Members of the Brooklyn Parkinson Group will participate in a demonstration Dance for PD class at the 2012 Unity Walk in New York’s Central Park on Saturday, April 28. The Unity Walk is the largest grassroots event to raise Parkinson’s awareness and funds to find a cure. Since 1994, families, friends, caregivers and representatives from the Walk’s sponsors and seven major U.S. Parkinson’s foundations have gathered once a year in unity, with 100% of donations going directly to Parkinson’s disease research. While more than 10,000 people are expected to turn out for the event, many others raise funds from home and support the Walk without ever coming to Central Park. Faculty from the Mark Morris Dance Group will lead the Dance for PD demo class, which will also feature live musical accompaniment. Click on the logo to the left for more information, or call 866-PUW-WALK (866-789-9255)

Four new Parkinson’s dance programs will launch in the U.S. in January, the culmination of months of planning, summer training workshops in Denver, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, and an upcoming workshop in Orlando. Persons with Parkinson’s in Cincinnati, Phoenix, Duluth and Orlando will have the opportunity to take on-going dance classes with Dance for PD®-trained teachers. The new programs represent a broad cross-section of committed partners. A collaboration between a Parkinson’s community leader, local dance studio, and the Tri-State Parkinson’s Wellness Chapter led to the development of the Cincinnati program, while in Phoenix, a series of community classes by Mark Morris Dance Group teaching artists and presented by the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center over the past two years created a groundswell of interest. The partnership between a teacher and a person with Parkinson’s led to the upcoming Duluth pilot. In Orlando, a collaboration between Rollins College and the Florida Hospital Neuroscience Institute Parkinson Outreach Center is supporting monthly pilot classes near the center.

David Leventhal and John Heginbotham lead a Dance for PD commmunity pilot class at Princeton Dance and Theater Studio/Dance Vision, Princeton, NJ in January, 2011. Classes like these often lead to the development of an on-going local program led by professional dance artists.

Researchers, clinicians, therapists, fellow patients and Dance for PD program manager David Leventhal presented information about medical techniques, research, diet, exercise and dance to more than 500 people with PD and caregivers at the Sunflower Revolution Sept. 10 in Cincinnati, OH. The message was clear: there is lots people can to to live well with Parkinson’s, and there are committed professionals in a variety of fields who want to help.

The Gardner Center, University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute, and University of Cincinnati Health sponsored the annual event, with participation from the Davis Phinney Foundation, which shared a video of Phinney offering words of inspiration and declaring the room a “tremor-safe zone.”

After lunch, Leventhal taught participants several dance phrases, including a short phrase of Mark Morris company repertory, and spoke about the Dance for PD program’s development, approach and philosophy. Leventhal’s participation was a part of an effort by the Tri-State Parkinson’s Chapter (APDA) to start Dance for PD classes in Cincinnati in 2011/2012. The day before, more than 50 people with Parkinson’s and their families attended two back-to-back Dance for PD community classes with Leventhal, organized by the chapter and local community leader Elizabeth Grover at de la Arts Place.

For more information about the Sunflower Revolution, please click here.

Audience members congregate outside Jacob’s Pillow’s Ted Shawn Theater.

Twenty people with Parkinson’s, their friends and families participated in a Dance for PD community class with Mark Morris Dance Group dancers Sam Black and Lesley Garrison at Jacob’s Pillow Friday, August 26. The class coincided with performances by the Mark Morris Dance Group in the Ted Shawn Theater and an Inside/Out performance of choreography by John Heginbotham, one of Dance for PD’s founding teachers. The class was co-presented by the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and the Mark Morris Dance Group and took place in the Ben and Estelle Sommers Studio, home of The School at Jacob’s Pillow, of which both Garrison and Heginbotham are alumni. “We were thrilled to be able to work with the Pillow to offer this program to the community,” said David Leventhal, Dance for PD’s program manager and another alumni of The School at Jacob’s Pillow. “Participants really seemed to appreciate the opportunity to dance together in this historic and beautiful setting, and to meet and network with others in the Parkinson’s and PD support communities.”

For those in the Berkshires who are interested in dancing through out the year, Megha Buttenheim offers on-going movement classes called Let Your Yoga Dance for Parkinson’s. More information is available here.

Two new Dance for Parkinson’s classes are launching in Denver as a result of months of planning and collaboration among several local partners and Dance for PD staff. One class, presented by Parkinson Association of the Rockies in association with Colorado Ballet will take place in the studios of Colorado Ballet and will be led by CB principal dancer Sharon Wehner and Private Freeman, a dancer with Ballet Nouveau who taught Dance for PD classes in Berkeley, CA before moving to Colorado. The other class, presented by Art as Action will take place under the leadership of dancer, choreographer and Art as Action Artistic Director Sarah Leversee and will be presented at A Living Arts Centre.

“We are thrilled by the opportunity to bring a nationally recognized model to the communities we serve,” said Cheryl Siefert, the executive director of the Parkinson Association of the Rockies. “We look forward to adopting this model locally, and hope to add it long-term to the innovative programs and services we currently offer those living with Parkinson’s disease in the Rocky Mountain region.”

The class launch follows a Dance for PD training workshop in early August that was co-presented by the Association and by the University of Denver. The workshop brought teachers from five states to learn the Dance for PD approach from the program’s founders. To view a moment from the teacher training workshop’s demo class, please click here.

“Having danced for 25 years, it means a great deal to me to bring the power of dance and artistic expression to a group of people who have been deeply betrayed by their bodies and need to find new ways to connect and move,” said Sarah Leversee, Artistic Director of Art as Action. “Art as Action’s mission is to use the power of collaborative art to create social change – and working with the Parkinson Association of the Rockies to create the foundation of an innovative model here in Colorado epitomizes that goal.”

For more information about the classes, please click here.

Dance for PD, the University of Florida Center for the Arts in Healthcare and UF’s School of Theatre and Dance co-presented a training workshop for dance teachers and movement practitioners June 3-5 on the University’s campus in Gainesville. More than thirty participants from more than fifteen communities around Florida and beyond took part in the training.

The UF Center for the Arts in Healthcare was “so honored and thrilled to have the Mark Morris Dance Group bring their Dance for PD® training to the University of Florida,” said Jill Sonke, the Center’s director. “They are the leaders in this work, and it is exciting to be able to train more dancers in Florida to be able to work with people with Parkinson’s disease. Our Dance for Life program here at UF has changed the lives numerous people with Parkinson’s disease in our community, and we are excited to be able to provide a way for more programs to get started in other communities.”

The Dance for Life program, which is an on-going weekly program offered through the University, provides therapeutic and recreational movement opportunities for people with a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease, as well as their significant others. Participants from UF’s Dance for Life program took part in a community class offered by Dance for PD teachers Misty Owens and David Leventhal. After the class, participants spoke openly about their experiences in the class, sharing their insight and observations with teacher trainees.

Noted one participant, “It was an extra treat to be able to move to live music and dance again even if the body and technique was not like the old days.”

For more information about the UF Center for the Arts in Healthcare, please click here.

Stanley J. Wertheimer

Dance for PD is pleased to announce the launch of the Stanley J. Wertheimer Fellowship Program and Master Class Series in honor of Stan Wertheimer, a retired professor of mathematics who has Parkinson’s disease and is a champion for the Dance for PD program in Connecticut. Wertheimer’s family and friends have made these initiatives possible through a leadership gift to the Dance for PD program.

The Fellowship is a merit- and need-based program for teachers dedicated to starting programs in their own communities, or for teachers who have established programs but would like to enrich their practice and impact with on-going professional development and continuing education. The two-year Fellowship will cover training fees, membership costs and consultation for the qualified and experienced teachers, allowing them to develop their skills and replicate the program in new communities. Dance for PD staff will select approximately eight Fellows each year through a competitive application process.

“This Fellowship means so much to all of us–it’s our way of honoring Stan and his mission,” said Ruth Manson, Stan’s sister. “I know it will create a special way to acknowledge and support exceptionally talented teachers.”

The Master Class Series will enable Dance for PD to offer master classes in communities that may not otherwise be able to afford all of the transportation costs and fees associated with producing a demo class.

For more information about the Fellowship program, and to read about Stan, please visit the Stanley J. Wertheimer Fellowship page.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research has launched a new web page devoted to exercise and PD in honor of “Exercise Month”, and mentions the Dance for PD program as a form of non-traditional exercise. “All forms of exercise can help alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms. If the gym isn’t for you, skip out on traditional training and find a calorie-burning activity that is right for you — like dancing or boxing,” notes the page, which links to www.danceforpd.org. The Foundation will feature exercise information and resources for the entire month of June. You can view the page by clicking on the logo above.

Jennifer Speiden will teach a series of three Dance for Parkinson’s pilot classes in Blacksburg, VA starting June 10. Sponsored by Inner Awareness and the YMCA at Virginia Tech, and hosted at the Y, the class will be offered free of charge and will take place on two additional dates over the summer: July 8 and August 12. Speiden will bring elements of contemporary, social and world dances into the class as well as integrate her extensive movement knowledge and experience as a physical therapist, registered yoga teacher, Pilates instructor and professional dance performer and educator. For more information about the pilot classes, please click here or visit the Inner Awareness website.

Fourteen members of the Brooklyn Parkinson Group participated in a special Dance for PD demonstration class as part of the Parkinson’s Unity Walk on April 16. With David Leventhal leading the class and William Wade on electric piano, BPG members braved unseasonably cold weather to dance together on a stage at one end of Find A Cure Boulevard, near the Central Park Bandshell. An audience of walkers from all over the world cheered them on. To see clips from the demo, and interviews from the day, please click here. The Unity Walk is the largest grassroots event to raise Parkinson’s awareness and funds to find a cure. Since 1994, families, friends, caregivers and representatives from the Walk’s sponsors and seven major U.S. Parkinson’s foundations have gathered once a year in unity, with 100% of donations going directly to Parkinson’s disease research. For more information about the event, or to donate, please click here.