Dance and Community for Veterans Impacted by PTSD

The Dancing Well mission is bold, but simple: to help Veterans coping with PTSD and brain injury to heal and connect with others through uplifting dance, joyful live music, and a supportive community. We offer a powerful alternative to the depression, hopelessness, and isolation that can be so persistent in the lives of those with PTSD.

With a 10-year track record, Dancing Well is carefully tailored to the needs of Veterans coping with mental, emotional, and physical challenges, and their families. We are developing a leadership training to replicate our scientifically proven program in communities across the country and are currently at work on a Military Sexual Trauma (MST) module. According to a recent VA study, MST affects an astonishing 41.5% of women and 4% of men who served in the Gulf War and the war in Afghanistan. 

We simply cannot do this work without you. Your donation, no matter the size, will go toward funding two professional live musicians, a sound engineer, rental of sound equipment, rental of an ADA-compliant dance hall, a professional dance leader, refreshments, liability insurance, and completion of our leadership training.

What Sets Us Apart

We create a uniquely safe and welcoming environment for Veterans with PTSD and/or brain injury, their families, and other loved ones:

• We provide a physical dance space designed to minimize the symptoms of PTSD and brain injury, including low, non-fluorescent lighting and a designated “Comfort Zone” for participants to go to if they begin to feel overwhelmed. 
• We modify dance moves and tempo in the moment, catering to the unique needs of each Veteran, accommodating any issues they may have with anxiety, mobility, pain, comfort, or accessibility. This includes dancers using canes, walkers, or even wheelchairs.
• We use a combination of “old time,” international folk, historical, and novelty dances paired with live music to create an accessible dance experience with broad appeal.
• We dance as one community, creating a safe, connected social experience for those who often isolate. This includes regular volunteers and long breaks for refreshments and socializing.
• We offer fun, healthy exercise that includes Cross-Body Movements to build new neural pathways, a powerful, foundational component of healing from PTSD or brain injury.
• We train volunteer dancers on the impacts and challenges of PTSD and brain injury to help them better support our Veterans and loved ones and facilitate a positive, uplifting experience for all.
• We teach and then prompt dances and use simple mnemonic devices like a red ribbon around the right wrist to support those with cognitive challenges, helping them remember the dances and quickly tell right from left when they take hands with others.
• We stay in contact with each Veteran between dances through texts, phone calls, and occasional visits. 
• We hold a special graduation celebration as the final session of each dance series, recognizing the courage and tenacity of each participant.

Our Value in Action

We recently completed a series of questionnaires with our Veteran community and their family members measuring connectedness, experience avoidance, hope, and optimism. The results were combined into a single “wellness” score. Significant improvements in wellness were found in all participants, regardless of PTSD status. Those with PTSD began the series with sub-normal levels of wellness but ended the series in the normal range. Those without PTSD began with scores in the normal range and improved by the end of the series, as well. 

In our most recent dance cohort, 100% of Veterans with PTSD:

• felt engaged with Dancing Well activities during sessions
• felt engaged with other participants and open to socializing with them
• felt welcome
• felt they belonged to the Dancing Well group
• found the programs fun
• felt freedom to express themselves during dances
• felt a sense of community from being with other Veterans and loved ones at Dancing Well events
• were very likely to participate again and would recommend the program to others

A 2016 scientific study published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Veterans Studies (4(2)) also showed a highly significant increase in "wellness" for our participants, including increased feelings of worthiness and connectedness, reduced tendency to isolate, and improved mood and outlook on the future.

Prior to completion of the study, pre- and post-dance surveys for the Louisville dance series reported improved mood, memory, sleep, physical health, and outlook on the future, as well as decreased anxiety and pain levels, for participating veterans with PTSD and/or brain injury. Veterans also reported feeling less isolated and that relationships with family, friends, and others had improved.

Our Veterans Miss Us! 

We can only dance when we have funding to cover our expenses. Currently, we are able to offer just one dance per month. A Veteran phoned recently asking if there was a dance that night. We had to tell him the next one was a whole month away.