Moving Memory Dance Theatre Company (associate to The School of Arts) has been awarded nearly £90,000 from Nominet Trust and The Baring Foundation. The funding is to develop Digital Doris – a portable digital kit which helps give older people the freedom to express themselves through movement.

The company developed Doris (with funding from Arts Council, Kent County Council and University of Kent) to help older people overcome physical limitations, like short-term memory loss and mobility problems, and find a new means of movement-based creative expression. Using projections and sound, Doris transforms everyday spaces and helps the workshop leader stimulate people’s imaginations, often drawing out their personal stories. The images used can be human-like – to teach people basic moves – or abstract, to inspire new ways of moving and improvising.

Moving Memory’s Creative Director and Senior Lecturer in Drama, Sian Stevenson said ‘We are absolutely delighted to receive this fantastic investment. It will help us introduce community dance teachers and non-specialist activity co-ordinators in social and care settings to our unique approach and mean that more older people can get involved in creative movement.’

The new investment will enable the development of training materials on how to use Doris. It
will also enable the company to explore more responsive technology in their own
performance work.

Vicki Hearn, Director of Nominet Trust, said: ‘Movement and dance workshops in care
homes and day care centres give older people the opportunity to express themselves, with
positive outcomes for health and wellbeing. Digital Doris uses digital technology in an
innovative and engaging way, transforming everyday places into creative dance spaces.
We’ll be following Doris’s development with interest, as this digital toolkit has the potential to
enhance people’s experiences of ageing.’