Lisa Purchas, dancer and educator, has created ‘BALLET 4 YOU’ as an exercise programme designed to help women with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), or early stage Alzheimer’s Disease to focus on balance, strength, postural improvement and the use of the brain and body in simple cross-lateral sequences. ‘BALLET 4 YOU’ is in response to substantial research findings that endorse positive connections between music, and movements that slowly and repetitively engage the brain and body in a way that improves executive function and movement and creates a feeling of

Memory defines who we are. Without our memories we have no past, cannot plan for the future and have no context for appreciating the present (Small & Vorgan, 2011). Exercise has many known benefits including reducing the risk of cardio-vascular disease and diabetes, strengthening the bones and reducing stress. It also appears that regular physical activity benefits the brain (Graff-Radford, J), with research findings from an Edinburgh University showing that physical exercise, diet, and mental stimulation reduced the rate of getting dementia by 46% (Jackson, Pialoux et al, 2016). Age is

In a Western society obsessed with youth, celebrity and materialism, it is time for us to challenge the stereotypes associated with aging.  Aging is an inevitability, an absolute that will occur with every living person regardless of socio-economic status, level of education, or ethnicity. It is time to embrace the notion that aging is a natural process, and that how well we age will depend upon our physical, mental and emotional health, the connections we have with others and the dignity afforded elders in society.  With age, comes