Penny Greenland MBE
Penny Greenland is Director of JABADAO - national centre for physical play. She began her career as dancer and choreographer, trained as a movement therapist and set up JABADAO in 1985 to find a new role for dancers working alongside education, care and health workers. Between 1998 and 2009 she lead an in-depth action research project exploring the way adults support young children’s (0-6) physicality; and created a new training based on the findings - a child-led, play-based approach subsequently adopted in many settings across England and Wales. She is author of Hopping Home Backwards: body intelligence and movement play and editor/contributor for What Dancers Do that Other Health Workers Don’t. She is currently developing work in care settings alongside people with later stage dementia. Penny was awarded and MBE in 2001.