Although Jack Widdowsons return to dance after a life threatening neck injury occurred before we set up this charity, his recovery was the inspiration behind it. We had been in the very fortunate position of having plenty of specialist knowledge and resources available to help him and wanted to make this available to others.
We could see that there was very little specialist sports medicine help available for dancers generally and friends and family decided to address this problem, so we set up the Dance Again Foundation.
We work in three ways
.The aim is to enable the dancer to return safely to their career. We can help dancers find help for anything from a clicking hip to knee pain, the idea is to avoid an
acute problem becoming chronic. Knowing where to start or who to contact confidentially about an injury can be a worrying time for the
dancer.
The Dance Again Foundation has a network of experienced specialist therapists, sports physicians and surgeons across the UK. Since September 2014 we have partnered with
the Royal United NHS Trust Hospital in Bath so dancers can also access the specialist NHS sports and dance trauma clinic there via GP referral (Choose and Book e referral. This
service has attendant consultants and specialist physiotherapists who have extensive experience with dancers. Wait times from referral are approximately 10 days. This is one of the three
NIDMS clinics nationwide.
Here is Jack back on stage in 2013 with Bern:Ballet, able to dance, lift and leap!
It was Jack's recovery that inspired us to set up Dance Again, as we saw and felt the massive impact that early intervention and intensive specialist therapies on have on the safe return to dance.
At Dance Again we are make this available to other dancers. We could provide for an injured dancer you know, so do get in touch.
BBC Breakfast interviewed and filmed Jack Widdowson at LCDS in 2012 and interviewed his parents live on the Breakfast time couch!. See Jack's latest progress as he rehearses for his first show following his recovery as broadcast today
At Dance Again we are all volunteers.Please respect our efforts to answer as quickly as we can and allocate funding as fairly as possible.Our aims are to help each dancer make the best recovery possible, and allocate funds and effort accordingly.Rude or threatening correspondence will not be answered.