A national dance group was in Blacksburg recently, and before their main performance at the Moss Arts Center they made a stop at a retirement community to teach dance to people with Parkinson’s Disease.
Inside the Warm Hearth retirement village, 30 people are seated in chairs, and moving, as the dance instructor, Courtney Lopes, guides them to move their arms. Lopes and another dancer mirror the movement, creating waves in the air as Burt Bacharach music plays from a small speaker.
“Yeah, beautiful!” Lopes cheers them on.
One woman, who formerly taught dance to children, smiles as she moves in her wheelchair.
In another dance, Lopes guides those who are mobile to walk around the room, and sway to the rhythm. She leads participants in some of the same moves she performs on stage for a professional dance troop.
“Just watching people who honestly are mostly told that they’re not capable of doing a lot of physical activity. Watching them dance with me… is probably the most rewarding thing to witness,” Lopes says after class. The Mark Morris Dance for PD program is taught all over the world, and is based in New York City. Several dancers from the troop, like Lope, also teach these workshops to people with Parkinson’s disease, and their caretakers.
Research has shown that exercise and movement can help slow down the progression of Parkinson’s Disease – improving mobility, balance and mood.
Most of the participants in this Blacksburg class regularly attend another physical activity, a boxing class that meets here at Warm Hearth Village.
Mike Kelly, who has Parkinson’s, was in the dance class, along with his wife, and says activities like this help him feel less isolated.
“I enjoyed the movement. Enjoyed doing it with other people. It’s nice to have friends that you can share things with.”
During one song, Lopes urges the dancers to reach their arms out into the air. One couple reaches out their arms together, and gives each other a small kiss on their hands.
