Transformative Dance for Older People

Aim

Three Score Dance need your help to face rising costs and to continue our inspiring, creative and inclusive dance activities!

Who are we?

We are a community of over 70 people who come together to dance - all aged 55 to 80+ and with little or no previous dance experience. Our leader, Jason Keenan-Smith is a professional teacher and choreographer, and we have a small team working hard to support the running of our classes, workshops and events. We offer a range of classes each week and our inspirational performance company just presented a new show of three dances at Brighton Festival. 

“I never dreamt that reaching the age I am I would have found such freedom of expression, challenge, support, hard work, euphoria and the sheer joy that movement in dance could bring.” - Company member

Photos of our classes and workshops by Zoe Manders

Why are we crowdfunding?

We are working hard to keep our classes going at low prices, but impact of COVID-19 and the cost of living crisis continues to effect our community and fundraising streams. 

Over the next five months we are developing our organisation and long-term plans to ensure it is robust and sustainable, and that we can continue to provide for this community. We have been lucky enough to secure a grant from Arts Council England to fund the majority of this, but we need to match-fund in order to fully realise this ambitious project and fund our outreach programmes. 

Your most welcome donation will increase the opportunities for older people to dance, you will be supporting:

• People who otherwise could not afford to participate, through our bursary fund. 
• The re-launch of our outreach work post-pandemic, taking dance out to people who cannot make it to the studio or may not even be aware of the opportunities.
• Our member activities and running costs to keep our community together whilst we continue re-build.

The result – more joy, creativity and wellbeing in the world!

We support our community by offering lower priced classes if they need it. We also run outreach classes at Brighton Ethnic Minority Community Project (BMECP) Centre to make sure the widest range of older people in our city get the chance to dance.

Our Impact

We know that being part of the classes and company can be a lifeline for some. For others, it keeps them healthy and flexible and keeps up their stamina. Lots of participants tell us it's a chance to be creative and use a part of the brain and soul that might not otherwise get a workout!

“I have at last found a way to express my emotions. Ever since I became ill I haven't managed to find a way to feel anything, but dance has changed this. That class has changed my life. Really. It is the most wonderful thing you have done.“ - Class member

Our dance activities are empowering, and improve the physical and mental health of our participants. Dance improves circulation, balance, bone density and muscular strength, and promotes resilience and stamina. We offer a place for older people to feel good - to be expressive, make friends, and have a regular chance to chat and socialise before and after class. 

Older adults who participate in arts and cultural activities: 

• Are more likely to have better cognitive reserve in later life
• Are less likely to develop dementia 
• Have lower levels of frailty and chronic pain in older adulthood
• Experience less loneliness and depression
• Have better wellbeing 
• Live longer!

(UCL Social Biobehavioural Research Group evidence review of 70 academic papers 2017-22)

"A tremendous sense of achievement and also of the possibilities to do more than you thought you could at this age, not only in this but in other areas of life." - Class participant  

We have special intensive workshops and a Summer School for people who want a little more challenge and not to have a long, boring summer break. Our Brighton Festival performance, Rose Until It Touched the Sky was reviewed in The Guardian newspaper and some of the films we've made have been shown at international film festivals. Audiences love watching older people dance in professional quality work and our dancers grow hugely in their performance and creative capabilities every time we work with professional choreographers.

"I have been through a life changing experience working with such an accomplished choreographer... an experience that will stay with me forever and a bond within our group which is unique" - Company member

Our performance on the Brighton Dome Concert Hall stage! Photos: Danny Fitzpatrick

Our Mission

Older people face many forms of discrimination and inequality in accessing high-quality creative and wellbeing opportunities. We provide challenging and inspiring dance activities, aiming to make visible a portion of the population who are often misrepresented, ignored or stereotyped. We aim to change perceptions and challenge expectations of ageing through inspirational contemporary dance. 

This is us rehearsing outside in the cold for our Nelkin Line performance (see the film here https://vimeo.com/275603025). Photo: Zoe Manders

We're rebuilding...

Older people still feel vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19. Whilst many people now feel comfortable to return to group activities as normal, this is not the case for our community. Our participants can be cautious of activities in confined spaces, which effects our ability to run sessions to full capacity. Our dancers need to take extra precautions with illness and are still testing when symptomatic, which regularly effects attendance, and therefore, income. We are adapting to help our community feel safe and continue to provide activities that are vital to our community, whilst working to mitigate the financial impact COVID-19 continues to have on us. 

How we’ll spend the money raised

Your support will contribute vital funds to keep our existing classes going at affordable rates, offer new ones, provide bursaries, and reach more people that wouldn't usually be able to take part. 

It will support Jason to continue to teach classes at BMECP. It will support our Class Administrator, Gill, to support new people to join the group - we get asked lots of questions and some people need a bit of encouragement to take the first leap [pun intended] to join our classes! It will support our Company Manager, Hayley, to do vital outreach work, reaching those experiencing financial, social or health barriers that prevent them from joining in. She also needs time to organise our community events and find places for us to perform, showing the world that older people can dance... and dance beautifully!

Dancers finding a moment of connection ahead of their performance. 

This project successfully funded on 22nd December 2023