How Balbir Singh Dance Company used dance and film to reconnect care home residents with their community
Balbir Singh Dance Company (BSDC) launched Dance Down Memory Lane in June 2021, with funding from Leeds Inspired. The project engaged residents and staff of six Leeds care homes including the MHA Gledhow Nursing Care Home, Pennington Court, Victoria House, Southlands Residential Apartments, Headingley Hall.
Through dance and film, BSDC interpreted residents’ memories, gathered while attending workshops. The project aimed to address isolation caused by the pandemic within the care home. Concern over residents and staff being unable to go outside, led to the question: “how can we support the residents to get out, without actually going out.”
With pre-existing relationships with care home staff, through previous work together, BSDC had some knowledge of challenges they faced. One BSDC project leader described, “I could feel the staff didn’t know how to help more than they were already helping. There is only so much the staff could do and we were made aware that they were struggling on many different levels.”
In response to the isolation of residents and care homes staff, BSDC created virtual walks. The aim was to “capture their memories and gift them back to the residents and their families.” A film was created to showcase the residents’ memories and was different for each care home. A map containing QR codes was also produced for staff, residents, and families to digitally engage with and access different content from the video, including audio clips and photography.
Care home staff asked questions to discover memories of the residents such as, “if you could take a photo of your favourite memory, where would it be?” Using the answers, BSDC created videos and photography of classical Indian styles of dance including Kathak and Odissi as well contemporary, improvised and natural dance movements. Alongside dancers, BSDC worked with musicians and designers to help enhance and deliver the project.
Dance Down Memory Lane gave care home residents an opportunity to open up to staff. Some residents didn’t speak much, with a BSDC project leader sharing concerns that “we didn’t even know if they were going to engage or even have any memories to share. One of our dancers was unsure at first but now is like a duck to water”. A member of care staff described how the residents “just want to be entertained, we provided that entertainment, which created the connection. This meant they could reflect in a safe space.”
Connections created by the dance company with care homes were a vital part of discovering source material. Dialogue between staff and residents was an intentional step in collecting the residents’ memories as each resident gradually felt comfortable enough to open up: “a resident spoke about looking after a swan on Roundhay Park. Unfortunately, the swan was [hurt and later died], and a homemade sign was built, we said we would look for the sign not expecting to find anything, but we did surprisingly.” As a result, care staff were able to locate source material to re-create the memory and hand this to the resident and their family. Another resident shared thoughts on what nature means to them: “The beauty in nature is exceptional. The beauty that you feel in the flowers, in the trees, in the sun that glimpses through the leaves of the trees it talks and fills you with the love of nature, it’s very difficult to forget once you’ve experienced it.”
The ability to connect with residents and staff also ensured that the dance company and the care homes now have stronger relationships, enabling care home staff to feel comfortable enough to feedback as part of evaluating the project. Artists involved in the project also gave feedback. A BSDC project leader described how: “there is a strength in the internal company relationships, we know that consulting artists in the writing of the [funding] bid works well, there’s a sense of ownership … feeding ideas into it.”
Care home staff also noticed unintentional outcomes. When asked what the difference was in coming to the park now rather than before the project a member of staff recounted: “the memories [of the residents] being in the park with a loved one, or being with a dog, or a pet swan! It just all brought back a different perspective, it filled you with all these beautiful memories and you can see the park in whole different light.”
Through the project, the dance company consistently monitored their artistic approach. A BSDC project leader said, “I was showing a video of one of our dancers to someone who is blind. I didn’t realise at first but of course there would be someone with this kind of impairment and it made me think, how can we adapt to make the videos accessible for this kind of resident.”
Through reflection, care home staff identified benefits from adopting patience and noticing little details that were vital to collecting the memories. One spoke about “letting go of the usual process. To be creative we needed to have an ability to be reactive, listen and then create.” A specific moment which helped staff realise why this project was important, was when a resident opened up in a way they didn’t expect, and this had a positive emotional shift. “After hearing the music and watching the performance they just changed. You could see them light up in a way I’d not seen. They later told us they used to be a jazz musician, and now we are going to gift them with a keyboard and our musician is going to make a track with him. It’s these moments when I realise … seeing them open up like that was really special, even magical.”
BSDC aim to continue the project, to explore more memories from newer residents within the care homes that they have built the relationships with. As a BSDC project leader outlined, “there is richness in the project’s source material. The residents are a mine of knowledge...” The dance company is also asking “how can we empower the staff to do mini versions for the residents?”
Understanding benefits for care staff has been a central theme of this project. BSDC listened to the concerns of care staff from the project’s inception; it’s the power — and transformative potential — of listening that has shone through as key learning from Dance Down Memory Lane. The project was able to fulfill its purpose by listening to the concerns of the staff and then really hearing what the residents had to say, when many had stopped communicating altogether. A care staff member described how they could “be inspired by listening. We listen and then we are inspired to create. Some residents may have lost their sense of importance, by hearing them, we are giving that sense of importance back.”