With young peoples’ health very much a national concern, Hampshire Dance, in partnership with West Sussex County Council and Trinity Laban, is continuing to investigate the health benefits of dance for young people.

The NRG2 research study looked at the impact of creative dance on the health and wellbeing of young people and whether there is any difference for boys and girls. The project engaged with over 150 young people in Year 7/8 across three schools along the West Sussex coast between September and December 2009.

Alongside the dance programme researchers from Trinity Laban measured changes in the participants' health and wellbeing.

The research findings were published in October 2010 and show that creative dance can provide physical and psychological benefits for young girls that are equal to, and at times better than, the benefits of PE.

The findings are of particular importance as girls in this age group are less physically active than boys. Therefore if dance is made available to young girls, it may reverse the negative trend of inactivity. Boys may also benefit from dance, but the style of dance and the approach to teaching should be considered further.

Download the NRG2 Youth Dance & Health report. (PDF 821kb)

NRG2 was funded by Big Lottery Fund (through the chances4change programme), West Sussex County Council, West Sussex Primary Care Trust, West Sussex Arts Partnership and Youth Dance England.

In 2005, with funding from the Joint Investment Fund for the Arts in the SHIPS region (Southampton, Hampshire, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight) Hampshire Dance joined forces with Laban to develop a youth dance and health project.

The aim of NRG was to scientifically investigate the impact of creative dance on the physiological and psychological health and fitness characteristics of school children aged 11-14 years old.

NRG was led by local dance practitioners and combined fun, physical dance activity with creative tasks around health and science-based topics such as how the body works, the impact of exercise on the body and food as an energy source.

Over the course of the 10-week programme, the Dance Science department at Laban measured the physiological impact and benefits of participation as well as changes in young people’s motivation and wellbeing.

In brief, the research demonstrated that physical fitness increased significantly amongst the females and positive adaptations were also evident in males and females with regards to psychological wellbeing, although these were not statistically significant.

A project of this kind had never before been undertaken in the UK and proved to be highly successful in providing robust evidence for the health benefits of dance for young people.

Download the full NRG Dance Research Report ( PDF 240kB)
Download the NRG Evaluation Report  (PDF 1.0 mB )