Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Written Evidence


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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