"Medico Manoeuvres"

Well I've just returned to Brisbane from a five week project - "Medico Manoeuvres" with Leigh Warren and Dancers in Adelaide, South Australia. This project was part of the Arts In Health programme at Flinders Medical Centre and involved dancing throughout different areas of the hospital, investigating the effects that dance can have on patients, staff and visitors. It was an amazing project to be involved in and one that I am so glad I was able to be a part of. Before commencing the project I must admit even I was sceptical about whether dance would have a huge impact on people residing within the hospital but now having seen the positive results with my own eyes I am greatly and pleasantly surprised.

So what exactly did we do?

With information gathered from a similar dance research project at Flinders Medical Centre last year, and in consultation with Sally - the Arts In Health Coordinator at the hospital, Leigh Warren in collaboration with the dancers, created some dances and structured improvisations to perform in different areas of the hospital. Sometimes we danced through the wards, sometimes in waiting rooms. Other times we danced in the cafeteria, or staff lunch room and even in the large outside courtyard. At times we surprised people and at other times the viewers knew we were coming.

What reactions to our dancing did we encounter?

Mostly we received positive reactions to our dancing. Patients eyes would light up and smiles moved across their faces even if at first they were unsure of how to react. Staff found themselves with something a little different to talk about and some would even start dancing themselves. Often tension within the space we were performing seemed to dissipate, leaving people more relaxed and ready to tackle the events of the day which lay ahead. Occasionally a patient would cry, quite simply because the dancing had helped them release emotions which they had been bottling up inside. Once in a while someone would pretend not to notice us/ignore us, but it seemed more often than not that they couldn't help themselves and by the end of us moving through the area where they were they were watching us with their full attention.

What did I learn?

I discovered just how powerful dance can be! And ... how much I love it because of that. To see, hear, and feel the positive impact it had on so many people in the hospital was truly magnificent. I felt I grew not only as a dancer but also as a person.