David Leventhal facilitating a workshop        Photo courtesy of People Dancing; photo by Rachel Cherry

The program’s fundamental working principle is that professionally-trained dancers are movement experts whose knowledge about balance, sequencing, rhythm and aesthetic awareness is useful to persons with PD. In class, teaching artists integrate movement from modern, ballet, tap, folk and social dancing, and choreographic repertory to engage participants’ minds and bodies and create an enjoyable, social environment for artistic exploration.

Dance for PD is a non-profit collaboration between the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) and the Brooklyn Parkinson Group (BPG).

"The fundamentals of dancing and dance training—things like balance, movement sequencing, rhythm, spatial and aesthetic awareness, and dynamic coordination—seem to address many of the things people with Parkinson’s want to work on to maintain a sense of confidence and grace in their movements, " says David Leventhal, one of Dance for PD’s founding teachers and its Program Director. "Although participants from all over the world tell us they find elements of the class therapeutic, the primary goal of our program is for people to enjoy dance for dancing’s sake in a group setting—and to explore the range of physical and creative possibilities that are still very much open to them."

Since 2007, more than 1, 100 people from 32 states and 17 countries have participated in Dance for PD® workshops, designed and developed by the MMDG and BPG. Training workshops are designed to enrich, inform and inspire a diverse group of individuals who want to introduce people with Parkinson’s to the joys and benefits of a customized dance experience. During Dance for PD workshops, which last 2-3 days, specially-designed training modules, demo class and interactive sessions provide a wealth of information to experienced dance teachers and other interested trainees. The workshop includes discussion seminars, experiential movement sessions, and a teaching practicum to allow instructors an opportunity to practice new skills and approaches. All workshops include a Dance for PD community class so trainees have the experience of working with and learning from people with Parkinson's right away.

Dance for PD offers regularly-scheduled trainings in Brooklyn, NY, and offers workshops around the world in response to demand. The program continues to evaluate demand in various cities and schedule trainings accordingly. Dance for PD maintains close partnerships with other organizations to sustain training hubs in the San Francisco Bay Area, Leicester, UK, Brisbane and Sydney, Australia, and Maastricht, The Netherlands.

The Dance for PD training program is divided into two courses (tracks) to allow for facilitators and trainees to focus on specific skills that are relevant to their backgrounds and interests.  Each training course has its own objectives and accreditation sequence. Both courses start with a brand new, innovative online learning program co-developed with People Dancing: the foundation for community dance (UK) and the Dance for Parkinson's Network UK.

The Dance Teacher (DT) course provides a progressive, structured and self-paced training course for qualified and experienced dance teachers who are interested in teaching classes closely based on the Dance for PD model developed by the Mark Morris Dance Group/Brooklyn Parkinson Group. The components of this course include the online course, introductory in-person workshop, practice teaching, continuing education including advanced workshops and, for those who are interested, certification as a Dance for PD ® Certified Teacher.

The Educational & Professional Enrichment (EPE) course is designed to provide a comprehensive and intimate look at core components of the Dance for PD program so that a wide variety of individuals without dance training or dance teaching experience can learn about our methods and benefit from our resources. The components of this course include the online course, introductory in-person workshop, continuing education and, for those who are interested, advanced workshops and accreditation as a Dance for PD® Registered Teaching Assistant.

For more information, or to apply for a training course, please click here. For the schedule of upcoming workshops, please click here.​

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Related posts: 

My Dance Week: David Leventhal (Dance for PD Program Director)

Moving Ideas: Multimodality and Embodied Learning in Communities and Schools (David Leventhal wrote a chapter in this book)

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