about​

Tara Balfour is an Indian Scottish dancer and creative health practitioner. Her work supports vulnerable adults in growing their physical, social and mental health through dance-based psycho-educational programmes. Her socially engaged practice focuses on reaching women who have experienced trauma and older adults with memory issues in care home and community settings.

Tara trained in Classical and Latin Dance in 2015 and toured Europe as a Tango performance artist until 2022, when she retrained to work in creative mental health. Since then, Tara has delivered programmes across underserved communities of all ages, abilities and mobilities, using dance to promote long-term positive change in mental and physical health and grow self-esteem through curiosity and creativity in movement.

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Tara has proudly devised and delivered programmes across the UK, for Shantona Women’s Centre – supporting South Asian women after experiences of trauma, Yorkshire Dance – taking dance and live music into dementia care homes, Women’s Health Matters, Women’s Aid, Space2 – an award winning arts and social change charity, and Balbir Singh Dance Company – dancing in immersive settings across the UK to support health, wellbeing and identity of older adults with memory issues.

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Tara is a Mental Health First Aider, neurodivergent-informed, trauma-informed, dementia-aware with a person-centred practice. Tara delivers sessions in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Dance styles used to deliver sessions include Salsa, Argentine Tango, Bollywood and Ballet. Mindfulness and guided meditations are often used as part of programmes.

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