Parkinson’s in the Ballroom

A dance class with a mission

STORY BY JENNY HUBBARD

Dance students are seated in chairs, forming a circle in the large-windowed, daylight lit, ballroom and stretch out their limbs. “As big as you can make yourself,” the teacher says. They continue on to a graceful eight-count combination, accompanied by the class pianist, using only their upper bodies. Rock the baby, cheer, point left, point right. The sign on the door reads: Dance with Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s Disease is “a neurodegenerative brain disorder that progresses slowly in most people,” according to the National Parkinson Foundation. One million people in the United States are currently living with Parkinson’s disease, and 50,000 to 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) rated Parkinson’s as the 14th leading cause of death because of the complications that come along with it.

Gait and balance disturbances are leading causes of disability and dependence on others for people living with Parkinson’s disease, according to a report by The Parkinson Alliance. People with Parkinson’s disease have three times the falls and five times the injuries compared to people of the same age without Parkinson’s disease. Research gathered by The Parkinson Alliance shows many different factors contribute to this impact on balance, such as confidence and self-efficacy, depression, cognitive capability and sleep disturbances.

Pam Kuntz came to Bellingham in 1999 to teach in Western’s Dance Department. She teaches modern dance, ballet, anatomy for dancers, and movement and culture. At 11 a.m. every Thursday in the ballroom of the Bellingham YWCA, Kuntz teaches a dance class for people living with Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders.

The class was created four years ago, a mutual effort between Pam Kuntz and her friend Rick Hermann. Hermann was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1998, after showing symptoms for ten years. He is a poet, former publisher and author of “The Bright World of Dandelion Court” and “Parkinson’s Dreams About Me: My Dance with the Shaking Palsy.”

Kuntz and Hermann first met at Kuntz’ piece called “Stories of Jim and Jo,” a performance about people living with disabilities, specifically Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease. They later ran into each other at a market, where Kuntz asked Hermann to be the lead in a dance piece.

“I listened to the rehearsal schedule, and I said ‘I can’t do this rehearsal schedule, I’m totally unreliable now.’ So instead, we made a video,” Hermann says.

The video featured Hermann expressively dancing with an overlay of narrative, an interview of Hermann, and an original cello score written and performed by Hermann.

“Pam said that when she saw me dancing, she saw my Parkinson’s symptoms go away. That may have been partly true…but my Parkinson’s symptoms don’t really go away when I’m dancing. But what she saw was inspiring to her,” Hermann says.

After the creation of the video, Kuntz and Hermann exchanged emails about starting a dance class for people with Parkinson’s. The class began the following fall.

Hermann secured the space and put up the first posters for the class while Kuntz began her online research of Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis, Kuntz says.

Kuntz then developed the class based on her technique and modern classes taught at Western.

“It’s a modern dance class, it’s not a therapy class. I’m not a physical therapist…I’m not even a movement therapist. I’m a dance teacher,” Kuntz says. “I’ve created a dance class the goal being that people with movement and neurological disorders can do and be successful at.”

It’s a real dance class where Kuntz isn’t teaching people with disabilities, but teaching people who want to have fun learning to dance, Hermann says.

The class is held in nine to 10-week sessions, matching up with the quarters at Western. Kuntz guesses the majority of her students are over 50 years old. The class is accompanied by live music. Currently, a man who plays both the piano and the drums accompanies the class.

Over the four years she has taught the class, the structure has remained the same. The class begins seated in chairs where Kuntz leads the class in warming up, then the class learns a combination they later do standing up. Kuntz also incorporates a period of “free flowing, make up your own movements period,” Hermann’s favorite part of the class. While standing, the class works on a continuing combination, which Kuntz adds a little to every class.

In between all movement studies Kuntz and her students dialogue about what was hard, what felt good, and what could be altered to work better.

“What I learned about people with neurological disorders and what their challenges might be, that helped me decide what to offer in class and what not to,” Kuntz says. “Every class period I learn something new, about what’s working and what’s not.”

But above all the online research, Kuntz says she learns the most about neurological disorders from consulting with the people who take her class.

The class does movement studies and combinations that are typical in any dance class to improve a dancers balance, Kuntz says. She incorporates ballet movements into her class: pliés, tendus, piqués and rond de jambes. In all movements she has the class focus on “engaging our center,” which is the term she uses as using one’s core. Kuntz also has the class do visualizations of how energy can flow into the body so the body can be balanced the way it is meant to be, she says.

Dance student, Christine Engelhardt finds movements done in class carries over into life outside of class as well. Engelhardt was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in August of 2005, with symptoms going back to at least 1995. She is part of the core group who has attended the class since its first session.

“I find that I think about this class at home. Like when [Kuntz] says, ‘Move like you’re taking off your shirt,’ I’ll think about that at home because if I turn it into a dance thing instead of thinking, ‘I need to take this darn shirt off that’s sticking at my elbow,’ then that really helps,” Engelhardt says.

Engelhardt is a gardener, a grandmother and an avid volunteer in the Anacortes community. She teaches a class for people with Parkinson’s disease, helps with a local support group, and is a research advocate for Parkinson Foundation.

The class challenges your balance, Hermann and Engelhardt agree.

“And when you challenge your balance, you learn to deal with your balance,” Engelhardt says.

Kuntz uses her knowledge of the Alexander Technique, a technique involving thinking, sensing and acting. The technique helps students notice their patterns and habits of physical use, Kuntz says. She teaches her students to make different choices in order to use their selves better, and therefore have better balance.

“Most people were born with the facility- the skeleton- to be stacked, poised and balanced quite elegantly. But there are a lot of things about our culture that pulls that down,” Kuntz says.

Kuntz addresses her students on how to undo those habits and patterns people create in themselves in order for the skeleton to be stacked the way it was meant to be.

“But with all that said, what happens with Parkinson’s disease is people slowly lose the ability to move and they aren’t able to make the choices that you and I are able to make,” Kuntz says. “So there’s only so much of that kind of work that I do, cause that’s not fair.”

The most challenging part of teaching the class for Kuntz is making sure the material is challenging, but not so much that everyone in the room cannot be successful at it and enjoy class. Creating material that does not allow people to have success is frustrating as a teacher, Kuntz says.

“It must be hard teaching the same thing over and over again, because we don’t really progress. I mean we do a little bit, but most people are probably just trying to hold there own and not go backwards,” Hermann says.

As an outsider looking in, Kuntz says the top benefit of the class to her students is the community of friends the class has created. It is a room full of people who understand and face the same challenges daily. People in the class say that it is a welcoming and a positive experience for them, Kuntz says.

“I feel better when I come to class. The class is fun, it’s a chance to meet other people, and there’s no pressure,” Engelhardt says.

But for Kuntz, the top benefit is the inspiration she gets from her students. They inspire her to “show up to life” and have taught her more than she has taught them, Kuntz says.

“If you have Parkinson’s disease and do nothing…you basically just die,” says Hermann. “Without the will to do something to actively confront it you don’t have very good chances. So I think everyone who shows up for class are really up for the battle.”

Thursday mornings in the ballroom offer an opportunity for students to explore body movements, learn to dance, enjoy themselves and improve their balance. But most importantly, the class is a chance to get out of the house and be surrounded by a positive group of people who are dancing through similar life struggles and joys.