Discussion of Dance for Life Program Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Discussion of Dance for Life Program - Essay Example The 40 different weekly sessions involved in the program have drawn an initial 1,500 people in the first year to its current 20,000. Most of the people involved are under 18 and almost half come from minority ethnic communities. Classes in Dance For Life include salsa, street dance, modern dance and dance exercise, as well as others. (Dance for Life). The program has only been funded for three years but Middleton has gotten the support of many civic groups and has the program running strong. Their website discusses their objectives in detail, which include their focus on empowering young people to deal with obesity and stress. In addition to these weekly classes, Dance For Life has a professional dance group, Stance, that has workshops in the Bradford District at schools and youth groups. This company of 5 dancers have arrangements that "talk" about social issues including bullying, communication and how they feel "living in their own skin" (Dance for Life). Teachers comments have included: "Children all enjoyed the workshops and were fully engaged throughout" and "Excellent performance - pupils totally absorbed". The kids involved have commented positively as well. The following is an example of the classe s offered: 1. Asian Women's Exercise Women only; informal classes run by Dance for Life for Asian women; Thursday mornings at Attock Community Association 2. Belly Dancing @ Cafe West Informal classes run by Dance for Life for children and young people; Thursday evenings at Cafe West, Allerton 3. Breakdance for Children and Young People Informal classes run by Dance for Life for children and young people; YMCA, Little Horton 4. Classes for Children and Young People Informal classes run by Dance for Life for children and young people; various times and locations throughout the Bradford area 5. Contemporary Dance Informal classes run by Dance for Life; Tuesday evenings at Bradford College Using multiple agencies as support has been one of Middleton's primary efforts, and has organizations such as the Health Improvement Fund, the Children's Fund, the Bradford Council and other community service groups included. A common agenda among these groups is disease prevention and health education of the public, especially about non-communicable diseases that have surpassed communicable disease in global mortality (Scriven 2003:2). A new public health agenda in the UK has emerged and building multi-professional understanding and capabilities has become crucial to the success of their programs. Health promotion The whole idea of health promotion was only coined in the 1970's and has loosely been explained as a confluence of "health education, self-care movements, public health, preventative medicine and the women's movement" (Scriven 2003:1). But defining health promotion has brought about many different points of views from egalitarian to radical politics. In the article by Scriven, health promotion is called "the radical militant wing" of public health. There are four types of health promotion (Scriven 2003:6). The primary level focuses all of its energy toward the