10 February 2025
The government has promised to put creativity back at the heart of school life, and people across the arts sector who have been campaigning for curriculum change for years will soon learn just how serious it is. For those of us working in dance, publication of the interim review report in the coming weeks will be a particularly big deal – or at least, it has the potential to be.
"We are ambitious because we want to get the whole of Britain up on its feet and dancing."
Every day we are lucky enough to see how dance changes lives – how it makes us fitter, healthier and more confident, how it takes us into new worlds, brings us together, and keeps us active, physically and mentally. The Social Value of Movement and Dance report found that participating in dance uplifted mental wellbeing for 1.2 million participants, and resulted in 2.7m fewer GP and psychotherapy visits – creating £430m in savings on physical and mental health. Crucially, movement and dance have been found to reach and retain girls, women, and disabled people equally or better than any other forms of activity.
Extract from an article written for The Guardian by Shirley Ballas, image credit Guy Levy, BBC
