Active Older People Participating in Creative Dance – challenging perceptions
My work-based doctorate is a transdisciplinary qualitative case study. It included three aspects
- in-depth interviews with 11 older people who were choosing to dance at this stage of their lives; they came from different backgrounds
- various work activities that I was involved in concerning ageing, dancing, change management, founding and managing a grassroots dance organisations for older people as well as past experience and knowledge gained throughout my fulltime career and voluntary work
- desk-top research across a number of academic disciplines and work sectors including social gerontology, dance studies, sociology, change & management, involvement in conferences and seminars.
I graduated in December 2017
Thankyou to everyone: my advisors, consultant, fellow students, buddies, families, friends and especially my husband Peter who supported me during my studies and research for over seven years.
In Summer 2018 I learned I had been awarded the Ken Goulding Award for Professional Excellence, Middlesex University of my DProf. All the work and angst had been worthwhile. It was such a surprise!
I was invited to be the plenary speaker at the Middlesex University Post Graduate Research Conference in 2019. My presentation was well received. At the end all present joined in dancing!
The following paper ” The Power of Research : Exploring Active Older People Participating in Creative Dance – challenging perceptions” was peer reviewed and published in the Work Based e-Learning Journal Volume 8, No 2 (2019)
Here is some more information about my DProf and me!
https://unihub.mdx.ac.uk/study/types/research-at-middlesex/our-pgr-students
I am now taking forward the outcomes of my research and practice, contributing to ensure that older people’s dance is being increasingly recognised as a mainstream activity for all who wish to participate. It is timely as dance is increasingly being considered an important activity that ticks many boxes for health and wellbeing, creating more cohesive communities and as an expressive, meaningful artform. It is not just a fun activity or just something to do! It also needs sufficient funding and resources.
I welcome feedback or queries concerning my DProf and so please contact me if you wish.
Jackie Richards 