-motor integration, synchronization in space and time (rhythm movements), and emotional expression. It also involves social and affective dimensions. As a social activity, it can promote a sense of belonging and social inclusion.

There is fairly strong scientific evidence that dance-based programmes can be an effective therapeutic intervention for people suffering from Depression, Anxiety, Cancer and Dementia. Research has also shown that dance can increase psycho-motor skills, reduces risk of cardiovascular disease6, improve aerobic power, improve flexibility, improve balance and mobility, and prevent falls. Dance-based interventions have shown to have persistent long-term effects and, due to the fact that dance integrates physical, mental, cognitive and social wellbeing benefits, recent research now positions dance ahead of other physical activity in terms of its impact.

We can tailor our Rhythm Is Life Program to the following Goals:

Customised Goals for Rhythm Is Life

Our Approach

Strengths-Based Approach

Rather than assuming that people and systems are fundamentally ‘broken’ and need to be fixed, our Rhythm Is Life program starts from an appreciative stance that there is something working, good or of value in any situation that can be revealed. Supporting and nurturing these existing strengths is inherently motivating and can ignite change. This approach is followed as part of tailoring the program for specific health and wellbeing goals.

Program Adaptability

Primarily a dance-based program, Rhythm Is Life draws on a combination of mind-body practices, such as dance, yoga, tai chi, and creative arts. Combined, these offer a wide range of tools to draw from, allowing for synergetic physical, mental and social wellbeing benefits. This makes the program robust in its adaptability to match the physical and mental abilities of the participants, and be respectful of their cultural background.

Leadership and Facilitators

Our Rhythm Is Life program is managed by a qualified dance movement therapist, trained dancer and yoga teacher. All session facilitators are trained dancers and receive specific training on how to deliver the program according to the Rhythm Is Life methodology and core principles. We select the best facilitators to deliver the program according to your needs and preferences.

Cultural Sensitivity and Diversity

Our facilitators come from diverse cultural backgrounds. This enables us to deliver the program to a wide variety of CALD communities, including Latin American, Chinese, Indian and African communities. It also enables the program to participants opportunities to learn and experience cultural and traditional dances from around the world, fostering social cohesion, inclusion, understanding and appreciations for each other's differences.

There Are Many Ways To Support Our Vision

Donate!

Give The Gift Of Dance by covering the cost of a class (or as many classes as you like!) and support someone in our community to access a quality, caring environment to explore movement therapy and combat social isolation.

Support Our Dance Facilitators When you donate to our Rhythm Is Life program, you are supporting a team of culturally and linguistically diverse facilitators to deliver dance movement therapy to a culturally diverse group of participants from within the Australian community and people joining our live-streamed class in locations across the globe. Absolutely everyone is welcome to join us! This program nurtures Heartdancers' mission to provide a platform for meaningful cultural dialogue, social cohesion, inclusion and celebration of our different cultures, languages, stories, knowledges, dances, traditions, songs and experiences.

Participate!

Sign Up for our weekly, by-donation community dance class. Classes are live-streamed every Wednesday from 11:15am-12:15am AEST from the Uniting Harris Community Centre in Ultimo where we are practising social distancing and COVID Safety protocols. There are up to 20 places available if you would like to join us in-person!

Every 4-6 Weeks, we explore a new style of dance with our diverse team of dance facilitators, such as: Latin Rhythms, Flamenco, Cumbia, Indian Classical Dance, Bollywood, Indian Folk Dance, African Rhythms, Disco, Hip-Hop and Contemporary Dance! Our classes are suitable for people of all ages and all levels of mobility. Each session begins seated with some slow and gentle warm-up exercises and everyone is encouraged to practice the steps at a comfortable pace and to the best of their ability - no judgement here! Just community-building, hip-shaking, stress-busting fun to be found! To register, please email Janina at [email protected]

Spread The Word!

Like us on Facebook

Follow us on Instagram

Connect with us on LinkedIn

Another great way to support us is to let your friends, family and community know about Rhythm Is Life classes. Follow Heartdancers on social media and share our events and programs with people in your network. We can tailor our Rhythm Is Life classes to meet the unique needs of your community group or wellbeing program. We appreciate the love and support of our community and we couldn't do it without you!

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Testimonials

  • Aquio
    I’m really enjoying this class. [We learn] different styles of dance. I think I’m hopeless in terms of following choreography but I’m really enjoying this class, I’d love to continue having this kind of classes. I always loved to dance and it’s good to make new friends and meet people, they are lovely.
    Aquio
  • Ramon
    The class is quite special. I live 1 hour away from here […] I get up early in the morning and get here. Yesterday I was doing mowing. I got really tired. But I’m extremely happy [I’m here]. The instructors are full of energy. For other people I tell you ‘don’t miss the opportunity to come and join us here and connect with each other. I’m very glad to have met so many friends here. Everyone in this class is encouraged with so much love, which means so much for each one of us. Come and join the jolly crowd. It’s amazing the things we can do with our feet, legs and arms that we never do otherwise. My fingers start clinking because I never use these movements. It’s marvellous!
    Ramon
  • Luvini
    I’m so enjoying this class. It helps with my health, moving, working my body and my mind. The community here is very helpful for me. It encourages us to be strong. I can come and see many friends. Thank you very much, so helpful.
    Luvini
  • Peter
    This class is the highlight of my week!
    Peter
  • Andrew
    This is a wonderful class in terms of building community, with all different cultures coming to this class, and we get to know each other...I have a lot of fun...I think it adds immense value to our community and to each person individually.
    Andrew
  • Loretta
    I look forward to your sessions, all encompassing (stretch-outreach-dance-mingle), friendly, and inviting. I am enjoying this opportunity to chat with others and bond with our common and diverse interests.
    Loretta
  • Keith
    I am 65 years old and live alone so as well as the very important aspect of improving physical health and challenging my memory to follow the dance steps, it also provides valuable social contact for me; I believe this session is very beneficial to myself and all those who attend.
    Keith
  • Paquita
    My brain has changed, I'm more optimistic, and have had very happy moments here. It reminds me of my youth when I was dancing rock and roll. I feel very happy to have met you and to come here to dance. And honestly I'd recommend it to anyone. I think these workshops are a brilliant idea, so that people can come and express their energy.
    Paquita
  • Cultures of the World program has been such an amazing cultural learning experience for our Year 1 class. Each week the students have been actively engaged in a range of performance art from diverse cultural backgrounds, enabling them to learn new skills, as well as an appreciation and understanding of contemporary cultural similarities and differences. All of the visiting performers have been so dynamic, pitching their content and activities perfectly to the developmental level of our young students. The students have gained so much from the Cultures of the World program. Both the staff and students have been talking so positively about their learning experiences, even a long time after the sessions. Sefton Infants School highly recommends the program and is already hoping to participate in the program again in the near future. Many thanks to Creating Links and Heartdancers for making this wonderful program possible".
    Sefton Infants School May 2019.