The purpose of this report was to evaluate the success of group and bedside dance sessions in areas of physical capacity, health and wellbeing of the patients who were being treated on two Older Adult Rehabilitative wards at Mile End Hospital in the summer of 2015. Vital Dance provided an opportunity for patients to experience and enjoy dance as both a creative art form and an alternative physical activity to physiotherapy group sessions.

A team from the Dance Science department at Trinity Laban monitored patients’ engagement levels throughout the sessions, and distributed questionnaires to the hospital staff at the end of the project. The findings of the Mile End Vital Dance project are largely qualitative, subjective and anecdotal in nature as patient cognition was very low in the participating population.