Dance that lit a spark with communities in Leeds

Members across communities in Leeds were given the opportunity to take part in creative movement based wellbeing workshops online throughout January and February 2021. Some of these communities include the elderly LGBTQ community along with volunteers and community workers of local charities in Leeds.

The workshops that are part of a Leeds Inspired funded project have seen members of diverse communities participate over the past few months. These workshops include elements of Indian classical dance, mindfulness, movement and games. The session is aimed at beginners and with accessibility in mind, and aims to boost people’s wellbeing along with introducing culturally diverse practices of improving mental health that participants take away for future use with their communities.

The workshops have been set up by Minoti Parikh, a Creative practitioner, Trainer and Team Building expert who facilitates wellbeing workshops with a focus on movement and dance, based in West Yorkshire.

Minoti shares “Through the pandemic, taking care of our mental health has become increasingly important and it has been an extremely fulfilling experience to reach out to diverse communities, many of whom have had to shield themselves since the start of lockdown. It has been a privilege to help support these individuals and introduce creativity and arts as a medium to improve our overall health”

Keith Hargreaves, the SAGE Community Development Co-ordinator at Leeds MESMAC adds- “We are thoroughly happy about the responses we have received from members. We are particularly pleased with the reactions from those who have suffered from mental health issues in the past who said they felt calmer at the end of the sessions and went out of their way to say how much they enjoyed them. Minoti lit a spark amongst us and we really hope we can continue to enjoy these workshops for a long time, the benefits are real.”

Minoti concludes “My passion is to introduce movement and mindfulness as a daily practice to feel more confident and positive and introduce the benefits of arts and creativity to our mental health. If you would like to have more information about these workshops then please feel free to contact Minoti at- minotiparikh@gmail.com.