
Since September 2015 Laura Sarah Dowdall has been facilitating a creative dance workshop for the residents of the Anne Sullivan Centre and their key workers.
She combines her skills as a professional dancer, healing yoga and movement facilitator to create customised workshops for people with learning, motor and sensory disabilities. She believes that dance should be made accessible to everyone and that it’s therapeutic and creative benefits offer great healing joy and freedom to every dancer. Each week at the ASC the participants explore movement games and tasks using sensory props and practice dance choreography with their partner.
The workshop aims to create a safe space for residents and support staff to feel at ease and to explore movement potential within their own body and experience the associated positive benefits.
Participants can discover new joy and appreciation of the body beyond it’s purely functional and protective purpose in daily living and encourage increased social interaction amongst the service users and improve communication between intervenors and residents.
The weekly sessions have shown many positive results some of which have included an increase in social participation, active suggestion, ability to lead and create input by the residents as well as improve muscle tone, balance and confidence.
To find out more about the Centres movement class visit www.healingyoga.ie or email: Laura@healingyoga.ie
Laura will also be hosting accessible dance workshops in partnership with the NCBI as a 6-week programme running from May 9th- June 13th at Dance Theatre of Ireland in Dun Laoghaire with participants who have sight loss. For participants this offers expanded training in perception, sensation, spatial orientation and communication through touch while learning about integrated dance and working with dancers with sight-loss. Anyone with an interest in this area is welcome to attend.
No fee/ cost involved.. Please email your interest to Laura@healingyoga.ie by May 6th 2018