MINI MERMAID DANCE PILOT TO LAUNCH THIS SPRING, THROUGH GRANT FROM THE HILL DICKINSON FOUNDATION and THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR MERSEYSIDE

At Mini Mermaids, we’ve always said that we’re not out to create “RUNNERS!” 

Ok, maybe we don’t yell it. 

But we’re not out to create “runners.” 

What we have always wanted is for girls, particularly those who might shy away from any type of physical activity, to discover the joy of moving their bodies, feel confident doing it and experience how it impacts their overall well-being. 

We started with running and its various forms; the simplicity makes it accessible to everyone. But we’ve always envisioned branching out and creating new programmes that incorporate different types of physical activity. 

Today, our vision became one massive step closer to reality, thanks to a generous grant from the Hill Dickinson Foundation, on behalf of the firm’s Leeds office, and the Community Foundation for Merseyside . 

At the core of the Mini Mermaid ethos is physical activity combined with mindfulness practices to help strengthen a girl’s self-esteem, self-confidence and self-compassion. With this grant, we plan to take these powerful tenets and to pilot the Mini Mermaid Dance Programme, a natural progression of our running-based curriculum. We will start the programmes in Leeds later this year.

Much like running, dance has proven to positively impact physical, mental and emotional confidence. In fact, an Arts & Health research paper titled, ‘The effects of recreational dance interventions on the health and well-being of children and young people’ found that among 5-12 year olds, dance not only improved cardiovascular fitness and bone health of children and young people but also that dance has the power to improve how a child views themselves and reduces anxiety.  The mind/body connection is evident in many cultures who use dance as therapy to strengthen this connection.

We’ll have more details later this year as we develop and activate the programme. But we wanted to publicly thank the wonderful team at Hill Dickinson Leeds and the Community Foundation for Merseyside for making this programme a reality.

High Fins to the entire team.

​Hannah

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