The Mark Morris Dance Group's Dance for PD® program invites people with Parkinson's and their families in more than 400 communities and 30 countries around the globe to experience the joys and benefits of dance while creatively addressing symptom-specific concerns related to balance, cognition, motor skill, depression and physical confidence.
Through its innovative,
internationally-replicated in-person and online classes, acclaimed teacher training program, and high quality media resources, Dance for PD's fundamental working principle is that professionally-trained dancers are movement experts whose knowledge about balance, sequencing, rhythm and aesthetic awareness is useful to persons with PD. In class, teaching artists integrate movement from modern, ballet, tap, folkloric, traditional, improvisation, and social dancing, along with choreographic and
cultural repertory to engage participants' minds and bodies and create an enjoyable, social environment for artistic exploration.
Dance for PD has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, Dance Magazine, The Guardian and hundreds of other publications,and has been honored by several local, national and international awards,
including the Parkinson Awareness Award, Alan Bonander Humanitarian Award, and the Sapolin Public Service Award from the New York City Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities.
Evidence from more than 50 peer-reviewed scientific studies from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Italy and Germany serves to underpin the effectiveness and benefits
of the Dance for PD teaching practice and suggests that dance provides a range of benefits, including improved walking and short-term mobility, enhanced quality of life and self-efficacy, and improvements in mood and social inclusion among people with Parkinson's.
Dance for PD, which began in 2001 as a collaboration between MMDG and Brooklyn Parkinson Group,
leverages technology—online classes, on demand resources, and training and a popular instructional At Home video series—to make the program more available to its diverse and expanding network of constituents around the globe.
