This is the English version of the post published on Con P de Párkinson. The original Spanish can be found here.
Dance for PD® is a project envisioned by Olie Westheimer, founder and executive director of Brooklyn Parkinson Group (BPG). In 2001, she contacted the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG), an internationally famous modern dance company, and brought to them the idea of a creative and rigorous dance class for the members of her group. Because of her own dancing experience, she also knew that dancers train their bodies and minds to perform difficult movements with confidence, strength and grace.
Two of Mark Morris Dance Group’s dancers, John Heginbotham and David Leventhal, joined by a musician, created free monthly classes (as they continue to be) for groups of six people. In 2004, MMDG started to offer Dance for PD’s classes in cities where the company toured. Soon after, they developed an education programme for dance teachers. Dance for PD has established itself in Mexico, Canada, Australia, England, Scotland, Italy, Germany, Holland, Israel, and India. Almost 50 weekly! participants come to these classes in New York.
Dance for PD’s focus has been loyal to Olie’s vision and fundamental ideas: the knowledge about balance, sequencing, rhythm and aesthetic conscience of professional dancers, who are movement experts, is useful for people with Parkinson’s. Classes are open to everyone, even families, friends and caregivers, and they are about art, technique and having fun while dancing, not about Parkinson’s; and they’re not called therapy. In short, classes allow participants to explore the wide range of physical and creative possibilities that are still open to them.
At the end of 2021, Con P de Párkinson met Gregory Youdan, one of Dance for PD’s teachers. Gregory, of Dominican roots, teaches in Spanish. As a dancer, he has toured at national and international levels for more than 13 years. He also has a master’s degree in motor learning and control and another one in applied statistics, both certified by the Teachers College at Columbia University. He researches movement disorders, specifically Huntington disease, but also Parkinson’s, and he works in the Neurogen project in the Dominican Republic with Dr Cici Feliz, who, coincidentally, is also a great friend of us. We talked about this and then some in the interview we did with him in Onda PK. Don’t miss it!
And, to top it all, Gregory also taught at one of the workshops during the meetings of women and Parkinson’s in March 2022.
Translation into English by Pablo Martínez Cuadrado (Universidad Complutense, Madrid)