Forum Discussion

Hi, where I worked previously we did around 4 dinner dances a year, and these ran successfully over 5 years. I'm hoping to introduce the same at my new workplace. After a bit of trial and error we worked out that a later afternoon ( start at 4.45pm) time was best, the residents spend the afternoon getting ready, we had much competition amongst the ladies for the best dressed prize, we would start with some light background music, welcome everyone to the room, the entertainer would start whilst a ligh meal ( finger food only) was served, then after a sweet treat he would begin to play some songs to dance to, we found if we had entertainers who did Elvis, Neil Diamond, 50's and 60's stuff that would get people up dancing, we invited families and friends ( for a small charge) and encouraged them to dance, we also invited volunteers who helped get residents up on the floor, if residents couldn't stand up we danced with them at the table or in their wheelchairs. It takes a lot of planning but is definitely worth it to see the joy the residents get from being there. We usually had about 1 hour of music and most of the time we were finished up by about 6.30pm. The staff also got involved and came along to dance as well.