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.