Yama This
October 20, 2011
Haiku Yoga
November 4, 2011
Yama This
October 20, 2011
Haiku Yoga
November 4, 2011

Shall We Dance

At the Young Onset Parkinson’s Northeast Conference, I did something I hadn’t done in a long time. Years. Decades.

I danced.

After my childhood stroke, with literally half a leg to stand on, I crossed Dancer off my list of possible careers, hobbies and even casual past-times.

But that didn’t keep me off stage in high school. Tall and not-so-graceful, the musical director cast me as an Amazon in “The King & I.” In my role, I stood cross-armed and at attention, guarding the entryway in each scene involving the king. Though I appeared more often than the wives — perhaps more often than Anna — in my role, I spoke no lines and certainly did not dance.

I ventured onto the dance floor in college and at weddings. Two-stepping, waltzing, or lining up to do the Macarena called for so much concentration to get the footing right, to stay remotely balanced that I’m sure a grimace joined me out there. That changed in Rachel Balaban’s “Dance with PD” session at the Conference.

I danced and smiled.

Rachel led us, thirty-some not-so-graceful people with PD, through a series
of flowing, fanciful, fun moves. For the first time, I floated across the floor, not grimacing but laughing. Dance, Rachel said, not only gets us moving, it lets music’s rhythm help us move. And it does it in a community setting, creating connections while also being creative.

If yoga is a meditation in motion, dance is expression in motion.

I marched to show tunes, jigged to an Irish ditty, reached out and let the harmonies, the laughter, the personal expression seep in.

The next time PD makes me feel stiff, masked, on guard like that Amazon role, I shall swing my arms. Laugh. Cry. I shall dance.

Thank you, Rachel. (Thank you, too, Alex.) For more on Rachel, who is the Connecticut Coordinator for the Mark Morris “Dance for PD” program, visit
www.wabisabiway.net

4 Comments

  1. […] to and hearing the stories of participants. I was reminded of it when I came across a blog “Shall We Dance” written by a woman who attended the Young Onset Parkinsons Northeast Conference in […]

  2. Rachel Balaban says:

    Renee–thanks so much for your kind words. I just saw your blog and was very touched by what you said. I put it in the blog that I posted today. Check it out. http://papallorachel.wordpress.com/2012/03/26/a-combination-of-movements/

  3. Rachel Balaban says:

    so nice to read this.

    • Renee says:

      Rachel,
      Thank you! When I left your class, l felt the glow I saw in you when you first entered the room. I wanted to share it, keep the glow going in the blog entry. Blessings.

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