My Parkinson Story is a weekly column featuring member of our community, sharing their stories with PD. We are interested in sharing a wide array of experiences, including yours! PD looks different in everyone, and affects everyone differently, including friends and family of those with PD. If you’d like to share your story on our blog, please email us.
Every summer, my family traveled to visit my mother's parents. My grandmother was diagnosed and had been living with Parkinson's Disease before I was born. Her symptoms were both physical and cognitive and fairly advanced from the time I can remember. My grandfather would support her with both arms to walk across the room and I remember times when she had hallucinations. Her ability to communicate with anyone other than my grandfather was fairly nominal. It was a true blessing that my grandfather was such a gentle and loving caregiver. Unfortunately, I don't really feel that I had much of a relationship with my grandmother. I wish I had known her before she developed symptoms. Medications for Parkinson's were in their infancy during my childhood. I do remember the advent of "L-Dopa" and discussions about trying this for my grandmother. I do think it was prescribed. I am not sure how much impact it had.
Fast forward a number of years. I embarked on a career as a professional ballet dancer and following retirement from a performing career, I decided that I wanted to teach dance. My aspirations were to teach highly motivated students who wished to become professionals. Ultimately, I worked with students from age 3 up to and including professional dancers in their 20s & 30s. The type of training I focused on was rigorous with the goal of achieving excellence. Interestingly, I never considered or thought about working with students who had movement disorders or disabilities.
That changed one afternoon when I was presented with the possibility of attending a Dance for PD masterclass and subsequent teacher training program. I thought back to my experiences with my grandmother, as well as another family member who had been diagnosed with PD and decided to see what the Dance for PD program was all about. I was both amazed and intrigued with how detailed the program training was and how "alive" the classes were. The goals of the class were very different from those I had experienced with teaching classical ballet. The Dance for PD program essentially takes the participant on a creative journey, using music and dance to engage the body and mind and spirit. I see symptoms slip away when the members of the class start dancing.
Nancy with Dancing with Parkinson’s students in 2012.
Over the past 10 years, my career path has shifted from the arts to customer service in a privately owned business. My connection with the dance world is now through the Cincinnati Dancing with Parkinson's program, currently in its 10th year. I've learned a lot more about Parkinson's Disease (the enigma I experienced as a child) and I am constantly amazed by the experiences that I have with the dancers who participate in the Dancing with Parkinson's classes. The community and relationships that have been built through the experience of dance have been so important and inspirational to me.