“Participation in one dance class per week for 3 years resulted in halted progression of motor and non-motor symptoms in those with Parkinson’s”
“Dance offers an enjoyable, multidimensional enriched environment … that enhances balance, coordination, flexibility, imagery, imitation, creativity, rhythm, memory and learning—all of which contribute to improvements in motor symptoms”
The research is clear – we must keep dancing!
Research supporting the benefits of Dance for those with Parkinson's:
- Beauty That Moves: Dance for Parkinson’s Effects on Affect, Self-Efficacy, Gait Symmetry, and Dual Task Performance
- Parkinson’s Disease Motor Symptom Progression Slowed with Multisensory Dance Learning over 3-Years: A Preliminary Longitudinal Investigation
- Impact of Weekly Community-Based Dance Training Over 8 Months on Depression and Blood Oxygen Level-Dependent Signals in the Subcallosal Cingulate Gyrus for People With Parkinson Disease: Observational Study
- Neuroplastic Effects of Dance Training in Parkinson’s Disease: Functional and Structural Modulation in Speech-Related Brain Regions
- An investigation of the acute effects of dance on heart rate variability in people with Parkinson’s
In The News
- Halifax dance classes for people with Parkinson's raise strength, spirits (Feature article on Dance to Move)
- Could Dancing Be Key to Slowing Parkinson’s?