Dedicated to investigating, using and promoting the creative arts to rejuvenate the mind, body and soul on a global platform
OUR WORK
ABOUT US
Equilibrium Dance and Arts is a social enterprise whose objective is to integrate dance, arts, mental health & well-being and research. We wish to not only appreciate and encourage the aesthetic and performative aspects of dance and the arts but also explore and apply their potential to help improve mental and holistic health.
As a social enterprise, we wish to provide a platform to artists from different cultural backgrounds to come together and collaborate on projects. Besides cultural understanding and openness, we aim to use the arts as an inclusive medium for physiological and psychological betterment of individuals, thereby enriching and improving the quality of human life.
We aim to make our services available to a range of people from the general population. A specific focus will be on typically developing children, children with developmental co-ordination disorders and other special needs, older adults with Alzheimer’s and Dementia as well as people from the minority groups.
Bāndhavam was a collaborative effort between three artists that was curated by Equilibrium along with Kalaayalam in Bangalore, India. With this project, we attempted to perform and promote the nuances of Indian classical dancing, singing and storytelling, in a more academic format and encourage an interactive theatre experience.
Media article link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bengaluru/bringing-about-wellbeing-through-music-and-dance/articleshow/56441788.cms
Bandhavam – A synergy of movement, music and rhythm
(January 2017-Present)
A Big lottery funded project, where we partner with Earth Clinic to support workers in the voluntary, care, public, complementary & alternative health and arts sectors to improve their health and productivity, be resilient and equip them with new skills to tackle issues they face in their work with new innovative techniques.
Holistic Health for Supportive Workers
(February 2017-Present)
The organisation partners with the University of Manchester, BEAM lab to explore and investigate the development of dance programmes to improve quality of life in Parkinson’s disease and other conditions (e.g., dementia), as well as in healthy ageing.
Dance for Parkinson’s
(March 2017- Summer 2017)
Equilibrium had an opportunity to be a part of an event organised by the University of Salford with the NHS advocating the rights and the need for a Children’s Advocacy Centre in the North-West. As part of the event, we encouraged the use of South Asian storytelling and movement as a counselling therapy tool among school going children as opposed to the regular talk therapy.
Children’s Advocacy Center
(November 2016)
Working with Culture Shots and Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester gave us the opportunity to take dance and art into hospital settings and promote the Arts for mental health initiative. It comprised of performances in the hospital for the patients, conducting workshops for the health staff and taking the hospital staff back to the museum settings and experience the same in a museum setting.
Whitworth gallery & Culture Shots
(July 2016)
Equilibrium conducted movement workshops as part of The Encephalitis Society retreat day in Wales in May 2016 and since then has worked on building this relationship with them.
The Encephalitis Society
(May 2016)
Performed as part of the TURN 2016 a micro dance festival for northern dancers organised at the Contact, Manchester in association with hAb arts and Dance Manchester.
TURN dance festival
(April 2016)
SELECTED PREVIOUS WORK
ONGOING AND UPCOMING PROJECTS
GET IN TOUCH
For inquiries and bookings please contact us at equilibrium.creatives@gmail.com
Tel: +44 (0) -77-33-269-338
DANCE | ARTS |MENTAL WELL-BEING | RESEARCH
MEET DR.GAYATHRI GANAPATHY
Ph.D. title: The Impact of Dance Training on Motor Skills and Cognitive Abilities.
MSc Project: ‘Judgment of Facial Expressions’, using the ancient concept of the Navarasas from Natyashastra (Ancient Sanskrit text) as a tool.
Co-authored a chapter for a book (Observing Theatre – Spirituality and Subjectivity in the Performing arts) with Prof. Daniel Meyer-Dinkgrafe (School of Performing arts, Uni. Lincoln) ( Released December 2013).
Dr Gayathri Ganapathy is the Founder and Artistic Director of Equilibrium Dance and Arts (EDA), a social enterprise dedicated to dance & arts, mental well-being and dance science research. Through the course of her interdisciplinary research she examined the link between motor skills (gross and fine) and cognitive abilities (selective attention, visuo motor coordination, visual memory) among typically developing children using dance as a medium. The theoretical underpinnings of Gayathri’s research have a motor control perspective with behavioural measures and neurobiological reasoning. She is also a trained Bharatanatyam artist and has been pursuing this art form for the past 23 years. During this time, she has had the opportunity to extensively perform in India, Zambia, Belgium, Singapore and the United Kingdom. Besides Bharatnatyam, Gayathri has also been experimenting with other dance styles such as Contemporary and Salsa. Additionally, EDA also focusses on counseling and therapy for mental health and well-being.
