News and Notes

Dance for PD's quarterly newsletter | December 2024 

A note from the director

In this issue of News and Notes, we feature updates from our activities around the world and bring you some of the latest news on research on dance's impact on the brain. 

But before we dive in, I wanted to take a moment to share my gratitude for your support, and to let you know how inspired I am by the incredible milestones we’ve achieved together this year. Your generosity and engagement have powered Dance for PD’s mission to bring movement, joy, creativity, and connection to individuals living with Parkinson’s and their families around the world.

And...if there's something inspiring you where you are, we'd love to hear about it. Please submit an update, event or item of interest for inclusion in a future newsletter here!

Thank you, for being an integral part of our Dance for PD family. Enjoy this issue!

With gratitude and best wishes for the new year,
David Leventhal

Program Director and founding teacher

Program highlights

Sharing and learning

Dance for PD facilitated two mini-residencies in October, introducing our teaching method to dance educators in Zürich, Switzerland, and in Malta. In Switzerland, we partnered with the Connect program at Opernhaus Zürich and collaborator Clare Guss-West to offer a weekend-long professional development workshop for teaching artists from across Switzerland. In Malta, we collaborated with long-time partner Step Up for Parkinson's to facilitate a community class and professional development workshop for new and established teaching artists. Click below to see a short video, in Maltese, about our Malta residency. Additional training offerings took place near and far: we hosted a three-day Professional Development Workshop for more than 50 teaching artists from six countries at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, NY, and we contributed to introductory training workshops led by Dance for PD certified teachers and trainers Erica Rose Jeffrey (Australia) and Åsa Åström (Sweden). 

Advancing Research

Dance for PD remains committed to contributing to the scientific understanding of dance’s impact on individuals living with Parkinson’s. Our partnership with Dr. Aston McCullough (pictured) and the NIH-funded dance research lab at Northeastern University called LAB:SYNC launched in September with the online arm of the project, which utilizes heart rate monitors to detect the level of physical activity people derive from Dance for PD's online Zoom programming. The in-person arm of this study, which will take place in partnership with Dance for PD affiliates in the Boston area, is set to begin in early 2025.

Meet our new certified teachers

Dance for PD's Certification program invites teachers who have trained in our method and have at least 50 hours of experience teaching people living with Parkinson's to engage in a peer-reviewed qualification process that recognizes advanced skills and knowledge and serves as a capstone in their training process. We're pleased to send warmest congratulations to new Certified Teachers who completed their certification process recently (pictured clockwise from top right corner): Janelle Barry (Brooklyn, NY), Katarzyna Filipowicz (Jönköping, Sweden, and Gdansk and Gdynia, Poland), Julie Lea (Parry Sound, Canada - no photo), Robin McPhail-Dempsey (Toronto, Canada), Mina Park (Seoul, South Korea),  Hrishikesh Pawar (Pune, India), Dr. Katrina Rank (Melbourne, Australia), Sheryl Whaley (Charlottesville, VA), and Claire Wootten (Toronto, Canada).

Capturing Grace turns 10...

On October 30, the Mark Morris Dance Center hosted a special 10th anniversary screening of Capturing Grace—the acclaimed documentary that tells the story of members of the Brooklyn Dance for PD program preparing for their first performance. We were honored to welcome director Dave Iverson and members of the original cast for a Q&A following the screening. The event was a moving reflection on the power of dance, community, and resilience, highlighting the enduring impact the film has had over the past decade. Thank you to everyone who joined us online and in the studio to celebrate this milestone.

...while we mourn two of its stars

Sadly, we learned of the passing of two long-time members of our community who were featured in and known to the world through their contributions to Capturing Grace.

Cynthia (Cyndy) Gilbertson was a member of the Brooklyn Dance for PD community for more than 15 years. A social worker and poet, her kindness, humor, artistry, and friendship inspired and changed countless lives for the better. Cyndy showed the world what it means to live with grace and creativity. In a powerful scene filmed in her living room, she said, “I sometimes cannot walk, but I can dance,” demonstrating how music and a dancer’s mind can override physical challenges. With courage and vulnerability, Cyndy embraced the creative spirit—through writing, dance, and music—to reveal her true self and inspire others to do the same. 

Joy Esterberg, a poet and teacher, was a vital member of our community for nearly 10 years. Her enthusiasm, wit, and generosity graced our studios weekly until she moved to Maine in 2017. Her dancing and her poetry were featured in Capturing Grace, where she describes her relationship to Parkinson's: "I face it daily, steely-eyed, and to impede it, dance again." Joy also partnered with our team on the creation of Moving Through Glass, a Google Glass-based prototype we developed in partnership with SS&K. 

Both dancers were deeply loved, and their legacy will remain a lasting source of strength, gratitude, and creativity within the Dance for PD community and beyond. Their immeasurable impact and spirit continue to brighten the world for all who knew them, whether personally or through film. 

Why We Dance

Dance for PD, and program director David Leventhal, are featured in a pilot treatment for a new film that poses the question "Why do we dance?" Filmmaker Susan Orleans Rieder has created the first iteration of a film that aims to examine the relationship between music, movement, and the brain, as well as the biological incentives for group activity. Orleans hopes a longer version of this film will explore the biology behind dance while demonstrating its artistic and social appeal. "In considering how dance mitigates the effects of Parkinson’s Disease," Orleans notes, "we learn more about why we all have the impulse to move to a beat. Dance sets our species apart and helps define our humanity." Click below to learn more about the film, make a donation to support the Center for Independent Documentary, and view the 26-minute pilot.

Bowen Award performances and commissions

The 2024-25 Bowen Award for Inclusive Choreography will go to two choreographers - who are also Dance for PD Certified Teachers - working in Europe and South Asia. This annual award that aims to support choreographers who want to create new dance projects in collaboration with and publicly performed by people living with Parkinson’s. Maïté Guérin (Belgium) and Hrishikesh Pawar (India) will each receive $12,000 towards the creation of an original work of choreography and the associated production costs of a performance and/or film project that shares that choreography with the public. Their works will be performed or released in the spring and fall of 2025. Meanwhile, the 2023-24 Bowen Award-funded project INTERZONE, choreographed by Katie Elliott, artistic director of 3rd Law Dance/Theater, premiered this November at Swoon Art House in Boulder, CO. At the core of Elliott's project was the concept that art is not as much about the specific bodies chosen to perform, so much as it is about the conceptual work that can individually and collectively generate an innovative, tangible, and accessible idea.

What's ahead

Around the network

Whorling in WA

Lifespan Dance, based in Perth, Western Australia, create WHORL, a new seated dance performance opportunity for the communities of southern Western Australia. Supported by the Mandurah Arts Festival, and open to community and virtuosic dancers, this original dance work featured original choreography and music. Paige Gordon, Lifespan's Founding Director and Lead Teacher, was inspired by the spiraling shapes found in botanical structures, seashells and our own finger and footprints, winding and unwinding. The original music by Louis Frere-Harvey echoes these whorls. This is the second (of a triptych) of Seated Dance performances, with WINGSPAN being the first (2022).

Intergenerational joy in Exeter

In May, Jackie Fowler's group of Dance for Parkinson's dancers in Exeter, UK performed onstage with young dancers from the Michaela Poulton Dance Academy to the driving rhythms of A.R. Rahman's Jai Ho. Jackie comments, "It was amazing to see our dancers onstage, and a wonderful opportunity to be involved in the show. Such a joyful, happy day. We had wonderful feedback from members of the audience, and are hoping to be involved again next time." (Photo credit - Jade Poulton- JPH Photography) 

Rocky Mountain high

Rocky Mountain PBS recently featured 3rd Law Dance/Theater's eight-year-old Dance for Parkinson's program in a segment that's part of the network's Colorado Voices series. Ketul Arnold, a participant who has been attending the class every week almost since its inception in 2014, noted that despite living with Parkinson's for a decade, some of his symptoms are better now than when he first received his diagnosis. "But not only that, I think the most important thing is to have fun. I get to laugh. I get to smile. I'm with other people who are having fun, and I think that carries more healing and energy than anything in this program." Click below to view the segment.

Research and resources

Knowledge translation for OTs

Dance for PD Certified Teacher Katazyna 
Filipowicz, who teaches classes and works for the public health department in the Jönköping region in Sweden, was the co-author of a recent paper published in the 

Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, called "Dance for Parkinson, multifaceted experiences of persons living with Parkinson’s Disease". The study highlights that health and well-being are improved by Dance for PD and that the program should be promoted by occupational therapists

Changing the brain by dancing...

A recent case study from York University in Toronto highlights how regular dance classes may positively impact brain function in people living with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Over 29 weeks, a 69-year-old participant with mild PD took part in dance classes, while researchers used functional MRI scans to track changes in brain activity. These scans showed increased activity in brain regions involved in movement, rhythm, emotion, and sensory processing—areas critical for motor and non-motor functions. The findings suggest that dance could help foster brain adaptations, supporting its potential as a long-term therapeutic activity for individuals with PD.

Changing the brain by watching dance...

The Neurolive project, led by neuroscientist Dr. Guido Orgs and choreographer Matthias Sperling, explores how our brains respond to live dance performances using mobile EEG technology to measure brain activity in real time. Initial findings reveal that live audience members experience inter-brain synchrony, with their brainwaves aligning in patterns associated with social interaction and internal focus, akin to "collective daydreaming." Intriguingly, audience connection seems to depend more on shared live experience than seating location or performance quality. A parallel study by butoh dancer Vangeline measures brain activity in dancers themselves, highlighting the potential for both artistic insight and health applications, such as stress reduction and PTSD healing. The research emphasizes dance's unique complexity and its impact on well-being, challenging traditional scientific methods to embrace embodied intelligence and non-verbal understanding.

Discounts for Dance for PD constituents

We’re glad to announce new affiliate partnerships that help our community members stay active, mobile, and independent—all while supporting Dance for PD programming.

Urban Poling Activator Poles | 10% Off
Designed to improve posture, balance, and natural walking patterns, Activator® Poles are perfect for individuals with Parkinson’s. Enjoy a 10% discount, and Urban Poling will donate 10% of sales to support Dance for PD. Learn more and purchase.

SitnStand Everywhere Lift Chair | $50 Off
This innovative chair promotes independence and enhances mobility for people with Parkinson’s, easing the journey for care partners too. Get $50 off and know that 10% of your purchase supports Dance for PD. Learn more and purchase.

For members

Digital library

Dance for PD Members receive access to 400+ full class recordings in our Digital Class library. Organized by genre, the library features a variety of teachers leading Dance for PD, Dance for PD PRO, Sing and PD Movement Lab classes. The resource also features a Tap for PD series, meditation sessions, as well as Pilates and Yoga classes and a Featured Class of the Week. Not a member? Click here to join today.

Toolkit

Looking for the latest report about the intersection of arts and health? Access to our photo pool? A handbook for class volunteers? Quotes about Dance for PD from medical professionals? Suggested language for a class waiver? It's all in our Member Toolkit, which we update regularly with valuable resources you can use to plan, launch, and sustain your classes.

Other member services

Free shipping and discounts
U.S. members receive free shipping, and international members receive discounted shipping on all At Home DVD and music CD orders. Members also receive a discount on Dance for PD T-shirts.

Ryver
Ryver is a members' forum that allows you to post thoughts and questions, and share links with other members. Ryver is easy and fun to use, and can be accessed through a mobile App as well as via computer. You can log into your account

Thank you for reading News and Notes! The Dance for PD team sends warmest wishes for a joyous and peaceful holiday season. We look forward to dancing with you in 2025.

Dance for PD® is made possible through generous support from our community. We gratefully acknowledge contributions from individual Dance for PD members, donors, and Friends of MMDG along with public and private institutions:

AbbVie

American Parkinson Disease Association

Adira Foundation

Billy Rose Foundation

Bloomberg Philanthropies

Bossak/Heilbron Charitable Foundation

The Dillon Fund

General Catalyst

Bernard F. and Alva B. Gimbel Foundation

Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund

Lily Auchincloss Foundation

Lucy Bowen Fund

Medtronic, Inc.

A community grant from the Parkinson’s Foundation

Sence Foundation

Sills Family Foundation

Stanley J. Wertheimer Fund

Public support for Dance for PD is provided by New York City Council Member Crystal Hudson, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.