Hello all. It’s Alison, checking in with some information about the dance class offered at Banner.
By way of introduction, I’ve been dancing all my life, on stage and off. I’m a performer and continue to work on stage while choreographing and teaching. I’ve been a member of dance companies and faculties at several universities, presented a variety of dance residencies, and choreographed for school programs, dance companies, and musical theatre productions. Since training with the Mark Morris Dance Group Dance for PD program in Brooklyn, I’ve taught Parkinson’s dance classes at the Muhammad Ali Center, the Hospice Education Center, and here at Banner since 2012. This month, I joined Parkinson’s Dance teachers worldwide for additional professional development that included dancing together and sharing research, ideas, and information about our classes.
Conversationally, I’ve heard questions from some of you about our dance classes here, so here’s some information to offer answers. More questions are always welcome.
Why dance with Parkinson’s?
Dancing provides an attitude and a space to feel like an integrated body working as a whole. In dance class, we welcome both the struggling and thriving parts of the body and the awareness of how things can change unexpectedly from day to day. Embracing and honoring your dancer body can be liberating and fortifying. Dancers with Parkinson’s talk about experiencing an easing of symptoms during class. You go with the flow and become wrapped up in the doing. The focus on the breath is brought back repeatedly throughout the class as a tool to ease pain and tension. The class provides lots of ways to be mindful of what is happening in your own dancer’s body.
To quote Sarah Leversee ( David Phinney Foundation), “In a dance class, you get a gold star just for showing up. Doing it “right” is never the goal because we let go of perfection and expectation. Dancers are invited to stay curious about what is possible for their bodies today—to explore the movements but never force the movements. Listening and being responsive to your own body serves you while dancing, but is also deeply valuable beyond the walls of the class.”
What if I don’t know how to dance?
Then you’ve come to the right class. Dance is made by dancers. In addition to the health benefits dance provides ( practice with balance, strength, movement flow, gait, coordination, concentration, focus, and listening skills), it invites individual expressiveness. Dance offers the opportunity to respond to music as it moves you and respond to physical and cognitive challenges while building community and having fun with others.
What if I don’t have rhythm?
Oh, but you do. Anyone breathing has rhythm – it’s called your heartbeat. We can always improve our ability to listen, feel, and recognize different rhythms through listening or the tapping of a foot. In class, we dance to many different music styles: instrumental, jazz, world, pop, classical, and more, and we have opportunities to play with musical and dance styles and tempos ( how slow or fast the beat of the music is).
I know the benefits of movement and exercise for everyone- including those with Parkinson’s. Why choose to dance as a form of movement and exercise? Quoting from recent research:
“Studies have shown beneficial effects of gait speed, balance, locomotion, and aspects of quality of life from various styles of dance classes, including dance that incorporates ballet, jazz, contemporary, theater, and choreography, as well as a well-developed dance curriculum known as Dance for Parkinson’s Disease classes. Dance offers an enjoyable, multidimensional, enriched environment where involvement in such a task provides dancers with the necessary tools to enhance balance, coordination, flexibility, imagery, imitation, creativity, rhythm, memory, and learning—all of which contribute to improvements in motor symptoms. In addition, dance enhances social connection, reduces stress and tension, and boosts confidence and self-esteem, leading to an overall improvement in mood. “
Parkinson’s Disease Motor Symptom Progression Slowed with Multisensory Dance Learning over 3 Years: A Preliminary Longitudinal Investigation Karolina A. Bearss 1,2,3,* and Joseph F. X. DeSouza
Has dance been proven to be beneficial for those with Parkinson’s?
A compelling and growing body of research has shown music and arts to be effective tools for addressing a widening array of conditions, from providing pain relief and alleviating anxiety and depression to regaining speech after stroke or traumatic brain injury and improving mobility for people with disorders that include Parkinson’s disease.
From Music and Mind: Harnessing the Arts for Health and Wellness edited by Renee Fleming 2024
In class, do I have to dance in front of other people?
Nope, you get to dance with other people. We dance individually and simultaneously to the music. I give verbal and visual ( movement) cues about the dance steps or phrases we’ll do to music. Some dances have a standard count ( like a waltz 1,2,3 or rhumba, slow, quick, quick pattern). Other dances invite dancing to the beat or playing with tempo and using improvisation ( movement created at the moment).
What if I want a “harder” workout? The class is designed to be fun and beneficial for anyone attending. The energy you expend in class is up to you because you can always choose to dance seated or standing, using the barre or moving across the floor. Sometimes, you’ll need to focus and concentrate on patterns and transitions between moves, which requires more energy than you might have expected. We move throughout the entire class and often stretch and build the use of both dominant and non-dominant muscles.
What if I feel unstable after dancing for some time?
Please drink a little water and sit whenever you need to rest. You can always come back into the movement of the group as you are ready.
How does music help my movement?
Music activates our awareness of rhythm, harmony, emotions, and physical movement. It provides rhythmic qualities that stimulate the brain’s motor areas, effectively acting as a cue to synchronize and improve the timing and coordination of movements and gait. Music can help boost our motivation to get going and keep moving and increases physical performance by improving posture, balance, and coordination, whether the music is Bach or the Beatles or the beat of a single drum, whether that movement is choreographed or improvised. When sounds encourage a body to move, that body is dancing.
Dance = Sound + Movement
Why seated warmups?
A seated dance and movement warm-up provides several benefits, including improved flexibility, increased blood flow, enhanced joint mobility, reduced risk of injury, boosted mood, and improved coordination, all while being accessible to individuals with limited mobility or physical capabilities. Warming up helps you prepare for the physical and mental exertion of the upcoming class. An effective warmup increases heart rate and gets your blood pumping, decreasing the chances of injury as the heart rate gradually increases from the resting pulse, the temperature within the muscles is increased, and the change of muscle soreness and injury is reduced. Dynamic stretching, using a full range of motion and continuous movement, is generally considered the best form of stretching to utilize in a warm-up.
Notes from a Parkinson’s dancer
“I believe that dance has given me access to movement in a way that eludes the damage done in my brain by Parkinson’s. It feels as if there is another language at my disposal to send messages of movement to my body, a space in my brain that has a newer relationship with my muscles. So far, dance is agile enough to move me alongside my Parkinson’s.
My state of mind is revived by the release of emotion that comes through movement. The expression of pain, anger, and frustration, or the exploration of joy, exuberance, and tranquility through my core, limbs, and extremities, gives freedom to the paradoxical feelings that Parkinson’s spurs.
The cognitive challenge of dance requires my prefrontal cortex to utilize executive function. My mind plans and executes movement, organizes and remembers choreography, and translates everything into motion both purposefully and automatically. For me, dance has been the perfect companion to take me through my journey with Parkinson’s.”
Alison Marshall
Throughlines Dance and Theatre
alisonmarshalaz@gmail.com
Dance for PD – Mark Morris Dance Group