Get Moving and dance!

Sophie Mei of Britain's Got Talent fame, wows the Get Moving crowd

Time to Change's Get Moving held a festival of dance in the beautiful surroundings of Regent's Park to mark World Mental Health day!  

The sun shone on the hundreds of people that came along to Get Moving and Dance, the dance festival from Time to Change to celebrate World Mental Health Day on Saturday 10th October. Children and adults alike flocked to the dance floors at Regent's Park to learn some new moves and meet lots of new smiling faces.

The crowd gets moving to the Natyafunk workshop On the main stage, Dave Benson Phillips entertained everyone as he undertook an impromptu dance lesson with Britain's Got Talent's Sophie Mei while choreographers teaching everything from Ceroc to MJ's Thriller got the huge crowds active to help boost their mental wellbeing. At the end of the day everyone was treated to a sneak preview of material from the new album from classic band Blake, who's rare talent left everybody keen for more.

Natasha Yazdabadi instructs the crowd in Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' With near to a thousand people mingling, chatting and dancing with each other, Mind and Rethink, who were behind the event, are sure to have made steps in the battle against mental health stigma. Get Moving and Dance was one of hundreds of events taking place all over the country for Get Moving Week, 3-11 October. It was a huge success that saw thousands walk, cheerlead and even garden their way to mental health equality.

Get Moving and Dance was held on 10th October between 1pm to 4pm, Hanover Gate, Regent's Park. If you attended we'd love to hear from you,  send us your thoughts and photos at getmoving@time-to-change.org.uk, or even better, join our facebook group and post them yourselves!

Dance workshops were run by:

Sophie Mei, Britain's Got Talent bellydancing finalist.

Natasha Yazdabadi, IDTA Associate and Founder of BellyFunk101 School of Fusion Dance, ran two dance workshops in bellydancing and Michael Jackson's moves.

Anusha Subramanyam, artistic director of Beeja, a London based dance theatre company. The Beeja dance company's work is based in Indian classical dance, aiming to make bharatanatyam accessible to a wider audience and encouraged interaction with the artists and the dance form.

John Kennedy. From an Australasian Modern Jive Champion came a class for people who have never danced before. Ceroc helps people gain confidence in partner dancing and rhythm by giving them combinations of simple moves, which can be danced to the latest pop music.