Dancers discover how to move past Parkinson's

01 June 2016 
Written by Kelsey O'Halloran

Alan Kolinsky (right) embraces Dance for Parkinsons instructor Virginia Belt during a partner activity.

“You’ll want to speed the shutter up,” says a man named Brian Baker, gesturing to a photographer who has come to document his dance class for the day. 

“Otherwise,” he adds with a smile, “you’re going to get a lot of blur.” 

Baker is one of about a dozen adults who gather to dance each week at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center. They come as singles and couples, some retired and some still in their working years. Though their lives are colored by their various backgrounds and experiences, the participants share one thing in common: they’re all living with Parkinson’s disease, or accompanying someone who has it. 

The disease affects each of them differently. Some experience the hand tremors that could photograph with “a lot of blur”; others have trouble balancing. Some speak with an ever-softer voice or walk in ever-smaller steps; others struggle with feelings of isolation or depression. 

But at their weekly Dance for Parkinson’s class, the participants gather to simply stretch, move and have fun doing it. 

The Oregon chapter’s co-director and co-instructor, Virginia Belt, says the activity “tosses up” the idea of what a support group can be. 

“It’s simply... a place for people to come with a chronic illness, where the activity (is) not about the illness,” she says.

Virginia Belt (front) leads a marching line around the room during a Dance for Parkinsons class. Belt, who has had relatives with Parkinsons, co-founded the program's Oregon branch in 2011.

‘Use it or lose it’

Belt and Madeleine Denko-Carter launched Dance for Parkinson’s Oregon in 2011 after receiving training from the national organization based in Brooklyn, New York. In addition to their class at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center, they teach in several other locations throughout the city, including the Russellville Park and Willamette View retirement communities in Southeast Portland. 

According to the National Parkinson Foundation, Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative brain disorder that typically progresses slowly. With Parkinson’s, “a person’s brain slowly stops producing a neurotransmitter called dopamine,” a statement on the organization’s website reads. “With less and less dopamine, a person has less and less ability to regulate their movements, body and emotions.” 

While the disease itself isn’t fatal, complications such as falling due to progressive loss of balance can lead to serious injury or death. Though there is currently no cure for Parkinson’s, research has suggested that exercise may slow the disease’s progression, says Laurie King, a doctor and researcher specializing in Parkinson’s at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). 

“We think it slows the mobility decline,” King says. “There’s sort of a principle of ‘use it or lose it’ with your brain; that’s how neurons work.” 

For Parkinson’s patients, King says, the tendency might be to avoid a difficult physical activity such as dance. But she encourages her patients to pursue these activities, which could help sustain their balance and movement abilities for as long as possible. 

“When you stop doing tasks, your brain sort of unlearns them,” she says. “Even if you don’t have Parkinson’s, you should be exercising — but especially (if you have) Parkinson’s.” 

Dance is particularly beneficial, King says, because it incorporates cognition with movement, such as stepping backward or sideways. And patients who experience “freezing of gait” may find that thinking about a musical beat or cue from dance class can help them get “unfrozen,” she says. 

To really experience the benefits of exercise, King recommends that Parkinson’s patients start working out early — “like right when (they) get diagnosed.”

June Denham (left) and Virginia Caudill warm up with broad movements at the beginnning of class.

Shared energy

Exercise — and, specifically, a dance class — can seem intimidating at first, Denko-Carter says. 

“Some people, I think they hear about it and they go, ‘Oh, that’s not for me. I don’t like dancing,’” she says. “Then they come and they find out that everybody’s really nice, and it’s not threatening, and they keep coming.” 

Participants begin class sitting in a circle of chairs, following Denko-Carter or Belt as they make wide arm movements. 

Sometimes the instructors incorporate vocal activities to help participants with “getting their voice out,” Denko-Carter says, since it’s common for Parkinson’s patients’ voices to become quieter over time. 

As participants warm up, the instructors move into foot and leg stretches and then lead everyone to their feet so that they can practice slow, ballet-style movements to help with balance and turning. 

A variety of music plays throughout the class, from classical to jazz to country. Sometimes instructors lead a partner activity that allows the participants to interact and practice moving together. Other times, they try theater games or improvisation activities. 

At the end of the session, the classmates hold hands in a circle and “pass the energy” around the circle by squeezing the hand of the person next to them. 

“Bravo, everybody,” Denko-Carter tells the class, and they raise their hands and applaud one another. 

The group exudes enthusiasm and positivity, from the smiling instructors to the easygoing participants. The class is free, and instructors encourage participants to bring a friend or spouse with them as often as they like. 

Participant Tom Rocks has been coming to the class for two years in addition to his daily gym workouts, in hopes that the exercise will hold off the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, which he was diagnosed with about four years ago. 

So far the disease has affected his speech and his walking gait. It could be worse, he says. 

“If you’ve seen one person with Parkinson’s, you’ve seen one person with Parkinson’s,” he says. “Everybody’s different in the way that they handle it.” 

While no two Parkinson’s patients experience the disease in quite the same way, Rocks says he’s found a sense of camaraderie among his Dance for Parkinson’s classmates and instructors. 

“We share the same problem,” he says. “Everyone understands each other’s situation.” 

He says he’s thankful for his instructors’ knowledge and dedication to the program. 

Both Belt and Denko-Carter have had relatives who were diagnosed with Parkinson’s, which could contribute to the class’s supportive and laid-back atmosphere. Plus, the women simply enjoy leading dancers — their professional dance backgrounds include years of performing and teaching prior to joining this program. 

“It’s such a joy for both of us — dance and music,” Denko-Carter says of leading the classes. “We just want to bring the joy of it to other people, and those people just happen to have Parkinson’s.” 

For more information about the program, visit danceforparkinsons.org. 

Contact Kelsey O’Halloran at 503-636-1281 ext. 101 or kelseyo@pamplinmedia.com.

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