Maïté Guérin is the first certified Dance for PD teacher in Belgium. Originally from France, she encountered and started developing the Dance for PD method in 2013 in The Netherlands with GOTRA, the dance company she co-directed for 15 years with choreographer Joost Vrouenraets.

In Belgium, Maïté collaborated with neurologist Olivier Bouquiaux to create Kinésiphilia, a dance performance with people living with Parkinson’s and their caregivers. From this beautiful experience, Maïté and Olivier founded the Fit Your Mind Association, which offers accessible sportive and artistic activities for people with neurological disorders. Within Fit Your Mind, Maïté directs Care to Dance, the dance program designed for people living with Parkinson’s. With her team, they currently have 8 weekly classes through Belgium. Care to Dance connects to ongoing research on our program as an optimised and adapted approach to improve the well-being and functional status of people living with Parkinson’s disease.

Since starting Care to Dance, Maïté facilitated several Dance for PD trainings with David Leventhal in the Netherlands and Belgium. She also regularly organises introductory teacher trainings.

Maïté graduated at the National Superior Conservatory of Dance and Music of Lyon, France, in ballet and contemporary techniques, at the age of 16. She continued her studies at Rudra Béjart in Switzerland which opened her, in addition to Béjart’s repertoire, to a panel of other disciplines as theatre, African and Indian dance, Kendo and music. Maïté started her professional career with Maurice Béjart but decided to take a freelance and independent path at a young age, to be more closely involved in creation processes. She taught ballet and contemporary to young professionals in the Netherlands and has been invited as guest teacher in dance companies in Europe and Asia.

“Teaching has been an important part of my career since early on. In my 30s, I felt the desire to explore the expressive body in an other way than in the usual setting of the theatre. Dance is a living art that makes space available for experimental processes and practices, for bodies and identities that might otherwise be excluded from society. I love sharing my passion for dance as a non-verbal but authentic way of expression. For me, Dance for PD is such a rich method that unfolds many possibilities and that I wish to spread so that more people can benefit from it.”