By Jeff Mahoney
Aug. 24, 2016
Moving to the music with halting grace, defying illness — the benefits of this class are more than just physical
Before there can be dance, before movement becomes outwardly beautiful, rhythmic, expressive, there must be a motivating grace inside. A hunger to answer the music in one's ears with corresponding shapes in one's limbs, carved over space and time.
The ballet dancers who sit in chairs in the gym at St. Paul's United have that inner grace. They have that impulse, that hunger, made all the sharper perhaps by the difficulty of articulating it within the limitations of their particular bodies.
They have Parkinson's disease.
If dance is an escape, a release, then they are Houdinis wrapped in chains, the liberation into movement made that much more impressive for being so arduous under normal circumstances.
I sat — and stood — with the Hamilton City Ballet's Dance For Parksinson's in Dundas, and was powerfully moved, not only by the halting, sometimes trembling grace of the participants but also the human grace and tenderness of those selfless volunteers who help them.
Health specialists, musicians and trained ballet dancers.
The Dance For Parkinson's initiative in Hamilton originated with Melania Pawliw and Max Ratevosian of Hamilton City Ballet, and research co-ordinator Jody White Van De Klippe. Several years ago, Melania and Jody travelled to New York City to study the program offered by the New York City Ballet.
On their return, they partnered with McMaster University, in particular Dr. Matthew Woolhouse and Dr. Rick Paulseth, to provide a local program, and comfortable space, for those with Parkinson's, and also to scientifically monitor and assess the effects of dance.
"Many with Parkinson's move freely with the music, and many of the symptoms disappear," says program volunteer Judy Kleven, whose husband died of Parkinson's.
"It's interesting to see the progress. Terry's not tremoring now. He was when he came in." She's referring, as he dances, to Terry McCartney, whose symptoms abate as he throws himself into it.
The day I sit in with the program, a flautist and violinist provided live music. And several student and former student ballerinas from Hamilton City Ballet, both adult and children (girls in red tutus with gold trim and fans in their hair), assisted the dancers with Parkinson's.
I've never danced in a chair before, but the program makes it both challenging (not too challenging), enjoyable and contagious.
As the minutes flow by, the chair dances evolve into some floor choreography, and we find ourselves sweeping across the room — well, OK, not sweeping but it feels that way — to Les Sylphides.
Peter Lloyd, 64, a retired financial analyst diagnosed six years ago, tells me afterwards, "It's really good. I get cramping with my version of Parkinson's and this helps loosen up." It's a luxury to have the program available, he says. Not many Canadian cities have Dance For Parkinson's.
Puri Colomo comes to the program, usually escorted by one of her two sons, who alternate taking her. "It helps every day. It's also good for socializing."
"Classical music has an inside rhythm," says Melania, that the brain and body respond to it in a positive way.
Jody says that groups like the English National Ballet and Mark Morris Dance Group in New York City were the first to explore therapeutic benefits of ballet for Parkinson's sufferers.
"The use of music with a clear rhythm has been shown to improve gait and co-ordinated action, allowing complex movements to be completed more easily," says the program's background literature. "Studies have shown that ... (Parkinson's-related) anxiety, depression, and negative moods, can also be improved."
Another great feature of the program is that participants can practise at home, equipped with low-cost motion-sensing devices which input their body movements into the system, and calculate progress.
The system includes onscreen avatars, which duplicate the kinds of things Melania does in the gym, making the program more interactive.
The program starts up again in September. For information, call Hamilton City Ballet, 289-238-9855.
905-526-3306
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/6821788-mahoney-parkinson-s-patients-defy-the-disease-through-dance/
No comments:
Post a Comment