Memorandum submitted by the Medau Society
The request from the Culture, Media and Sport
Committee (CMSC) asked for representations on "Dance".
However Dance is just one part of the Exercise, Movement and Dance
grouping targeted as a priority activity by UK Sport.
The terms of the CMSC enquiry strongly feature
the health and exercise aspects of dance. This response from Medau
Movement addresses particularly the opportunity of "Movement"
as a way of meeting the Government's health and lifestyle objectives.
The pigeonholing of this activity either with "Dance"
(with its implication of an artistic objective) or with "Exercise"
(with its implication of specific physical objectives) has contributed
to a lack of understanding and could miss an opportunity to support
an activity that could almost have been purpose-designed to support
the Government's health objectives.
It should also be mentioned that Medau Movement
is one of a number of movement disciplines (the Keep Fit Association
and The Fitness League are others) whose main objective is to
offer health improvement opportunities.
In order to encourage people to become more
physically active it is obvious that the availability of a wide
range of disciplines will mean people can find something that
will suit them. Thus those put off by the term "exercise"—with
its connotation of high intensity workouts—may be more inclined
to join a movement class. Equally those put off by the word "dance"—with
the emphasis on expression and performance—may also find
the idea of a movement class far more acceptable.
MEDAU MOVEMENT
IN THE
CONTEXT OF
THE EXERCISE,
MOVEMENT AND
DANCE CONTINUUM
The Medau Society trains teachers to deliver
Medau Movement classes that come under the wide umbrella of Exercise,
Movement and Dance. In practice most Medau classes will include
work that can be defined under all three terms. However the overriding
priority is the training of Movement and it is this that contributes
so much towards the improvement and maintenance of the health
of those taking part. The feeling of well-being engendered by
an activity that has an element of the expression and creativity
of dance should not be underestimated. Add to this the strong
social element and the mix inevitably means that participants
enjoy rather than endure. This is the key to good attendance and
retention—and why organisations such as ourselves have survived
for so many years despite the commercialism of the health and
fitness industry.
MOVEMENT'S
CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS
THE GOVERNMENT'S
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
TARGETS
The value and benefits of regular physical activity
is at the heart of the Government's current initiative to improve
the nation's health. Unlike, say, aerobics, which tends to be
undertaken as a necessary evil (a means to an end) Medau Movement
is an activity that attracts high levels of enjoyment and loyalty
from its devotees. Participants will readily testify to the fact
that their attendance at a class has genuinely helped them "feel
great". Thus the classes have very high attendance and retention
rates. This makes the promotion of Medau a cost-effective way
of achieving government health targets.
VALUE OF
MOVEMENT TO
THE UK ECONOMY
Benefits to participants will hopefully be reflected
in a reduction in the need for health and social care resources.
In particular in later life declining health often creates more
demands for treatment/medication and social/community support.
Improvements in posture, co-ordination and balance can contribute
towards lessening the risk of falls, whilst improving and maintaining
mobility and flexibility can contribute towards the ability to
live independently. These are in addition to the obvious health
benefits of regular exercise impacting on such illnesses as heart
and lung disease, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, arthritis,
etc.
Additionally participants are encouraged to
become more aware of their bodies and relevant health issues and
to accept responsibility to look after themselves rather than
devolving to their GPs or the Government.
ACCESS
One of the benefits of the way Medau Movement
classes (and indeed many other Movement and Dance classes) are
delivered is that many are held in the community as opposed to
private or commercial venues. They are held in local venues such
as community centres, halls and schools and are priced to be within
the reach of the majority of the population.
Additionally many classes are delivered under
the auspices of the Adult Education system, enabling those on
income support to access classes through subsidised or waived
fees. However the number of these classes has been declining precipitously
as government policies have promoted vocational classes at the
expense of non-vocational. At best this is a lost opportunity.
At worst it is accentuating differences in class and culture at
a time when we are all striving to remove them.
GOVERNMENT FUNDING
The Medau Society has been funded by Sport England
on a care and maintenance basis for many years. This has allowed
the Society to survive. But it has engendered something of a siege
mentality. And the conditions for securing funding (equity, governance,
child protection), while admirable in themselves, may have encouraged
a lack of attention on the real issues.
Maybe it is worth questioning the combination
of success in elite sports ("winning") under the same
umbrella as health ("participating"). The drive, talent
and single-mindedness necessary for the former is almost the antithesis
of the even-handed inclusiveness that should support the latter.
It is unlikely, therefore, that a target and funding system that
suits the one would be of much help for the other.
At a time when we should be developing long
term plans to secure our future, we find we have very little concrete
information on funding policy after March 2005. We have every
intention of doing our best to continue contributing to the Government's
health agenda, but we realise that without Government funding
we will find it increasingly difficult to expand and develop in
the future.
30 April 2004
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