The Healthier Dancer Programme campaigns

The Healthier Dancer Programme began as a strand of Dance UK's campaigning activity. Now an established part of the organisation's structure it continues to campaign for dancers' health as a whole, specifically through the current campaigns outlined below:

National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science

This campaign forms the major part of Dance UK’s continued commitment to supporting dancers’ health, as highlighted in the four key ambitions of the Dance Manifesto (Dance UK and the National Campaign for the Arts in 2006). Long-term goal: our vision for the future is that all top level dancers will have access to the high quality, comprehensive, dance specific healthcare and dance science support services they need, on a par with those enjoyed by elite athletes and dancers in the largest ballet companies. It is envisaged that this could be achieved through shared expertise and a network of multidisciplinary hub-sites which will collectively form a National Institute of Dance Medicine and Science. Dance UK is exploring the feasibility of dance and sport sharing facilities where appropriate in order to maximise medical and scientific resources, reduce costs, and benefit from the pooling of expertise. The idea is that this will ultimately be a resource not only for elite dancers but for those who are teaching, leading and participating in dance activity in a variety of contexts, and treating dance, sport and exercise related injuries in the general public and at elite level.

Improving dance floors

HDP continually advocates awarness of the importance that dance flooring plays in dancers helath. In 2003 Harlequin-world leaders in dance floor technology for over 25 years and one of Britain's key dance businesses nationally and internationally-gave evidence to the 2003 / 04 Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee focusing on dance. Following the publication of the Dance Manifesto, Harlequin visited Dance UK to talk about the company's own campaign to raise the profile of the importance of suitable dance floors, which links in with specific key goals identified in the Dance Manifesto.