Photo: Amber Star Merkens

David Leventhal is the Program Director for Dance for PD® through the Mark Morris Dance Group. He was a long-time member of the Mark Morris Dance Group, and is married to Lauren Grant, who continues to dance with the company. (See Lauren's profile here.)

David tracked his schedule for a week and shares it here. Answering the following questions, David responded:

What do you enjoy most about your schedule these days?

I love the variety of projects I'm involved with and the variety of skills I need to draw on (or learn anew) in order to move those projects forward. I never feel like I'm in a rut. I also like the frequent switch from administration to teaching and back again–each realm informs the other.

What about time for yourself to dance, exercise, sit and read?

I don't have much of that in my life right now. I'm sure it will return when Zev is older and the Dance for PD program matures. I try to let my transportation (biking or walking to work) be my exercise at the moment. I would love to get back into taking dance class, but at the moment, I just don't have time.

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Photo: Rosalie O'Connor

Monday, January 12

6:30 am wake up, transfer our 3 year old son from his bed into ours.

7:00 wake, eat quickly, walk to Park Slope Food Coop to work monthly shift. This helps us keep our food costs down and eat healthily.

8-10:30 check member IDs at coop.

10:30 head to Mark Morris Dance Center

11:00 phone meeting about including information about Dance for PD as part of an international performing organization's marketing campaign in return for letting DfPD students know about the show.

11:30-1:30 Monday email marathon (approx 432 in inbox). We support a network of more than 100 classes in 12 countries around the world. I'm constantly getting emails with questions, updates, crises, and challenges from around the network (usually class enrollment and funding). I try to respond personally but it can be overwhelming. We also offer 14 classes a month around New York. I have an amazing program coordinator, Maria Kelly, who primarily focuses on local class logistics. I also work closely with Mark Morris Dance Group's Outreach Director Eva Nichols, who provides a voice of reason on all matters and acts as a supportive and knowledgeable sounding board. We have a number of concurrent initiatives and collaborative projects that take  significant amounts of time and create lots of emails, since  many of  the partners are elsewhere (Australia, Toronto, London): an online training platform for teachers, a Google Glass App we're developing with SS+K, a live streaming project with Canada's National Ballet School , in addition to our ongoing efforts to  foster the growth and sustainability of the program around the world. We're also producing our third At Home DVD and it's about to go into production, so we're dealing with last-minute issues on that. Two hours of email barely scratches the surface.

1:30 take subway to The Juilliard School to co-teach the bi-weekly Dance for PD class there.

2:30-3:45 teach class

4-5:30 have an exploratory meeting with the CEO of a startup working to develop an app for Parkinson's management–just a getting to know you, here's what we do, how do we work together kind of meeting

5:30 head home, cook dinner for family

9:30 tuck Zev, our son, into bed

10-12 take another crack at email

12:30 bed

Tuesday, January 13

6:15 am wake up, transfer our 3 year old son from his bed into ours.

8:00 make breakfast for family. Tuesdays, I take care of Zev and clock in a half day of work from home.

9-10:30  focused toy train session with Zev.

10:30 travel to Mark Morris Dance Center to attend parent-toddler class with Zev 11:15-12

12:00 head upstairs so Zev can see his mom, my wife Lauren, who still dances for Mark's company.

12:30 home for lunch

2:00- 4: 30 Zev naps. I do marathon email session in preparation for two upcoming training workshops in Toronto and Perth (I'm only personally going to Toronto) and get cracking on planning an event at Stanford in April around the screening of Capturing Grace, a documentary about the Dance for PD program.

4:30  Zev wakes. Time for a snack followed by books on the couch and an active response to the request to "play trains, Daddy."

5:59 Lauren comes home.

6:10 I leave for the Mark Morris Dance Center by bike. It's cold but it's the fastest way.

6:25 arrive and think about a few exercises I'd like to do today. I'll wing the rest.

6:30 teach my advanced adult modern dance class.

8:00 dash upstairs for conference call with Phoenix Dance for PD teachers and coordinator to discuss upcoming March workshop. We'd like a few more people to enroll so we discuss  doing one more promotional push.

9:00 head home, say goodnight to Zev.

9:30 eat dinner.

10-11 watch Parenthood with Lauren.

11-2 computer work, website updates. Spend  a while figuring out the best and cheapest way to get our  printed workshop materials to Toronto; decide to print them in Toronto and have them delivered but the Fedex office branch calls to say they have no internet and can't promise they'll be able to run the order. I start the process again at another branch. It's now 2 am.

2:15 bed

Wednesday, January 14

6:30 am wake up, transfer our 3 year old son from his bed into ours.

8:00 cook breakfast, make Zev's lunch.

9:00 take Zev to preschool (5 minute walk from our apartment)

9:45 arrive at Mark Morris Dance Center. Plan class.

10-12 teach advanced adult ballet class

12 :15 -1:00 dash to Penn Station

1:00 take Amtrak to Boston. I love trains and Amtrak is good for working if the internet is  functioning. It's in and out today. I try to exercise patience and work on PowerPoint slides for my presentation at 7. Unfortunately, because of my travels, I have to miss our regular Dance for PD class in Brooklyn–and the rehearsal for an upcoming performance project, which I usually oversee.

5:30 arrive at South Station, head to Kendall Square. Must get tea–it's cold and my voice feels fatigued from Tuesday night/Wednesday teaching.

7:00 present as part of a dance, science, health panel at Le Laboratoire Cambridge, a new venue near MIT with a Harvard founder that brings together innovative thinkers in art, science, engineering and design. It's packed, and I always like sharing information about Dance for PD with a smart and engaged audience.

9:00 dinner with my parents who live in Cambridge

11:30 bed time–early morning tomorrow

Thursday, January 15

4:45 wake up

5:15 catch bus to Harvard Square and then Red Line to South Station

6:10 Amtrak to New York. Work on slides for my presentation at noon

10:30 cab to Weill-Cornell Medical Center, Upper East Side

11 meet organizer and co-presenters for our Grand Rounds in Gerontology session that will explore Dance for PD as a model for integrating community-based artistic programming into the lives of people with chronic diseases of aging.

12- 2 presentation and lunch

2:00 post-mortem and walk with Pam Quinn,  a co-presenter who teaches a movement lab for the Brooklyn Parkinson Group. She's also acting as a consultant for the Google Glass project we're working on. I update her on the project–which is experiencing some technical issues at the moment.

3:30 arrive home to relieve babysitter.

6:00 make dinner, eat together as a family (first time since Monday). Usual bedtime routine. It's my turn to do bath, books and tuck in.

9:30 back to the email. I haven't made much of a dent this week but I feel as if I've been working non-stop. I really wish I could take a dance class tomorrow.

12:30 bedtime

Friday, January 16

5:00 am wake up, transfer our 3 year old son from his bed into ours. Not sure why it is so early today.

7:30 make breakfast

9:00 bring Zev to school. Today is show and share, letter D. The wooden carved duck on my desk will do just fine. It's a word Zev says well and it's not a dinosaur (which I figure is what other boys will bring)

9:30 head to Upper East Side to teach Dance for PD at Ballet Academy East. We offer the class in six locations around New York City; BAE is the newest, and we have a relatively new teacher there who I am mentoring. Eventually, I won't be going as frequently since Fridays need to be a significant desk day for me and when I go to BAE, I don't get back in the office until 1:30 or 2.

1:45 walk into Mark Morris Dance Center and start dealing with emails. Catch the tail end of my intern's shift, check in with her. Work on final details for Toronto workshop on Sunday among other things.

5:00 planning call with Julia Langely at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center who is organizing the Dancer Roundtable in February at which I'm the lead presenter. We discuss the schedule and content.

5:30 head out to pick up Zev at preschool. One of the favorite parts of my day is hearing "Daddy" when I walk into the room.

7:30 dinner, etc

10-12:30 a bit of work

1:00 bed

Saturday, January 18

7:00 am wake up, Zev wants Dora the Explorer right away. I comply and make breakfast–waffles today since I will be away for a few days and this will mean Lauren has a quick source of breakfast in my absence.

9:30 head to work. My first and last day of uninterrupted desk work since the New Year began and until the following Saturday. Lots of phone calls to catch up on today, as well as the email mountain. 

6:00 head home. Dinner and relaxing time with family. No email tonight!

Sunday, January 19

7:00 wake and start packing

8:00 head to Newark airport to fly to Toronto to lead Dance for PD training workshop

10:30 find out flight is cancelled. Try to get on next flight but there are no seats. The next flight I can get on arrives at 3:00. Unfortunately the workshop starts at 2:00. Text Sarah Robichaud, one of our very first trainees and a wonderful teacher who runs Dancing with Parkinson's in Toronto. Sarah was supposed to co-facilitate with me but she didn't expect she'd have to lead things without me. David: Are you comfortable starting things off? Sarah: Yes, I'm good to go. David: Thank you, Sarah.

3:10 Land at Billy Bishop Airport which is right downtown– like if La Guardia were  on Roosevelt Island. Cab to Canada's National Ballet School. Walk in at 3:50–everyone (40 people) is about to take a break. Introduce myself and apologize. Take over after break.

6:00 reception/meet and greet at NBS. Everyone is very understanding about my  travel woes.

8:00 Toronto subway back to hotel (I don't take cabs unless it's an emergency). Walk to my favorite Thai restaurant, Khao San Road to sit at bar, eat really spicy and delicious food and read a book I haven't touched in weeks.

11 bedtime. Can't keep my eyes open. The workshop continues tomorrow and Tuesday. Zev would love this hotel–it's right above the train tracks and big green trains snake by all night. Fortunately, I can't hear one clickety clack. I'm out.

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David Leventhal

Program Director, Dance for PD®

Mark Morris Dance Group | 3 Lafayette Ave. | Brooklyn, NY 11217

office: 718.624.8400 x 240 | Dance for PD® toll-free line: 1.800.957.1046

david@danceforpd.org

Dance for PD® website | MMDG website

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