Creative health through dance: A qualitative study of a community-based dance programme for active ageing and health promotion

Creative health interventions are increasingly recognized as vital components of public health strategies, offering holistic approaches to health promotion and disease prevention. This paper examines dance as a creative health practice addressing key public health challenges related to population ageing, social isolation, and health inequalities. Through a qualitative analysis of the Over Dance project (National Choreographic Centre-Aterballetto Company, Italy), which engaged 15 women aged 55-75 over two annual cycles (2022-2023), we explore how a community-based dance programme is experienced by participants and consider its potential relevance to public health. Drawing on the theoretical framework of embodied learning, we discuss how dance operates as a creative health practice that integrates sensory-motor processes, social interaction, and meaning-making to promote healthier lifestyles and active ageing. Our findings suggest that participants experienced a range of benefits they associated with the programme: enhanced psycho-emotional wellbeing, strengthened social connections that countered feelings of isolation and loneliness, greater engagement in physical activity, an increased sense of self-efficacy and agency, and motivation toward healthier lifestyles. The study points to mechanisms that may be relevant to integrating creative health practices like dance into public health systems, including possible roles in primary prevention, opportunities to reach populations at risk of health inequalities, and their potential for cross-sectoral collaboration between cultural organizations and health services. These findings contribute to the growing evidence base for creative health as a promising component of contemporary public health practice and point to the need for quantitative research to test its efficacy, scalability, and cost-effectiveness at the population level.