Word Parkinson's Day
Dance for Parkinson's
The National Dance Company participates in the program "Dance for Parkinson's", organized by the Association of Dance Professionals of Madrid to celebrate World Parkinson's Day.
On the occasion of the celebration of World Parkinson’s Day, the Association of Dance Professionals of the Community of Madrid has celebrated its program “Dance for Parkinson’s” in collaboration with the National Dance Company with a meeting held on March 30.
The attendees had the opportunity to dance with the artistic director of the CND, Joaquín De Luz, with the dancers Tamara Juárez and María Muñoz and with the master James Parren Ballard, and also counted with the presence of the President of the Board of Directors of the APDCM, César Casares.
The meeting aimed to highlight the importance of dancing beyond entertainment: dance and the professionals who make it possible are a source of social and individual well-being for people with Parkinson’s disease. In this sense, the National Dance Company was not alone in its task, since the National Ballet of Spain also participated in the program.
“Dance for Parkinson’s” starts from a simple but brilliant idea: if dancers are experts in movement, balance, coordination, learning to think like a dancer has to be beneficial for a person with Parkinson’s.
As its organizers explain, ‘Dance for Parkinson’s is not a therapy, but a form of community dance’. Because dancing concentrates mind, body and feeling in movement, people with Parkinson’s explore through dance their relationship with their body, with space, with their friends and caregivers. In addition, the attendance of family members who come to the sessions, in a different environment from that of caregiving, helps to improve the quality of life of both the caregiver and the person being cared for.
“Dance for Parkinson’s” is part of Dance for PD, an initiative created by Mark Morris Dance Group and the Brooklyn Parkinson’s Group more than 20 years ago and which today is present in more than 300 communities around the world.
In Madrid, the program is promoted by the Association of Dance Professionals of the Community of Madrid. APARKAM, the Móstoles Parkinson’s Association, and the Aranjuez Parkinson’s Association TARAY are also part of the program.
