Danace for PD on NBC Nightly News
 

Chelsea Clinton, NBC special reporter, is doing a story on Dance for PD on the "Making a Difference" segment of Nightly News with Brian Williams. I'm not sure when it will be broadcast. It appears it was to air yesterday or today and has been rescheduled. It can always be watched on the Nightly News website after it has aired.

I attend a weekly Dance for PD class and it has helped me in so may ways.

Anyway, even if dance does not interest you, the national exposure about PD is wonderful!

Jill

Anybody got the hacking skills to rip it, YouTube it, and post it here?
(I can't do it because I don't get American channels)
(What ever happened to Richard Nixon?)
They won't hassle you over copyright - not when Chelsea Clinton is involved - because it would look bad if they did.

A blast from the past:

Olie Westheimer said “They need to dance”

It was Olie Westheimer from the Brooklyn Parkinson’s group who kidnapped the Mark Morris Dancers and launched the Parkie dance craze and spread it across North America. Few have done as much as Olie in changing the meaning of living with Parkinson’s.
http://parkinsonsdance.blogspot.com/...chapter-2.html

How Jimi Hendrix defeated the sabre-tooth tigers:
http://parkinsonsdance.blogspot.com/...hapter-6a.html

And she sat down at the piano and she played:
Dancers talk about neurology more than neurologists talk about dancing. The neurologists are imbalanced.
http://parkinsonsdance.blogspot.com/...chapter-9.html

In 2006, I was completely unaware of this forum, completely naïve about neurology, and completely unaware that anyone other than myself was using dance as an anti-PD weapon….
Then two things happened:
---a best-selling book said “…Many mental illnesses are now known to undermine the ability to dance or perform rhythmically – schizophrenia and Parkinson’s, to name just two…”
---I discovered a video of a Parkie dancing in his own living room. It was by some sort of Do-It-Yourself citizen scientist, who went by the name “Reverett123”. I googled and found Rick on this forum.
http://parkinsonsdance.blogspot.com/

Pharma pill-poppers –vs- tree-hugging dancers?
 

Are there two mutually hostile groups of Parkies: science and pharmaceuticals on one side; dancing and diet and bicycles and t’ai chi and meditation on the other side? Sham surgery for clinical trials –vs- witchcraft? Chemical pills –vs- pure spirit? Rationality –vs- romantic myth? Objective –vs- subjective?
With both sides rebuking the other? East is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet?

….it only appears that way, it even appears that way sometimes on this forum – but science is an art and art is a science. Getting the two together makes a difference. Here are some scientific observations of Parkies dancing: - (the links are to peer-reviewed medical studies, from 6 or 7 years ago; almost completely ignored)

It takes two to Tango
From Argentina, with love
http://parkinsonsdance.blogspot.com/...hapter-13.html
What is the craziest thing we could do?
What could we announce that would make people say "That is a stupid idea"?
Let's take people with Parkinson's movement disorders, and teach them to dance the Tango ! … asking them to perform the most complex dance moves, forwards and backwards, in harmony with another dancer.
“We recruited 19 subjects with PD and 19 age and gender-matched controls. All subjects were at least 55 years old… taught them the Tango for 13 weeks. Postural stretches, balance exercises, tango-style walking, embellishment footwork games, rhythmical experimentation, both with and without a partner…
They worked on the basic Argentine tango principles, such as partnership, timing, footwork, and movement quality….. focus was on the shape of the movement, transition and partnership skills, and less on dancing to a prescribed, instructor-dictated beat.

"Although all groups showed gains in various measures, only the Parkinson’s tango group improved on all measures of balance, falls, and gait..."
"…Many people reported to the instructors and principle investigators their disbelief that people with Parkinson’s could dance, but this experience showed that not only could they dance, they could learn and improve their dancing abilities similar to non-neurologically challenged individuals and some, more so than the healthy elderly.

Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis
Dancers and Neurologists get together
“…volunteers danced inside the $4 million machine, as it detected the movements of information inside their brains. Showing that the brain, when dancing, is using circuits that are not the same as the ones that are damaged in Parkinson's patients.”
http://parkinsonsdance.blogspot.com/...hapter-11.html

A major evolutionary benefit
THREE SECONDS WATCHING THE DANCE, AND YOUR BRAIN LIGHTS UP
http://parkinsonsdance.blogspot.com/...hapter-12.html
Our results show that this ‘mirror system’ integrates observed actions of others with an individual’s personal motor repertoire, and suggest that the human brain understands actions by motor simulation.
…. . Experts in classical ballet, experts in capoeira and inexpert control subjects viewed videos of ballet or capoeira actions. Comparing the brain activity when dancers watched their own dance style versus the other style therefore reveals the influence of motor expertise on action observation.
…muscles have memory…

https://www.facebook.com/chelseaclinton

From her Facebook page:

Change in schedule: My story on Dance for PD will air on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams soon. I will share date/time details when I have them!

I will attempt to follow her and tape/youtube the story, although I think it will be posted here:

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3032619/

Yes, Yes, Yes...muscles have memory and I have been retraining mine now since 2003 ...I can do things I could never do as a young person after my foot drag started in the summer after 7th grade. My foot only gives me trouble now if I am very low on l-dopa, but usually my neck and shoulders will begin to hurt first or my eyes stare and hurt (so I take fava tincture right away and don't get to the foot drag part) I sat too long in one possition playing lap dulcimer at a jam and my right leg started letting me know it was time for tincture..sure enough, walking was difficult when I got up...but there was lots of furniture to hold onto til I got to my coat for tincture. God is Good.

Dancing Doctor
 

I am blessed to have a MDS who believes not only in traditional drugs for PD but also alternative therapies.

She gave a talk recently on dance and brain connectionss at a Dance for PD Master Class at a local universiy. She shared personal stories about her own experience Tango dancing and one about her son. He is a pre med student minoring in dance. So many people told her that was an odd combination for a college student. She did not think so, believing that medicine and the arts were are perfect match.

Attending this Dance for PD Master Class were nursing and medical students. The husbster and I had a wonderful day dancing with these future open-minded healthcare professionals!

salsa anyone
 

Morey (instructor on this video) claims that pders can learn salsa easier than some....I got this video but solitary dancing is easier for me to do to inspirational music - some music has a very specific rythym reflecting the mathematical concept of the golden mean such as "Thriller" by Michael Jackson-- oh to dance like him..........sigh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwDAnG__Jgg

living remotely has its advantages......and disadvantages