Beginnings
Joanne Duff, Ballet and allied dance forms
We all know that in a moment one single thing can happen that sets us on a new course.
In my case, it was a phone call. In autumn 2008, my old friend Assis
rang, telling me of an open workshop the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG)
was leading in London for dance for people with Parkinson's Disease
(PD). She knew I wished to develop my experience of education practice
that had mostly taken place in classical ballet schools and companies.
At
this daylong event I learned the fundamental premise upon which the
MMDG work is built: ".professionally-trained dancers are movement
experts whose knowledge is useful to persons with PD." (1)
The
dancers led an inspiring workshop demonstrating the MMDG approach. They
ensure each class is an aesthetic experience, integrating mind, body and
emotion, whilst addressing the specific symptoms of Parkinson's. These
include rigidity, impaired balance, loss of coordination, problems
initiating movement as well as depression, anxiety and social isolation.
One
message was clear. Although the class is specifically designed for
people with Parkinson's, with a real understanding of their particular
needs, Parkinson's disease is never mentioned during the session.
Instead, imagery, flow, grace, concentration, and fun are the focus.
Participants are encouraged to dance - to explore joy and expression in
movement. This way, people are NOT working from limitations or labels
arising from a progressive neurological disorder. Instead they are being
challenged like dancers in any studio - guided to find the path and
process to reach their full potential. These underlying values are part
of my own work and inherent in the other classes I have seen in the UK.
For
me, this was the workshop where everything clicked. I could see how
skills and strategies that dancers use to make conscious decisions about
movement could be useful to people with Parkinson's. I made another
phone call to Anna Gillespie that really got me on the road to teaching
dance to people with Parkinson's in London.
In 2007 Anna had a
chance meeting with Dr Marion North CBE when they realised their mutual
interest in this work. Together with Marina Benini they started a class
in Kentish Town, developing work based on the understanding that dance
is valuable to people with Parkinson's because it touches each
individual's natural rhythm and movement style. Parkinson's is an
individual condition with individual needs and dance gives a greater
awareness to each person's unique expressive movement capacities. (Anna
discusses the role of music below).
I brought my own ballet
background to this group which we call Musical Moving, Dance for people
with Parkinson's. We work together now to bring an expressive and
enjoyable dance experience to people in London. Dr North lends valuable
support as a movement consultant.
Musical Moving in London
In
three years our work has grown, with weekly groups in Kentish Town and
Wimbledon. We have taught sessions in five other London locations. We
work with the education departments of Richard Alston Dance Company at
The Place and English National Ballet.
Assis' phone call
introduced me to a field of work that brought together my professional
and personal life. My mom had lived with Parkinson's for over 20 years.
Although familiar with the symptoms, it took me a long time to make the
connection with dance. But at every Musical Moving class I see clearly
how people enjoy moving together to music. Best of all we continue
developing our work with the support of generous individuals and
organisations, including the MMDG in New York and the growing network of
professionals throughout the UK.
contact joanne.duff@blueyonder.co.uk
Reflections of a dance accompanist
Anna Gillespie, musician
Young
or old, professional or otherwise, music can profoundly affect the
experience of moving and, as an accompanist, it is a joy to feel part of
this. The sounds and silences that comprise music only become
meaningful when an active mind is attending to them and this applies to
both dancer and accompanist.
It is through this shared,
reciprocal and yet personal experience that my musical meeting with
dancers occurs. A class never sounds exactly the same because we are all
constantly responding to each other. This is particularly useful in a
Parkinson's dance class. I'm free to 'personalise' moments in the music,
following and/or encouraging the movement of a particular dancer. I can
change tempo and quality at will, shifting the 'sense of motion', or
try to oblige requests. The presence of a musician always helps the
dancer to be musically involved. Mo Morgan, from Dance for Parkinson's
in Edinburgh, particularly values working with musician Barney Strachan
who brings an immediacy and musical responsibility to the class,
allowing her to focus on other movement issues.
Music in a dance class
Mel
Brierley, from Cumbria Parkinson's Dance Collective, sums up the
breadth of potential that both live and recorded music offers: "Music
acts as a support to the imagination, bridging the internal and
external, liberating expression for the outside world to share, as a
reminder for the body to join in again with the action as a means of
becoming present and conscious in the moment of moving."
Musical
imagination works on many levels in a dance class. Music can
contextualise movement, for example a Viennese waltz or Balkan Gypsy
music. This is fun to play with, immediately conjuring up particular
movement dynamics and allowing the dancers to embody new movement
personas. Or, music can be less prescriptive, facilitating personal
feeling within which the movement is experienced.
The structure
of music is often described in terms of movement imagery: melodies 'rise
and fall', rhythmic patterns 'push forward' and notes become
'suspended'. These musical sensations can become fused with movement to
wonderful effect; an arm 'floats upward or drops down'; a dancer 'pushes
forward' or a gesture becomes 'suspended' in time and space and all
these dancing experiences are open to all.
Parkinson's can affect
a person's perception of timing. A clear musical pulse organises time
in a usefully predictable way and a sense of continuity encourages
dancers to experience an ongoing flow of movement. 'Time-keepers' such
as pulse, musical beats and rhythms also help us to come together
through shared experience, thus reinforcing kinetic empathy through
rhythmic clarity.
Memory and expectation also affect how we
attend to music. Familiar tunes can remind a dancer with Parkinson's of
past movement experience sometimes to such affect that they become freed
from some of their present physical constraints.
Scientific research suggests that the brain activity essential to musical experience can affect how movement is initiated (2,3).
I
have noticed that dancers who are clearly involved with the music often
find enhanced ease in accessing movement. This has led me to search for
more ways to encourage dancers to develop as deep a connection with
music as possible. One of these is the introduction of vocal work to our
dance classes. Simple vocal exercises are great for warming up the
body, finding breath as a support for movement, and are essentially
expressive and fun. Embodying a rhythm or melodic phrase by singing has a
very positive impact on movement, which is then performed to the same
or similar rhythm played on the piano. To learn more, I have joined
'Sing for Joy' a wonderful choir for people with Parkinson's and other
neurological conditions, their friends and carers.
Whilst
Parkinson's results in numerous progressive vocal and movement
impairments, the ability to comprehend and respond to music seems
comparatively little affected. I have been astonished by some of our
dancers struggling to class and then dancing with ease, grace, and
expression. I would advise anyone with Parkinson's to 'musicalise' their
life as much as possible.
contact abgillespie@googlemail.com
Our network
Amanda Fogg, community dance practitioner
Everyone in our developing network has their story to tell, of how we came to this work, and why it is special and compelling.
Some
dance practitioners have been doing this work for several years, but
the catalyst for our network was Toby Beazley, Executive Director of
Dance Umbrella. Motivated by his belief in the value of the Dance for
Parkinson's Programme developed by dancers from the Mark Morris Dance
Group (MMDG) for the Brooklyn Parkinson Group, Toby set up a day of
Dance for Parkinson's with MMDG dancers David Leventhal and John
Heginbotham in the autumn of 2008, which Joanne discusses previously.
From this beginning, further events were arranged to coincide with
subsequent MMDG tours in the UK over the next few years.
We come
from a range of dance and health backgrounds and our approaches are
diverse and informed by different life experiences. We include dancers
and teachers from traditional dance backgrounds, community dance
practitioners, dance therapists, Argentine Tango and Latin specialists
(including a doctor), a dance therapist whose practice and research
dates back to the 1980s and our colleague Dr Sara Houston, whose recent
research study is detailed in this edition of Animated. One of our
community dance leaders is a neurophysiotherapist, whose colleague's
approach is somatic. We have musician colleagues sharing invaluable
insights, and dance practitioners whose use of pre-recorded music
contributes to the conversation about how we can make the complete
experience as rich as possible.
A key factor in deciding we were
ready to form a UK wide network was our involvement in co-teaching
workshops, alongside presentations by Olie Westheimer, Director of
Brooklyn Parkinson Group at the 2nd World Parkinson's Congress in
Glasgow, in September 2010. During this week we set the date for our
inaugural UK network meeting.
This took place on 1 April, again
supported and facilitated by Toby Beazley. Much of the day consisted of a
practical 'show and tell' session, sharing thoughts and experiences
across different disciplines. This was richly stimulating and fun,
generously open and free-flowing. We found the day energising and
inspiring, leaving with a toolbox of new ideas and a strong sense of
connected common purpose.
Our day was also attended by people new to our network, and now part of our UK wide database (see website details below).
We
are also indebted to Ken Bartlett and the Foundation for Community
Dance for their support of our work. We embrace the exciting momentum
our network is experiencing, and focus firmly upon enhancing the
experience of our class participants, supporting each other, and
maximising the scope of the work.
David Leventhal, writes generously about our network and gives us much to live up to:
"It's
been a great pleasure working with the talented, innovative teachers
who are part of a growing network of dance professionals dedicated to
sharing knowledge and skills with the Parkinson's population. I've
visited Parkinson's classes in Greater London, Weymouth, Kendal and
Edinburgh over the past few years. It's been inspiring to see the
wonderful work our UK colleagues are doing and rewarding to see these
teachers coalesce into a unified team. In many ways this process serves
as a model for the development of a closer-knit network of Dance for
Parkinson's teachers here in the USA."
contact amandafogg@btopenworld.com
Should you wish to become part of this network or make links to Parkinson's groups across the UK visit
Dance and people with Parkinson's in the Health and Wellbeing area of this website.
References
(1) Dance for PD® Program Leaflet, Mark Morris Dance Group, Brooklyn Parkinson Group
(2) Brown S, Martinez M J, Parsons L M. The Neural Basis of Human Dance. Cerebral Cortex 2006;16:1157-1167
(3)
Chuma T, Faruque Reza M, Ikoma K, Mano Y. Motor learning of hands with
auditory cue in patients with Parkinson's disease. J Neural Transm
2006;113:175-185.