This is a session that I did with a class of dementia sufferers using the 
music and song from the group Black Lace  and “Do the Conga “ 

Each resident is wearing cuffs : red for left and blue for right. The session begins with deep breathing to Listz Consolation 3 - a lovely slow piano piece … we then all listen to the song from Black Lace and feel the conga beat  : I have selected the moves Boom, Chik , Klap and Rest ( it is actually Klap that we’re doing in the photo) : I put the moves up on the TV screen like a map  : we rehearse the map in time to the song and then have a short water break : we all go through the sequence again after the water break and I get the group to form a line : then with the music we move in the sequence that we practiced in a conga line out into the corridor and round back into the room .. exhausted but exhilarated we return and take our seats .

When I take these sessions I have a care worker in the room with me which is very helpful. She can be my eyes when I can’t see what’s happening behind me. She told me that the residents encouraged each other to keep going and some were  scolded for keeping others back!  …. I begin each session by asking the residents how they are feeling and I finish each session by asking the residents how they are feeling . I have to report that most residents’ moods improve after a session of RGM and I hear lovely remarks like “relaxed” and “top of the pops” . The RGM session is always a fun session and as I say “ goodbye” the residents tell me that they would like me to come back next week. Most of the residents do not remember me from week to week but some of them remember that they have fun. Over the last few weeks, a reluctant resident has joined the group and pays great attention when I talk about the benefits for our brains from the movements we do. The great thing I noticed about doing the conga was that the dementia residents had to rely on some form of memory as there was no visual prompt once they began to move - the rhythm of the music seemed to be prompting their memory and I shouted the moves from the head of the conga line. 
I am currently working on a choreoscore for Offenbach’s “Can Can” , in map form as I have found the map is the easiest way for the dementia group to access a choreoscore.