The Rhythms Club

The Rhythms Club is primarily for the over 60’s, but all are welcome. We use the 5Rhythms® as a simple movement and rhythm practice designed to release the dancer that lives in each of us regardless of our age or physical ability.

Our first session was in June 2018, we were part of the Rhythm Village, a community festival of movement practice and creative celebration in South London. The festival explored how dancing and embodied movement can bring us together to create a more inclusive and vibrant community. Created by dancingTao CIC and All In Movement, it was an Erasmus funded project. The over 60’s dance proved to be a real success with many of the participants expressing interest in there being a regular class they could attend.

We approached St Peter’s in Vauxhall to see if they could partner us in holding a weekly Rhythms Club in the church. They generously agreed to give us the space on a donation basis. A small group of fellow dancers came forward to volunteer their time and skills in helping to set up the sound equipment, be on the door, make teas and welcome dancers and so ‘The Rhythms Club’ was born!

At the end of 2019 we started looking for a new home and partner for The Rhythms Club in Lambeth. Philip Rattigan, of the Mursell Estate Tenant and Resident Association (TRA) approached me to let me know about their community hall and his desire to bring the Rhythms Club onto the estate for their older residents. We struck up a partnership whereby the hall was given to us gratis and in return their members could come to classes free of charge. Other non residents were welcome to join the classes and paid a door entry cost.

The Rhythms Club at Mursell started regular weekly classes on 15th January 2020 and ran until the 11th March, when we had to stop due to Covid-19. Since then we have taken The Rhythms Club online and it is still thriving today with a regular weekly afternoon class. In September 2022 we also returned to ‘in person’ classes at Age UK in Brixton and we look forward to dancing in many more new venues and communities. Please be in touch if you would like to host us or know of an organisation or venue that would.

We are still dancing every Tuesday afternoon online. If you would like to join us click on the book here link for full info

and we are dancing Inperson in Brixton at Vidas, MYsocial - Age UK Lambeth's social member service. All older dancers welcome - Contact me for details

We also welcome enquiries from organisations interested in our work

ONLINE MUSIC

DANCE AT HOME
The five rhythms (in order) are Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical and Stillness. When danced in sequence, are known as a ‘Wave’. Here’s a Rhythms Club Wave I’ve uploaded to Mixcloud so you can dance in the comfort of your own home… enjoy!

PRACTICALS
Make sure the space is safe and give yourself as much room to move as possible. Have a jug of water on hand. Move at your own pace and in ways that suit your own body. Look after yourself, anyone else in the room, and the environment you are in.
We cannot take responsibility for any injuries sustained as a result of dancing these waves.

FUNDING

On behalf of dancingTao CIC reach-out, Jacqueline Steinmetz applied for a micro grant from the Mayor of London’s Stronger Communities Fund. A micro grant programme that supports projects to encourage social integration through sports related activities across the city, Silver Rhythms, was born. It’s an outreach project to The Rhythms Club, engaging older residents and carers to attend our classes.

We have fostered a relationship with South London Cares and held a class for them pre-lockdown. We have since held an online class, here is a short clip of our online class.

And our classes featured as part of Age UK Lambeth’s MySocial calendar of events website.