VR dance event created for Suffolk residents with dementia

A festive tea dance has been filmed to offer a virtual reality (VR) experience for people living with dementia.

Suffolk County Council developed the Reverie project to stimulate those suffering with the illness.

The dance is one of many experiences that people will be able to interact with and they will officially launch next year.

Producer Catherine Bullough said the impact of VR on dementia patients had been "really positive".

Filmed at Snape Maltings near Aldeburgh, the afternoon tea party was accompanied by a live band and attended by more than 100 people.

Britten Pears Arts hosted the event as part of its Later Life programme, which brings music to elderly residents in the local community.

Ms Bullough said: "There's been lots of clinical research done into the really positive impacts of virtual reality on people living with dementia, and the ability to have lots of experiences that might be more difficult to have when you're living with a condition."

The dance was filmed by VR specialists Spark Emerging Technology.

Its head of strategy, Dan Betts, said the project would enable dementia patients to "watch and experience things that they wouldn't normally be able to see".

Headset users will be able to immerse themselves among the dancing from the comfort of their own homes, or select other experiences.

"We've also captured footage at Colchester Zoo and we will be looking to film at Ipswich Town Football Club in the coming months," continued Mr Betts.

"What we're finding is that when people experience these things again, it triggers memories. It gets their brain working, gives them activity in the brain that they wouldn't necessarily have before."

Professional dancer Donald Simba Mlambo, who attended the tea party filming, said: "Music takes you on a journey in time to where you first heard it, who you were with and the occasion. If you can do that to bring memories back, it's brilliant.

"Before you know it, you're dancing - you don't have to be on the [dance] floor, you can feel it in your own living room. It's magic."