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Free on-line, bilingual activity

IMAGINE ART IN MOTION 

5 Fridays

November 12 – December 10, from 10h30 am to 12 pm (90 minutes)

• Use the discovery of works and artists of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts to promote your artistic creativity
• Express yourself and connect with others through dance, music and your art creations
• You will be accompanied by a dance therapist and an arts educator

It is with immense sadness and great respect for all she has offered and represented that we post the obituary on Carmen Fortin Martel. Carmen was part of our Parkinson en mouvement classes for years and she continued to contribute to the community. We send our condolences to her family, her friends and the entire PD community.

Parkinson en Mouvement wishes to congratulate McGill and Concordia Students for Parkinson’s Awareness on the success of their first joint symposium, held virtually on March18th. Several of our members attended; the following are some of their comments:

“I enjoyed the range of topics and perspectives covered, from the very personal testimonial by a professional nurse living with Parkinson’s disease (PD) to the scientific research on dyskinesia, gait freezing, and dance therapy.”

“In particular, I was glad to see a session on the benefits of dance for those of us with PD: my regular Parkinson en Mouvement (PEM) classes have made a huge positive difference to me and I am happy to see that message being shared.”

“What impressed me most was the large number of medications that are being tested to decrease dyskinesia. The explanation of why dyskinesia increases over time was also very interesting.”

“Throughout her presentation she would go back to what was her main theme: “I am a Nurse, I am a Nurse with Parkinson’s … I have PD and I’m a Nurse with PD”. She spoke from her heart and I was totally drawn into every word and felt she was talking to us personally. Look in a mirror! We are who we always were, but now there is an added dimension.”

“It was satisfying to see the benefits of dance quantified. I know from personal experience (PEM’s classes) that dance movements not only alleviate symptoms of PD but can also improve one’s instinctive posture and movement; however, as a scientist, I was glad to see these benefits expressed in numbers, rather than variations of ‘I feel better’.”

We hope that this symposium was indeed the first of many that will follow. We applaud the students for their collaboration and initiative. 

We are proud to announce the publication of the results of a research project in the Journal of Physical and Occupational Therapy in Geriatrics. Several of our teachers have collaborated on this project. The study examined the Effects of Improvisational Dance Movement Therapy on Balance and Cognition in Parkinson’s Disease. The study concludes that dance movement therapy with an emphasis on improvisational dance resulted in functional gains in balance and cognition for people with Parkinson’s disease and merits further exploration.