S7E19 Dance for MS with Tiffany Stott and Emily Davis of the Scottish Ballet

Emily Davis (00:00)

In the moment, people talk about feeling uplifted.

 And, know, really just having so much fun in that space and really an experience of different positive emotions. Other benefits are really socially, finding a real sense of community of people who get it. You they don’t feel they have to explain, maybe why they’re not there that week, explain why they need to go to the restroom, whatever it might be. think people feel a real sense of belonging in the class. And then that’s a real kind of way or kind of platform that people can then build really meaningful social relationships with others in the MS community or out with, as I say, these musicians, dance practitioners, know, spreading their social circles.

 

Overcoming MS (01:16)

Welcome to the latest edition of the Living Well With MS podcast. Joining me on this edition is Tiffany Stott from Scottish Ballet and Emily Davis from Royal Conservatoire Scotland. And they’re here to talk about Dance For MS. So welcome, firstly. And to get straight into it, for both of you, could you introduce yourselves, and your connection to Dance For MS?

 

Tiffany Stott (01:41)

Thank you and thanks very much for having us here today. So yes, I’m Tiffany. I’m the Dance Health Programs Manager at Scottish Ballet, which basically means I work in the engagement department at Scottish Ballet. Most dance companies have an outreach engagement department. ours is rather large. We’ve actually split into three arms. So we have our dance health side, our creative engagement side, and then our amazing admin side. So I work in the dance health side specifically.

 

My role really involves everything around dance health, which I’m sure we’ll dive into in a bit more detail later on, but very much about developing, creating, training, all the dance health work that we deliver. Thank you.

 

Overcoming MS (02:21)

Emily, the same question, so just to introduce yourself and your connection to Dance for MS.

 

Emily Davis (02:26)

Yeah, perfect. Thanks so much. And thanks so much for having us. So my name is Emily Davis and I am a dance health researcher. I just completed my PhD in Dance for MS. This was based across the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of St. Andrews and in partnership with Scottish Ballet. And really, that’s my connection to Dance for MS is as a researcher and as the topic of my PhD. And as as far as we know,

 This was the first PhD focused on Dance for MS specifically, so it’s some really exciting work into the field.

 

Overcoming MS (03:00)

And Tiffany, can you talk us through the history of Dance for MS and some of the other programs that Scottish Ballet offers like Dance for Parkinson’s and Dementia?

 

Tiffany Stott (03:10)

Yes, of course, of course. It might be helpful if I just give, as you say, perhaps a bit of background into us as a company and the health work we do, just so it’s understood why a ballet company is doing a Dance for MS  programme. Because for some people, this is very strange concept. So Scottish Ballet, so our remit is to inspire on stage and beyond. The beyond bit is all this lovely outreach work that we do do. We’re also a national centre for dance health. We’ve actually been creating well-being resources and experiences for people across the life cycle. So for young people, the older people since 2013, we have a range of classes, adult ballet classes.

We have young people’s workshops, we deliver in schools and colleges, and we have all our health work, which we deliver in care homes and hospitals, in our studio and also digitally as well. And the digital work might be quite interesting for some of your listeners, because obviously we are based in Scotland, in Glasgow, and not everybody is, but some of this digital work, particularly around the Elevate program, could be quite interesting. So I’ll into that a little bit more.

So central to our health work, we actually have our three, what we call our core programs. And as you’ve mentioned, this is our Dance for Parkinson’s classes that we run. We have our Dance for dementia, which we call Time to Dance. And our Time to Dance class, we actually run in studio, but we also deliver this in care homes and hospitals as well. And then what we’re here to talk about today is this Elevate, which is our dance for people living with multiple sclerosis.

As I said, all our classes we run in our studios in Glasgow. Our Parkinson’s class is a hybrid class, so people can actually join from all over the UK and abroad, of which they do. And also our Elevate class is the same, it’s hybrid as well. So you can be living around the corner of Scottish Ballet and pop into class. You could be the other side of the world and pop into class, which is wonderful. So we have a lovely community of online and in-studio presence. And this really came aboutc because of COVID and of course we all went online with our classes and we suddenly realized we were reaching so many more people and all those people wanted to carry on working with us online. So we’ve meshed the two together and it’s a wonderful opportunity to reach and scale out these programs for people. In addition to these core programs that we run, we also have resources for people living with long COVID. We have a resource called Bedside Ballet.

And that’s a lovely resource for people who have perhaps a little bit more reduced mobility, but still want to be mobile, still want to dance. And this can be done in your bed, in your bedside. And you get to watch a little bit of wonderful ballet footage and then you get to move and mobilize as well with music. We also have a program called Health at Hand. This was another fallout of COVID. So Health at Hand is a well-being resource for health and social care staff. This is delivered   both digitally online. We go into care places, health centers, hospitals, etc. to deliver this for the staff. There’s also free resources as well.

So we do have quite a lot, hence why we split into three different arms, because that’s just the health work. We also have work for younger people in schools as well. I won’t go into that detail today. We haven’t got hours and hours, but just to give you a scope of the amount of work that we do offer.

 We actually started the programs with Parkinson’s back in 2016. Our dementia work started in 2017 and then Elevate, our MS work, in 2018. So we gradually build up our plethora of classes, learning and understanding as well. Because we are a ballett company, we are dancers.

 

There’s obviously information we don’t have, we don’t understand. So we work very, very collaboratively when we develop our programs, whether it is the long-COVID program, whether it is the MS program. So we work collaboratively with researchers, with health professionals. It’s really, really important. And of course, people with lived experience to really develop and create these programs. So they’re very, very bespoke for each individual coming to these classes.

So in 2018 we received funding to develop this new program, this Elevate, this Dance for MS program. So I’m sure Emily will dip into this a little bit more in a minute, but in Scotland the prevalence of MS is incredibly high. So actually it was the funders that came to us and said this is an area of work we’d like you to explore a little bit more.

 Although there was existing programs within Parkinson’s and dementia for dance and this sort of work, there was very little for what we could see looking at MS. So we really had to develop this from the ground up. Whereas with Parkinson’s and dementia, we could go to other organizations and dance companies to really do our research and development of our current programs. With MS, there was not, there was very much very little. So we had to spend a substantial amount of time really developing this program to what we have   now. We also have a wonderful partnership when we developing this with Georgetown University and Florida University as well.

We also have classes running in Perth, which I’ll talk to you little bit about later on as well. But also up in Auckland, we developed some classes up in Auckland as well because the prevalence of MS in Auckland is even higher as well. Perth, Scotland, yes. The scale of reach is far. It is, it is.

 

Overcoming MS (08:16)

That’s pretty good. you mean Perth, Scotland? Yeah, because it is international. So yeah, it’s something a lot of Australians would think there’s different Perth. I think it’s probably the original Perth. But yeah.

 

Tiffany Stott (08:31)

But with all our classes, perhaps just to give you a scope of it, because people go, why don’t we just have one health class for people. But of course each condition is different, it’s very unique, it’s very different. Yes, the neurological conditions, we have an understanding of that, but obviously the symptoms that they present, demographics of people, their needs, etc. are all very different. So this is why we have separate programmes for each of these and each of these programmes are, like said, we have our specialist advisors for each of them.

However, there is a commonality across them all, though we have a common ethos, suppose, a common set of values. So the classes themselves, they are delivered seated, so people can come in seated, they can come to standing if they want. We don’t differentiate according to people’s, where they are in their diagnosis. So if they’re newly diagnosed, if they’re later on, it does not matter. So there’s no, we don’t spit out the classes that way.

All the classes we have live music. We have amazing musicians that come to class. They either play the piano, they play the violin, they may play the drums, they might do all three. So that’s a really lovely draw for people. Sometimes that’s the key that brings people in. go,   I’ve never heard about dancing for me before. I’m not sure this is what I want to do, but actually it’s music that really draws people in.

We have a social cafe and that’s a really important aspect because actually for a lot of people that community is very important. They usually come to a dance class but having a cup of tea with somebody afterwards, a biscuit cup of tea, often people bake and they bring stuff in, it’s a really nice way for people to connect in with each other and that community as well. For a lot of people they go well don’t do anything outside of the home. Actually, this is it. This is what we do. So what’s been lovely, particularly with our Elevate dancers, they’ve really connected and made some fantastic friendships. lot of them go off to lunch afterwards together. They go to the theatre. They’ve even gone on holiday together. So that community that’s been developed has been very important. And that social cafe is a very important aspect, actually, of that. All our classes, we learn the company repertoire.

That’s very important. So if we are performing Swan Lake upstairs in our studio, we’re also performing Swan Lake online, digitally, and also in a studio as well. Obviously, all a bit modified. We’re not going to expect people to do jumps and flips across the space. Family members are welcome to attend. So some people will bring their husbands, their wives, their grandchildren, their daughters, their sons. So people can bring a partner with them if they wish. And the same thing online. People often come and dance with their daughters or sons online as well, which is really, really lovely.

We have an amazing team of volunteers who are all trained as well to help support the class, make sure everyone feels welcome and safe in this space here. And it’s really important that the dancers, so we call our participants our dancers by the way, our dancers really feel part of the company, part of this wider SB Scottish Ballet community. So we welcome them in to come upstairs and watch rehearsal when we can and for our online dancers we take our cameras upstairs so they can sit in their living rooms but watch our studio. can watch our professional dancers in the studio, dancing Swan Lake, rehearsing the Nutcracker, et cetera. And we also get them in to watch the theatre as much as we can as well. So really being part of that sort of bigger community is a really important aspect of the classes. And of course, our delivery team, all our teachers are trained in this particular area of work as well. It’s a very specific area of teaching and training. But yes, that’s the common ethos across

Overcoming MS (11:55)

So to switch to Emily, so as a researcher, what is the existing research base for dance and neurological conditions?

Emily Davis (12:06)

Yeah, happy to speak a bit about the evidence base. So as you can kind of tell from what Tiffany said, dance health is quite a fast developing area of programming, as well as of research. So researchers are getting really interested in dance health as well. And I’d say specifically in dance for Parkinson’s. So when we look at neurological conditions, there’s really a fairly wide evidence base that supports the benefits of dance for people living with Parkinson’s. And this is quite a range of outcomes that have been studied from people’s health and well-being and just their lived experiences to actual Parkinson’s symptoms, whether those be motor symptoms or non-motor symptoms, we have quite a bit of evidence there actually. But when we turn to dance for other neurological conditions, there’s less robust research, I’d say, especially around dance for MS. So a few years back, I actually reviewed all available literature on dance for MS and we only had 13 studies. So that’s quite a small number. That said, from those studies, we could see that dance is likely feasible and safe for people with MS. So it’s safe to dance. The risks are quite low. I don’t think there were any severe risks reported from my memory. And it was also likely beneficial. So a wide range of benefits were reported. It was really promising. So this was kind of across physical outcomes like mobility and balance to psychological or social outcomes like improved wellbeing or reduced depressive symptoms. So quite a range of benefits that could be there for people with MS. But as I say, there is kind of a need for further in-depth research, particularly around dance for MS. I will say probably as your listeners will know, there’s a wide evidence base that does support the benefits of exercise for MS. That’s incredibly well researched and well supported. So I do think if you kind of draw the connection that dance of course itself is a form of physical activity and of exercise, you you can start to connect the dots there that there’s a wide range of benefits for people’s symptoms and quality of life. over the past few years since I actually did that systematic literature review.

 

I think there’s been five or six more studies. So people are really kind of picking up more and more research and more momentum. So I’d kind of stay tuned. I think this is going to be quite a growing area of research. Maybe I’m a bit biased because I’m a researcher in the area, but I could tell it’s not just me anymore. You know, there’s quite a few people really getting interested in this. And as Tiffany said, when they were developing the program, you know, there was really not much back in 2018 at all to build on. And now I feel there’s you know, partners all around the globe that are starting to get interested.

in this space and connecting with some of this work from Parkinson’s and just starting to evolve. And exercise for MS researchers are also getting really interested as well.

 

Overcoming MS (14:50)

Yeah, it is one of the core pillars of overcoming MS is exercise. So it’s absolutely that you do need to exercise to improve your condition. So to back to Tiffany again, so talking about the classes, how are they structured? And what do people do in them? Because I think you mentioned whether it could be seated or like, so if I came to a class, what would we do? And who are the teachers of the classes?

 

Tiffany Stott (15:16)

we really welcome people into the class who wouldn’t necessarily label themselves as dancers. it’s often a big barrier for people. They go, I’ve never danced in my life. So I think that’s a really important thing to note here that it’s a very welcoming environment all the movements are fully adaptable according to how your body feels that day. So the classes, like I said, they are seated with standing options. You don’t have to stand if you don’t wish. We structured the class with a slightly different energy flow as well  in comparison to perhaps a normal ballet class or perhaps Parkinson’s class. So the energy flow of this class, it fluctuates, it increases in energy, it drops in energy, increases in energy, it drops in energy. And the reason we put that in place was to really look at things like fatigue and understanding that obviously with MS for some people managing fatigue is quite a major thing to consider when thinking about exercising and moving a body and what activities you want to do. So we structured the class very carefully around that and that’s not just a physical energy thing it’s also a cognitive energy because obviously in a dance class you know you might be learning some movements you might putting a few steps together so

 

in a different manner to an exercise class where maybe you just be doing 10 reaches above your head with a shoulder press, you might be putting together two or three different sequences of movement. So that does obviously require some cognitive thinking around that. We do structure, we scaffolding the teaching so it’s easy to follow. Everybody can follow, everybody can learn. There’s lots of repetition in the class is very important to be able to actually build that movement into the body.

But within the energy flow of the class, we will have a very nice gentle start. So we start with what we call our settle. This is usually actually about 20 to 25 minutes. And we do some mindfulness, we do some breathing techniques, and then we gradually start to bring people into their bodies with some gentle self-led movements so people can move in a way that feels comfortable for them.

So by the end of that warm up, people really feel in a calm state. If they’ve come to class and they’re feeling a little bit tired from that travel, a little bit hustled because they’ve had to do school run in the morning, et cetera, they’re in a lovely calm state to then continue the class throughout. We will do some movements for the arms. We might do some movements for the lower body. We focus a lot on core stability and strength and conditioning as well, actually, because as I said, when we developed this program, we worked very closely with health professionals and in particular with physiotherapists.

We felt it was very, important that the content of the class, to some manner, was able to support perhaps what they might or might not be doing in a physio session. from a safety perspective as well, obviously, how we want these bodies to be moving, what’s important to be moving, what’s not important to be moving, looking at addressing things like muscle imbalances, for example.

So our physiotherapists that we work with at MS Revive, it’s a charity based in Glasgow, and MS Society really helped to support us in developing this particular model to the degree where a lot of our dancers come in and go, I feel like I’ve just done a physio session. effectively it means that if our dancers are going to a physio session, it’s supporting that, or if they’re not, it means they’re getting those physical benefits, looking at things like balance and gait and fluidity of movement, stability, posture, upper body strength, know, opening out for the chest, the back, etc. but we’re doing this all within a dance class so it’s a little bit like whizzing up your greens and not really nothing you’re eating them they’re all in there but by the end of the class you’ve moved everything in a way that’s right for your body and again just underlying make sure all of this is really safe and supportive for the dancers they feel that they can actually achieve what has been   invited for them to do and again that’s an important thing to state everything is an invitation we would never ask the dancers to do something that they feel they don’t want to do that day for whatever reason that’s why some of the movement is self-led. The class is very creative and that’s something that’s come about from our original cohort of dancers. So our original cohort of dancers really helped to develop this model with us. Again, people with lived experience. We like this, we don’t like this. This is working, this is not working. Tweet this, use this language, this is better for us. So our content of the class has really been developed with them in mind. And because of that, they were very creative bunch of people.

They wanted the challenge to be creative, to reach into the creativity that perhaps maybe the other activities they do don’t allow them to do. So we have a lovely creative element which really allows people to look at look at self-expression and that creativity is such an important aspect as well as the physicality as well. I think the key thing with this one is that it’s very much done at your own pace.

For lot of the dancers they’re often frightened about coming to the class because maybe they haven’t moved much before, they haven’t exercised officially before. So the key thing is that you can do this at your own pace. If you find that you want to do 20 minutes of the class and spend the rest of time sitting and listening to music and watching that is also fine. So it’s very much led by our dancers very specifically. I think it’s understanding what the expectations of us are, but also our dancers. Like I said, it’s self-led and we’re just there to help facilitate and to guide.

 

Overcoming MS (20:23)

And so to Emily, to go back to more the academic side, so could you tell us a bit more about your PhD research and what findings you’ve had?

 

Emily Davis (20:33)

Yeah, so my PhD focused on the exact program here that Tiffany’s just described. So I looked at this Elevate program, which is a dance for MS. At the time, it was an in-person program, and now Tiffany explains there’s hybrid options. But I looked at the same dance for MS program in two different contexts. So I looked at the Glasgow classes, the kind of home-based flagship in Scottish Ballet Studios. And then also Tiffany mentioned that the program or the classes were offered in Orkney as well.

 

So I had the opportunity to research the Dance for MS program up in Orkney. And really across these two locations, I looked at what the impact was, what the health and wellbeing experience was for those living with MS taking part in both places. And then I also looked at kind of the different implementation or delivery approaches. As you can imagine, and Tiffany, I think, spoke to this a bit as well, they wouldn’t deliver the program the same in Glasgow as they might in Orkney. So it was quite a different approach.

And then really what that meant for the impact of the program. So those were kind of the two overarching aims. And really across both cases or both projects, we were able to see real positive effects and experiences of health and wellbeing for dancers with MS taking part. So this really had to do particularly with kind of wellbeing, experiences of joy, a sense of purpose, finding a sense of community. Tiffany talked about that social cafe that is a real essential part of people being able to kind of build those social relationships that are meaningful. This was in Glasgow where Tiffany said this program started, you know, in 2018. So some people have been building relationships over years. Whereas in Orkney, some of these relationships were newer, but actually they were even a bit broader in that community, building relationships with musicians, with dance practitioners, with other local volunteers and creating a whole kind of community in Orkney within this dance class that was really wonderful to see. And then there’s also kind of a range of physical benefits that were noted and people finding really a movement toolkit that could support them kind of in their daily lives. This kind of posture as you can imagine with ballet. But I also think something really important to note is that this really wasn’t a one size fits all that Tiffany’s alluded to as well. So the music was mentioned as a really integral part, but this music was quite different in each project. So in Glasgow, this was live piano music that was played and everyone’s in a ballet studio in Scottish ballet. And this is key to then creating this kind of wellbeing experience for people. People start to feel like dancers in the space and that’s really powerful for an individual sense of identity and sense of health and wellbeing. Whereas in Orkney, there was traditional music played by local musicians, but that was really important there as well, thinking about identity, thinking about community.

So we can see how music was integral in both places, but in kind of different ways depending on the people and the place. So those were kind of the overarching, of course it was a PhD thesis, so if you want to find more, there’s certainly more details there. But in terms of findings, was that there really was kind of a positive health and wellbeing experience. But it was important that the program and the dynamics were really responsive to those individuals who were taking part in the community and the context that they were in.

 

Overcoming MS (23:54)

And Tiffany, I think you’ve mentioned that you don’t need previous dance experience to participate, but this is somewhat on a personal level. What if someone’s worried about their balance and even before MS that they didn’t look graceful enough to dance there. I mean, I would say self-described views, saying some can’t dance or I would describe myself as a bad dancer basically. So what if they’re worried about what they appear like? What about their balance and you know, can they still attend?

 

Tiffany Stott (24:26)

And I think this is often the tricky thing. And certainly as a ballet company, this is one of the challenges. People go, a preconception of dance and ballet, and it’s about discipline, it’s about being perfect and getting it right. And that’s very difficult because as a society, you know, as a culture, often that’s how we perceive formal dance and ballet and you you might go to a friend’s wedding and you have a complete and utter freestyle on the dance floor. There’s none of those inhibitions, So I think some of the things we try and break down the kind of precisions of is around this sense of being a bad dancer. I can’t do it. I have no rhythm. My balance is no good. Those things absolutely go out the window. It’s not about that at all.

So therefore we try and use some of the language, we’re trying to introduce this to people. It’s about movement, it’s about music, it’s about moving in a way that feels good for you, in a fluid way, in a way that it’s, yes, we’re thinking about the physical attributes and benefits of moving and thinking about balancing and whether you’re balancing in your chair or balancing standing up.

  But we’re getting rid of those ideas of going, yes, but your arm wasn’t high enough in your work. We don’t think about those things. We don’t think about looking good. It’s not about looking good. So lot of the work we do within these classes is trying to break down some of those inhibitions, which actually for a lot of people is incredibly empowering because they find their physical voice, they find their creativity and their self-expression without worrying about what they look like. And think a lot of that is developed in the way the classes is taught. The class we use a lot of imagery in the class, we use a lot of narrative in the class because that really helps people to step away from their perception of themselves and really start to think more about how the imagery of their body is. But also again all the individual dancers in the class it’s such as we’ve already said it’s a beautiful community, a very supportive community within the dancers themselves and actually everyone’s, there’s a new dancer comes in, they’re absolutely wrapped up in the arms and they can’t help but break down those inhibitions because there’s no space for that at all, it’s just a space to have fun, to be joyful and just to feel relaxed and energized actually in that space.

 

So yeah, I think it is difficult. do agree with a lot of people, unless you come from a dance background, you go running in there two feet and you’re ready to start moving. For lots of people, trying to overcome that is difficult. I would say come along, give it a go and see. As I said, even if you join online, you go, hmm, not for me, that is okay. You can join online and turn your camera off if you want to, not look at the camera, it’s absolutely fine, just to see what it’s like, because for sure, it’s wonderful we have people in our classes and online, but we’re really where there’s a lot of people who may want to give it a go, but also be a little bit shy about it. It’s very much about just finding your flow, finding your body, finding a way that makes you feel good when you actually move. So yeah, so absolutely, know, everyone can dance. That’s the thing. You have a heartbeat, you can dance, you have rhythm. That’s the rule. That’s the only rule.

 

Overcoming MS (27:39)

Okay so for Emily, what benefits have participants reported back who’ve been on the programme?

 

Emily Davis (27:47)

Yeah, certainly a lot of lot of benefits have been reported back a lot of those benefits have been reported from people who in their interviews explain that they never thought that they would dance. You know, it had never been on their radar. And then here they are maybe four or five years later, still dancing as part of Scottish Ballet’s program. You know, some people do decide, of course, it’s not for them, but some people it does become a real important part of their life.

 

So that’s really one kind of key benefit is that sense of purpose that dance can bring to some people’s lives where maybe they’re looking for a hobby or a pursuit. And then this is something where, for example, in Glasgow, now they’ve been dancing for four to five years. And this is a whole kind of new identity for them as a dancer. And for some, know, maybe they have lost potential identities. Maybe they were a hill walker, maybe they were a yogi. And now that this can be a new identity for them as a dancer. So that’s one benefit that’s been reported is the sense of purpose and even a sense of day-to-day purpose. just kind of can get you up on a Monday morning, start your week off, start your schedule. So that’s something really important as well that I don’t think should be underestimated. So one benefit there is really in terms of kind of emotional health and wellbeing. And I’ve already mentioned too, the sense of joy the program can bring and kind of wellbeing. In the moment, people talk about feeling uplifted.

And, know, really just having so much fun in that space and really an experience of different positive emotions. Other benefits are really socially, finding a real sense of community of people who get it. You they don’t feel they have to explain, maybe why they’re not there that week, explain why they need to go to the restroom, whatever it might be. think people feel a real sense of belonging in the class. And then that’s a real kind of way or kind of platform that people can then build really meaningful social relationships with others in the MS community or out with, as I say, these musicians, dance practitioners, know, spreading their social circles.

Some have said, you know, social isolation is a real challenge with MS and this just widens their circle. mean, especially if you think of living somewhere like Orkney, you know, people really like to think that their social world has really broadened through Elevate.

And then lastly, just physical benefits, as we might assume from kind of any form of exercise or movement, you know, with balance, that’s of course synonymous with dance and as I mentioned, posture. You know, some people too talk about feeling they’re pulled up by a golden thread or maybe reach for something in a bit more of an aesthetic artistic way. So they kind of find this grace or this ease of movement through the classes. I’d say really kind of overall an uplift in people’s kind of body as well as in their mind and even kind of their spirit is what the benefits are that people have reported quite holistically from taking part in Elevate.

 

Overcoming MS (30:28)

This, I mean, I have to say it all sounds fantastic. And you both delivered it with such positive ways. So I’m personally, I’m quite interested on a personal level. But so Tiffany, it first if there’s any other points you wanted to raise, but also if people are interested in taking part, how can they sign up to take part in the Elevate program?

 

Tiffany Stott (30:48)

if you go to our website, so www.scottishballet.co.uk, you’ll find our classes on there. You’ll look at the top tab at the top. Just look at our join joining class, you can find it there. And then you can sign up online. If you’re interested and you just want to perhaps taster over class, maybe you don’t want to sign up for a whole block, just get in contact with us.

 

and we can absolutely get you come and join in a couple of classes for free, see what you think about them, see whether you want to join them or not. The classes run across the term, with unusual Christmas breaks and summer breaks and Easter breaks, but you don’t have to join at the start of term.

You can join at any point throughout the class. And even if you join and there’s a two or three weeks you can’t attend, that is also fine. Because sometimes for people, they’re concerned that going if they can’t be there every week, they won’t learn the dance or the routine. The classes aren’t structured that way. So you can dip in and out of it as and when you need to. we have a wonderful team of support who can pick up the phone, have a conversation with you, talk you through any issues that you might have. If you’re joining us on

  Again, we have a wonderful technical team who will help you join online, whether it is from your iPad or your laptop. Yeah, so really making sure you feel comfortable in that space, either in person or digitally.

 

Overcoming MS (32:04)

Okay, thank you very much for that. so as always, have a look at the show notes because there’ll be links in there so you can sign up. hopefully I think it’s quite inspiring for me anyway, I think we might get quite a few people who are interested. So thank you for joining us, Tiffany Scott and Emily Davis.

 

Tiffany Stott (32:17)

Thank you very much indeed. Thank you so much for having us.

 

Emily Davis (32:20)

Thanks very much.