Stuck at home to prevent the spread of COVID-19, why not relieve the stress with a spot of healthy dancing? Every day since May 31, the Xin-sheng dance and exercise club in Tainan County’s Madou City has been producing an instructional video on the theme of “fight the epidemic and dance your way to health” and posting it on YouTube, thereby doing its bit for the fight against the outbreak by simultaneously teaching the audience how to dance and promoting disease-control concepts.
As well as giving a dance lesson, the first video in the “fight the epidemic and dance your way to health” series also reminded people to wash their hands frequently and wear a mask. The videos, each about five minutes long, are choreographed and demonstrated by instructor Hsu Ya-yun of the Xin Sheng Dai Dance Organization and post-produced by the organization’s leader Chen Chien-liang.
The Xin Sheng Dai Dance Organization is a local performing group under the wing of Tainan’s Cultural Affairs Bureau and has long been involved in philanthropic activities. Chen, who came up with the idea of “fight the epidemic and dance your way to health,” says that the outbreak is so serious that it has filled the whole social atmosphere with fear and anxiety, especially now that the whole country is on level 3 alert and schools have stopped normal classes and changed to distance learning. The situation is making people feel uneasy, and if this continues, even if people do not catch the illness, they will still suffer physically and mentally. This is what inspired Chen to launch “fight the epidemic and dance your way to health.”
Screen grab from the Xin-sheng dance and exercise club’s Facebook page 照片:擷圖自新生舞蹈運動館臉書
Chen says that moving and grooving along with the music can soothe your mood, while working up a sweat can give you a physical and psychological boost. Given that people cannot gather together in groups during the epidemic prevention period and have to avoid going out, plus the fact that exercise facilities are all closed, one solution is to use videos or video calls to help people who are stuck at home to do some easy dancing comprised of simple arm and leg movements in time with light, uplifting music.
Chen says that “fight the epidemic and dance your way to health” is an independently constructed and non-commercial promotional exercise platform that is completely free to watch and allows people stuck at home to move their bodies along with the teacher. During the outbreak, people can watch the videos featuring various kinds of exercise every evening at 8pm. Chen also getting even more people to join the “anti-epidemic movement” by the dance teaching videos widely in Line messenger groups.
(Translated by Julian Clegg, Taipei Times)
Screen grab from the Xin-sheng dance and exercise club’s Facebook page 照片:擷圖自新生舞蹈運動館臉書
防疫宅在家,也可以來個健康舞紓壓,台南市麻豆新生舞蹈運動館從五月三十一日起,每天推出一支「防疫舞健康」教學影音放上YouTube平台,教觀眾跳舞和宣導防疫觀念,為全民防疫出力。
第一支「防疫舞健康」教舞也提醒大家勤洗手、戴口罩,每支影音約近五分鐘,由新生代舞蹈團老師許雅雲編舞、示範教學,團長陳建良拍攝影音後製。
新生代舞蹈團是台南市文化局扶植發展的在地演藝團隊,也長期投入公益活動。發想「防疫舞健康」的陳建良說,疫情嚴峻,讓整個社會氛圍充滿著惶恐憂慮,尤其全國三級防疫有許多限制、學校又停課改遠距教學,讓人們感受到焦躁不安,長久下去這樣大家還沒染病,大家的身心就先受創了,因此有了「防疫舞健康」發想。
陳建良說,跟著音樂擺動可以紓解情緒,運動流汗還能使人身心愉悅,防疫期間既然大家不能群聚,減少外出,運動場所也都封閉了,就用影片或視訊方式來讓防疫在家的民眾輕鬆舞動,用簡單的肢體擺動搭配輕鬆愉悅的音樂。
陳建良說,「防疫舞健康」是獨立建構且脫離商業模式的推廣性運動平台,完全免費觀賞,讓宅在家的民眾跟著老師舞動身軀,疫情期間每天晚上八點都能準時收看不同樣式的運動影片。陳建良也將教舞影音廣傳LINE群組,串聯起「抗疫運動」。
(自由時報記者楊金城)
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