Movement

Exercise, Movement and Dance

Exercise, Movement and Dance participation overview

EM&D is the fourth most popular participation ‘sport’ for women

Around 1,057,600 women take part in EM&D at least once every month

Participation in EM&D decreased between 2007-08 and 2008-09

Of the three individual elements that make up EM&D, aerobics is the most popular participation activity

Female participation in EM&D decreased between 2007-08 and 2008-09 from 5.24% to 4.94%

Key links: 
Exercise, Movement and Dance Partnership
application/pdf icon
EMDP_FACTSHEET_2010_APS3.pdf

Bollywood Dancing in Schools

We wanted to engage girls who were largely inactive within the curricular PE programme and extra-curricular activities. 

The target audience of girls were from an ethnic minority background where sport was not seen as a priority by them or their families.  These girls did the minimum of work in PE classes and although they were never disruptive, they were not getting anything out of the programmes that were on offer.  The majority of these girls rarely interacted with any of the teaching staff.

Project detailsProject duration: 02 March 2009 - ongoing
Organisation: 
Woodfarm High School
Project name: 
Bollywood Dance Classes
AudienceBME
Age group: 
0 - 15
Innovation
The Bollywood Dance programme was offered to a group of inactive girls from an ethnic minority background. Offering dance as an activity really engaged them as a group and changed their perceptions of sport from the traditional sense of football and hockey, and gave the girls some physical activity that they really enjoyed. We put a lot of effort into the timing of the classes to ensure maximum attendance.
Location
Local
How was your project delivered?Dance
Partnership
We worked with parents and external choreographers to deliver the Bollywood Dance programme.
Results
Evaluation: 
30 girls have attended the initial after-school Bollywood dance club. 95% of these girls are from an ethnic minority background. The girls have now grown in confidence and the choreography is led by a fellow group member. The girls have performed at the National PE Conference in Stirling. They were very enthusiastic about performing in front of other people as it is something which was very important within their own culture and community. The girls took great pride at getting ready for their performance in costumes and jewellery. For this group of girls, PE is now seen as a place where they can have relationships with the PR teachers. As a result their self-esteem has increased and they now have found an environment in which they can feel confident about taking part in physical activity. The girls now feel they are contributing to the PE department and to the ethos of the school by bringing their culture and experiences into school life. “We like the chance to show others the different kinds of things WE do outside of school. Sometimes people don’t know what our lives are like.” Student
Themes

Growing participation

Working with hard to reach groups

The Bollywood Dance group has offered a physical activity option for a group of girls who would not have been involved before.  Taking the time to think about the girls' needs - especially in relation to cultural issues - has been the biggest asset of the dance group idea. 

Confidence and self esteem

Before the Bollywood Dance programme began, the inactive group of girls did not participate in PE classes. Giving this group the option of Bollywood Dance has given them body confidence and self esteem - especially in PE classes.  They were also invited to perform at a National PE Conference in Stirling and participated in a the Festival of Bollywood Art which further helped their confidence and self esteem. 

Key links: 
Woodfarm High School

Sweat in the City: How 2000 young women discovered the positive power of exercise

This report details the innovative research project Sweat in the City which project provided over 2000 inactive 16 – 24 year old women a three month free and mentored gym membership and followed their journey. 

The project was designed to gain a better understanding of how to motivate women to become more active. Today, 16 year-old girls leave school half as active as their male counterparts, often with a negative attitude to sport and fitness and with critically low levels of confidence. This programme set out to create a fitness experience that would appeal to this audience, change their attitude to exercise and lead to a more active and healthier way of life.

SitC was designed and delivered by a partnership between the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) and the Fitness Industry Association (FIA).

Key elements of the programme were personal mentoring and opportunities to ‘meet’ other participants through group sessions and via the SitC website. The young women were successfully recruited with the help of a feminine brand and celebrity ambassadors who fronted a tailored PR campaign. All that was asked in return was for the women to share their highs, lows, aches and pains with us through surveys, focus groups and online diaries.

The results surpassed even our highest hopes:

• Six months after completing the programme, 72% of participants are more active than they were before

• Before the programme, 63% of participants were worried about what they looked like when they exercised. This dropped to just under half

• 88% of participants agreed that ‘SitC has reminded me how good it feels to be active’

• Three-quarters of the young women now have increased confidence to go on and try new activities

 

“There is no way that I am giving exercise up again now, I feel so much better in myself – better mood, lots more energy etc. Even though I don’t always want to go to the gym, I know I’ll feel so much better once I’ve actually been!”

 

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SitC_Report.pdf
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