FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 6, 2023
Dancing Well: The Soldier Project Receives $25,000 Creative Forces Community Engagement Grant
Louisville, Kentucky – Dancing Well: The Soldier Project (Dancing Well) has received a $25,000 Creative Forces® Community Engagement grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant will support continuation of Dancing Well’s highly effective dance program for Veterans and families affected by PTSD and brain injury. Through traditional dance, live music and community, the program increases wellness and improves relationships for participants. The grant will also support enhanced partnerships, referral networks, and development of a leadership training curriculum that will allow the program to be offered in other communities. Dancing Well is one of just 34 organizations nationwide to receive this honor.
“When people dance together in a group to live music as part of a supportive community, lives are often transformed,” said founder and Executive Director Deborah Denenfeld. “There are so many Veterans and families touched by PTSD who will benefit from this grant. We are deeply grateful and honored to receive it. We are very excited to return to weekly in-person dances for our Veterans and their loved ones, which were halted due to the pandemic.”
Creative Forces Community Engagement Grants are part of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Creative Forces® initiative and are in partnership with Mid-America Arts Alliance. The Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs that seeks to improve the health, well-being, and quality of life for military and Veteran populations exposed to trauma, as well as their families and caregivers.
“We are excited to witness how these arts engagement activities have the power to enhance the health and well-being of our military and veteran populations,” said Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. “These Creative Forces Community Engagement projects are vital in helping to improve the quality of life for military-connected people, bolster health equity through the arts, and build healthy communities where all people can thrive.”
Creative Forces Community Engagement grants are designed to increase access to arts activities and to serve a broad population, including active-duty service members, guardsmen, reservists, Veterans, military and Veteran families, as well as caregivers and healthcare workers providing care for military service members and Veterans.
“We’ve seen how art can create new bonds of connection and understanding through the Creative Forces Community Engagement projects, especially for those in our military communities who may feel isolated and alone,” said Todd Stein, president and CEO of Mid-America Arts Alliance. “We are honored to partner with the National Endowment of the Arts on this grant program, and we are continually inspired by the power of these projects to deliver hope and healing to our service members, Veterans, and their families.”
Dancing Well’s mission is to restore the well-being of veterans and families affected by PTSD and brain injury through community dance. By providing opportunities to engage in the arts, Dancing Well seeks to help participants gain a better understanding of themselves and others through creative expression, while increasing their sense of belonging to the broader community. Participation in the arts often leads to an individual and shared sense of purpose, as well as positive self-worth, supporting the ability to adapt and readjust to life’s challenges, all of which contribute to overall wellness and healthy relationships.
Volunteers are needed to attend Dancing Well events and strengthen community connections. More information can be found at www.dancingwell.org/volunteer. For more information on other projects included in this grant announcement, as well as resources for arts engagement with military-connected populations, visit creativeforcesnrc.arts.gov.
About Dancing Well: The Soldier Project
Dancing Well: The Soldier Project began holding dances for Veterans, families, and loved ones affected by PTSD and brain injury in 2014. Traditional “barn” dances led by a professional caller to live music are held weekly, with each ten-week series culminating in a graduation celebration for participants. Those affected by PTSD often isolate, so Dancing Well provides a comfortable way to reconnect with others. Friendly volunteers help create a safe, inviting atmosphere for Veterans and their loved ones who enjoy the opportunity to connect with other Veterans and Veteran families, as well. An empirical study has shown that the Dancing Well program leads to reduced tendency to isolate, improved feelings of connectedness, and improved mood and outlook on the future for Veterans with PTSD. The Dancing Well program is unique in the nation. A leadership training is currently being developed to support similar programs in communities across the U.S.
Dancing Well is also holding online dances, which were started during times of COVID-19 lockdown. Deborah’s Dance Parties are held on Facebook Live most Wednesdays at 4:00 ET. Each Dance Party includes a warm-up routine, several simple dances from various cultures being taught, a break for a sing-along and either uplifting words or a self-help technique being demonstrated. Every dance is modified for following along from home, dancing solo or with one other person. Some dances are appropriate for dancers who remain seated throughout, and modifications for varied abilities are offered. A community of attendees has formed, who communicate with each other and with Deborah through the comment box in real time. After the live broadcast, videos remain on the Facebook page for future use by anyone, anywhere in the world. There are currently 156 videos available at Facebook.com/DancingWell.
About the Creative Forces Initiative
Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs that seeks to improve the health, well-being, and quality of life for military and veteran populations exposed to trauma, as well as their families and caregivers. Creative Forces is managed in partnership with Americans for the Arts, Civic Arts, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, and Mid-America Arts Alliance. More information can be found at arts.gov/creativeforces and creativeforcesnrc.arts.gov or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
About the National Endowment for the Arts
Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States. To learn more, visit arts.gov or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
About Mid-America Arts Alliance
Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) strengthens and supports artists, cultural organizations, and communities throughout our region and beyond. Additional information about M-AAA is available at https://www.maaa.org/.
For More Information
Contact: Deborah Denenfeld, Executive Director
Dancing Well: The Soldier Project, Inc
3044 Bardstown Rd, #231
Louisville, KY 40205
(502) 889-6584 Deborah@DancingWell.org
www.DancingWell.org / facebook / twitter
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
may 25, 2022
Dancing Well: The Soldier Project Receives $10,000 Creative Forces Community Engagement Grant
Louisville, Kentucky – Dancing Well: The Soldier Project has received a $10,000 Creative Forces® Community Engagement grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The grant will support expansion of Dancing Well’s highly effective dance program through partnerships, referral networks and leadership training development. Dancing Well is one of just 26 organizations nationwide to receive this honor.
Dancing Well’s unique program providing traditional dance, live music and community to veterans and families affected by PTSD and brain injury has been life-changing for participants. Developing training for leaders will allow the program to be replicated in other communities, providing uplifting dance opportunities to many more veterans and loved ones, helping them build resilience, improve their well-being, and enhance their quality of life. Creative Forces Community Engagement Grants are part of the National Endowment for the Arts’ Creative Forces® initiative and are in partnership with Mid-America Arts Alliance.
Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs that seeks to improve the health, well-being, and quality of life for military and veteran populations exposed to trauma, as well as their families and caregivers. Creative Forces Community Engagement grants will increase access to arts activities in more communities and will serve a broad population, including active-duty service members, guardsmen, reservists, veterans, military and veteran families, as well as caregivers and healthcare workers providing care for military service members and veterans.
“It is inspiring to see how arts programming is being utilized by Dancing Well: The Soldier Project to support and promote healing for our nation’s military, veterans, and all those who care for them,” said Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. “Engagement with the arts – the act of doing, seeing, creating, teaching—is crucial to living healthy and artful lives. The expansion of Creative Forces from clinical sites into communities like Louisville provides significant opportunities for this critical work to reach more people and make a difference in their lives.”
“Dancing Well is honored to receive this funding. We’re excited to share our program with others across the nation through the leadership training we are developing. When people dance together in a group to live music as part of a supportive community, lives are often transformed. There are so many veterans and families touched by PTSD across the nation who will benefit,” said founder and Executive Director Deborah Denenfeld.
Todd Stein, President and CEO of Mid-America Arts Alliance, said “we are excited to support this project with Dancing Well: The Soldier Project to promote continued healing through the arts for military populations in communities across the country. The art experiences offered show how art can connect and heal.” He added, “Through the Creative Forces Community Engagement Grant Program, we are humbled to have the opportunity to work on this initiative with the National Endowment for the Arts, created in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.”
By providing opportunities for engaging in art or art-making, Dancing Well seeks to help participants gain a better understanding of themselves and others through creative expression, while increasing their sense of belonging to our community. Participation in the arts often leads to individual and shared sense of purpose, as well as positive self-worth, supporting their ability to adapt and readjust to life’s challenges.
For more information on other projects included in this grant announcement as well as resources for arts engagement with military-connected populations, visit creativeforcesnrc.arts.gov.
About Dancing Well: The Soldier Project
Dancing Well: The Soldier Project began holding dances for veterans, families and loved ones affected by PTSD and brain injury in 2014. Traditional “barn” dances led by a professional caller to live music are held weekly in ten-week series with each series culminating in a graduation celebration for participants. Those affected by PTSD often isolate, so Dancing Well provides a comfortable way to reconnect with others. Friendly volunteers help create a safe, inviting atmosphere, and veterans and their loved ones enjoy the opportunity to connect with other veterans and veteran families, as well. An empirical study has shown that the Dancing Well program leads to reduced tendency to isolate, improved feelings of connectedness, and improved mood and outlook on the future for veterans with PTSD. The Dancing Well program is unique in the nation. A leadership training is currently being developed to support similar programs in communities across the U.S.
About the Creative Forces Initiative
Creative Forces®: NEA Military Healing Arts Network is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. The initiative seeks to improve the health, well-being, and quality of life for military and veteran populations exposed to trauma, as well as their families and caregivers. Creative Forces is managed in partnership with Americans for the Arts, the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, and Mid-America Arts Alliance. More information can be found at https://arts.gov/creativeforces and https://creativeforcesnrc.arts.gov/
About the National Endowment for the Arts
Established by Congress in 1965, the National Endowment for the Arts is an independent federal agency that is the largest funder of the arts and arts education in communities nationwide and a catalyst of public and private support for the arts. By advancing equitable opportunities for arts participation and practice, the NEA fosters and sustains an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States. To learn more, visit https://arts.gov/ arts.gov or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
About Mid-America Arts Alliance
Mid-America Arts Alliance (M-AAA) strengthens and supports artists, cultural organizations, and communities throughout our region and beyond. Additional information about M-AAA is available at https://www.maaa.org/.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 6, 2019
Published Study Shows Dance Program Helps Improve Wellness in Veterans Afflicted By PTSD
Louisville, Kentucky – Dancing Well: The Soldier Project announces the peer-reviewed Journal of Veterans Studies has published results from a recent scientific study. Study results show participation in the Dancing Well: The Soldier Project program of traditional dance, live music and community significantly improved the wellness of veterans with PTSD. Family members and loved ones who participated also showed improvement in wellness. The wellness score was a composite of multiple psychological surveys. Specifically, improvements were found in feelings of connectedness, feelings of hope and optimism and a reduction in the tendency to isolate. The study was conducted by Dancing Well: The Soldier Project’s Deborah Denenfeld, Western Connecticut State University’s Robin Gustafson, Tyla Johnson, Carlos Jimenez, Marlon Tristao, and University of Louisville’s Cynthia Corbitt, Michael Dylan Collins, Tasneem Karim and Mine Obrik-Uloho.
Dancing Well: The Soldier Project uses community dance experiences, a professional dance prompter and live music in ten session series in efforts to uplift veterans and their loved ones who are affected by PTSD or Brain Injury. Symptoms of PTSD include a tendency to isolate, avoid new experiences, feel anxiety, hopelessness, fear and consider suicide. Participants in the program include veterans, family members, other loved ones and a cadre of volunteers who gather together to dance simple, traditional group dances. The program is currently located in Louisville, Kentucky and is, to our knowledge, unique in the world. Future plans include offering training for dance leaders who wish to begin similar programs across the nation.
Dancing Well dances are intentionally kept small and always include volunteer dancers, who were not included in the study. Due to the limited population, the study is considered a pilot. The journal article may be found at https://journal-veterans-studies.org/articles/abstract/68/
Approximately 30.9% of men and 26.9% of women veterans suffer from some form of PTSD (National Center for PTSD, 2017.) PTSD is even more prevalent in veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) because of the use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and because of the improved defensive equipment in use, resulting in fewer deaths but more cases of PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury (Morissette, Woodward, Kimbrel, Meyer, & Kruse, 2011).
Dancing Well: The Soldier Project is primarily supported by private donations, partially supplemented by The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Dancing Well: The Soldier Project will be participating in Give For Good Louisville on September 12, an online giving day created to support nonprofits doing great work in Louisville.
For more information, to support Dancing Well in bringing dance to wounded warriors, or to schedule an interview, please contact Deborah Denenfeld at (502) 889-6584 or Deborah@DancingWell.org.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
april 17, 2019
One-of-a-Kind Program Uses Dance to Help Veterans and Families Cope with PTSD and Brain Injuries
Louisville, Kentucky – Uplifting community dance experiences are being offered to help veterans and families affected by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Brain Injuries (BI). A series of ten dance sessions are being held April to July in Louisville Kentucky. The unique opportunity features live music, small group interaction and a dance caller to lead participants through simple dances tailored to their needs. Veterans are welcome to bring loved ones or come alone and be partnered with friendly volunteers. Families and loved ones are welcome to come with or without their veteran. Dances are provided by Dancing Well: The Soldier Project, Inc., a non-profit organization, and are free of charge. Dances will be held from 6:00 - 7:30 on Tuesday nights from April 30 - July 2 at a central location in Louisville. (Location is kept confidential until participants pre-register). Older children are invited to join the dance, while free child-care is provided for younger children. Transportation can often be arranged to area participants upon request.
Now in its sixth year of holding dances, the program was developed in dialogue with a staff psychiatrist at Fort Knox. Dances are modified to ensure that those with PTSD, BI and other physical and mental challenges can participate fully and benefit. Modifications are made to the venue for safety and comfort. For example, the venue features special low lighting, for the comfort of those with brain injuries.
“For veterans sometimes the isolation can be very difficult. What Dancing Well: The Soldier Project does, in a very beautiful way, is gets people to form partnerships in the dance,” says a local VA recovery professional.
In a scientific study of the effects of the program on participants with PTSD, concluded in 2018, a statistically significant increase was shown in feelings of connectedness. This is important because isolation is a common factor in people who suffer from PTSD or brain injury. Isolation often leads to increased levels of depression and suicide.
In earlier dance series with veterans in Louisville and a series offered at Ft. Knox with soldiers with PTSD and BI, participants reported
• feeling more at ease around a group
• feeling connected to others
• decreased anxiety
• improved outlook on the future
• improved mood and memory
• improved relationships with their spouse or family
• improved sleep and decreased nightmares
Many also experienced a decrease in their physical pain level. Spouses and partners reported benefits from socializing and networking with other affected veterans/soldiers and families.
Dancing Well invites veterans and their loved ones interested in participating to join in the fun. Dances are open to the public and volunteers are needed to support the work. All participants must preregister.
Media are encouraged to contact Dancing Well to schedule covering the events or conducting interviews with the Executive Director and participants.
For more information, to register, or to support Dancing Well in bringing dance to wounded warriors, contact Deborah Denenfeld at (502) 889-6584 or Deborah@DancingWell.org.
Media: For more information, please contact Deborah Denenfeld, Executive Director of Dancing Well: The Soldier Project, at 502.889.6584 or Deborah@DancingWell.org.
Media are encouraged to contact Deborah to schedule filming or interviews.
