Movement for Parkinson's and Others

Dance Zone now offers a class in Movement and Dance for Those with Parkinson's Disease.  The class is jointly sponsored by Dance Zone and Lake Superior Hospice.  Class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2-3:15 PM and Saturdays, 1-2:15 PM.


Our class is based on Dance for PD class developed by the Mark Morris Dance Group in Brooklyn.   This group has been offering Dance for Parkinson's Disease for almost 20 years.


While the class was developed for those with Parkinson's Disease, it helps raise the dopamine levels in the brain and also gives a sense of connection of the brain to the rest of the body.  The class is appropriate for anyone with limited mobility, dementia or simply age-related problems.


 Why Dance for Parkinson's?  See the article
Our classes are done mostly in chairs.  We warm up with some upper body stretches and move on to some fairly aerobic kicking and tap dances.  The chair dances give an excellent full body workout.  We do about 40 minutes of chair exercises and then move on to the barres for plies, triple extensions and lunges.  Then we do some across the floor movements.  This group of dancers are fairly stable and able to do both the sitting and standing dances.  However, anything we do standing can be done from a seated position, so no one needs to stand if that is difficult.





 

The ten points below explain why dance is particularly beneficial for people with Parkinson’s disease.  They are demonstrated in the “Why Dance for Parkinson’s Disease?” DVD (http://danceforparkinsons.org/resources/video-resources)

  •     Dance develops flexibility and instills confidence.
  •     Dance is first and foremost a stimulating mental activity that connects mind to body.
  •     Dance breaks isolation.
  •     Dance invokes imagery in the service of graceful movement.
  •     Dance focuses attention on eyes, ears and touch as tools to assist in movement and balance.
  •     Dance increases awareness of where all parts of the body are in space.
  •     Dance tells stories.
  •     Dance sparks creativity.
  •     The basis of dance is rhythm.
  •     The essence of dance is joy.

http://danceforparkinsons.org/resources

 
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