Fred and Dianne Discenzo, who trained with Dance for PD in Brooklyn, have been offering a popular ballroom-based class to the Cleveland community for several years. The class at the JCC rounds out local offerings by focusing on modern, ballet and improvisation, and will be led by Joan Meggitt, Desmond Davis and Heather Koniz, established local teaching artists.

For more information, please click here.

Leanore Ickstadt and long-time Brooklyn program volunteer Annemirl Schild launched an on-going program in Berlin, Germany at Tanz Tangente. Ickstandt and Schild spent months laying the ground work for the class. Ickstadt participated in her Dance for PD teacher training at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn.

“Two days before we had only 2 registrations but decided to go ahead any way,” said Ickstadt. “By the day we had 8 registrations and 9 came! It was quite crowded and, the only question in the feedback session at the end was: how many more people would we let in!”

David Leventhal writes:

A teacher in our network wrote in recently looking for some specific information about dancers in wheelchairs. She has some students who are in a chair and don’t have much use of their feet and legs. She noticed that during certain foot or leg exercises, some wheelchair participants stop doing anything and sit and watch.

I was surprised to hear that folks in wheelchairs stop moving even when the teacher is demonstrating chair exercises. One thing that came to mind is that because of how they are sitting in the chair (far back), it may be uncomfortable to lift their lower legs to do flexing and pointing because of where their legs hit the edge of the chair. And they can’t rotate their legs side because they hit the vertical ‘wall’ on either side of the chair. One thing we’ve learned is not to assume that people know how to get around these logistical ‘barriers’.

But it also reminded me about the importance of visual translation. We sometimes assume that people are able to adapt or simplify an exercise by seeing the whole and simply doing one part, but that assumption is incorrect. People often need to see a teacher, assistant or volunteer who is doing exactly the adaptation they are hoping to execute. It’s a bit like cooking. An experienced chef can remove one or two ingredients and not need to rewrite the recipe–the calibration is automatic. A less experienced chef might need to sit down and rewrite the plan.

So participants need to be talked through adaptations. Regarding chair logistics–if it can be done safely, folks should either be encouraged to move forward in their chairs a little bit for the leg lifts. Or (and this is what happens in our class thanks to our wonderful volunteers) a teaching assistant translates leg moves that are difficult in a wheelchair to her arms and hands, which act as substitutes, and our wheelchair folks do the same. This obviously doesn’t work the legs in the same way, but if the idea is moving successfully, and gracefully, it allows people to succeed, with some modification. This works equally well when people are standing–again, adapting the material to be done by hands and arms, using the feet perhaps to keep the beat or pulse to make sure that they are at least aware of some movement. All of this is made more possible by the addition of a second teacher or volunteer who can help wheelchair dancers adapt the movement materials that you’re introducing. One volunteer, Louise (pictured above with one of our dancers), is particularly adept at translating foot/leg movements to the arms and has some very creative ways of adapting lower body activities to be done with the upper.

At the event, presented by the American Brain Foundation, attendees will be able to take a class with Misty Owens, one of Dance for PD’s founding teachers, learn more about our work, and order our brand new At Home DVD. To register for the Fair, please click here>.

The Mark Morris Dance Group/Brooklyn Parkinson Group’s original and internationally acclaimed Dance for PD® program will now be available to residents of The Bronx thanks to a new collaboration among MMDG, Brooklyn Parkinson Group and Bronx House, which will host the classes. The first pilot class will take place Monday, March 18 from 10:30-11:45 a.m.

The class, which is open to persons with Parkinson’s disease, their families, friends, and care partners, will be offered free of charge. A teacher and a musician from the Mark Morris Dance Group will lead the session.

“We’re thrilled to be able to offer this class in The Bronx for the first time,” said founding Dance for PD® teacher David Leventhal, a former MMDG dancer and Dance for PD®’s program manager. “This program has helped transform the experience of people with Parkinson’s living in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, and we want Bronx residents to have the same access to this high quality arts program.”

“Bronx House is the perfect venue for this class because of its acclaimed arts programming, and its experience bringing the arts to a diverse group of people in the wonderful borough of The Bronx,” Leventhal said.

Future Bronx classes will be scheduled based on the results of the first pilot class in March.

Register here or through the Dance for PD New York class registration line: 718-218-3373.

David Leventhal writes:

We pay lots of attention to ensuring that our classes remain accessible to participants with a full range of abilities and mobilities, and try to be as inclusive as we can. We use a series of adaptive techniques that allow people with less mobility to contribute fully to the class. But what about the other end of the spectrum?

I got a call the other day from someone who had just been diagnosed and who was still very physically active. She’d just been to one of our classes and found it, well, just not challenging enough.

As I’ve discussed before, we welcome everyone to participate and invite them to make things more challenging or easier as is comfortable. But some people want to be pushed more, which is difficult to do sensitively in a large group class. I emphasized a very important element to dance training: throughout our careers, professional dancers often take classes that are well beneath our trained abilities due to a desire to work on fundamentals, change bad habits, repair an injury, or for the sheer fun of it. (I firmly believe that a single pirouette–turn on one leg–beautifully executed can be as difficult as a triple). I also offered to explain, before or after class, adaptations that she could use to complicate a phrase of movement and that she could introduce on her own during the class.

I also keep on file a list of local dance classes designed for adults or elders because in some situations, an individual who has just been diagnosed and is fully mobile may feel more challenged in that environment. I shared these ideas with her, and she was appreciative of knowing some local resources. She added, “I will look forward to being in your class–just not yet.”

One final note: many newly diagnosed individuals tell me that they don’t want to come to the class yet because “they don’t want to see what’s going to happen to me.” I understand this perspective, and I acknowledge it, although I sometimes gently remind people who share this feeling that Parkinson’s is an entirely unpredictable disease that takes many paths and manifests itself very differently. This student didn’t raise this concern explicitly, but I feel it may have been present as a subtext.

As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome and encouraged!

The Parkinson’s Unity Walk has selected Olie Westheimer and David Leventhal as this year’s recipients of the Alan Bonander Humanitarian Award in recognition of their work to develop Dance for PD®, an innovative global program that has launched in more than 100 communities in 8 countries, impacting thousands of people with Parkinson’s, their families, and carepartners. Carol Walton, the Unity Walk’s Executive Director, will present the award at this year’s event on Saturday, April 27 in New York’s Central Park.

The Alan Bonander Humanitarian Award winner is nominated and voted on by a committee, and is awarded to an individual in recognition of their exemplary contribution to the Parkinson’s community. Alan Bonander was a person with Parkinson’s who selflessly devoted to his time to patient advocacy through research and direct interaction with physicians. He was a dedicated husband, Californian, support person, consultant, advocate, writer, Parkinson’s medication information resource, Parkinson’s patient, Palidotomy recipient, asthma sufferer and internet pioneer. This is just a hint of who Alan Bonander was until his untimely death in 1996.

To read more about this year’s award, please click here.

The Unity Walk is the world’s 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. Click on the logo to the left for more information, or call 866-PUW-WALK (866-789-9255)

Roehampton’s Houston and McGill were commissioned to examine the benefits of dance in its artistic form. The researchers reviewed the social and psychological benefits to participants as well as physical changes in posture, stability and mobility over the 12 week period.

The study examined the experience of dancing with Parkinson’s from both qualitative and quantitative angles. Both angles suggest that dancing is an important tool to increase well-being, to aid daily life and to give people a sociable, creative outlet that is not disease-focused.

“One of the most noticeable aspects of the project was how it supported participants’ confidence, as well as improving their bodily awareness,” Houston noted. “The project’s inclusivity and encouragement coupled with social interaction were key to achieving this.”

To read a summary of the study, click here.

To read the entire article, click here.

Photo credit: Belinda Lawley/English National Ballet