The Dance Champions Group – public health campaign

The Dance Champions is a group of dance professionals, sportspeople and celebrities united by a shared goal of encouraging more people to get fit by dancing.

It is led by choreographer Arlene Phillips, DJ and model Lisa Snowdon, professional dancers Camilla Dallerup, Darren Bennett and Miguel Doforo, Angela Rippon as well as Olympic gold medal swimmer Mark Foster and organisations such as Dance UK. Funded by the Department of Health until March 2011, it is Chaired by Rod Aldridge of the Aldridge Foundation.

The DCG commissioned a YouGov survey of 4,105 adults across the UK aged 18+, found that 89% don’t dance. They called a national Summit in February 2010 to find out why and what could be done. It was the first ever to bring together dance, sport and health professionals across the UK to develop a strategy to increase participation. It was attended by leaders of the Cultural Olympiad and department for Health.

The Champions have supported regional dance events across the country including those staged by Big Dance in London with Mayor Boris Johnson and dancer Camilla Dallerup at the London Palladium.

And in July 2010, I helped them to launch a new website directory providing a postcode list of local dance classes. http://www.dancechampions.org/press-centre/our-news