Just the right moves

Dance aids those with Parkinson's

Johnny Diaz

WALTHAM - "Wiggle your fingers at the ceiling," Naomi Goodman told her dance students as she stretched her arms skyward. "Shake your body loose like a wet noodle. Take off that shirt, and stretch that spine. Extend your arms like beautiful wings."
The dancers followed her every move, though it didn't come fast or easy at first. These students live with tremors in their arms, weakness in their legs, and lack of muscle control in their everyday lives. But for two hours every Monday they groove to the blues, shimmy to jazz, and glide to the tango at the Jewish Family & Children's Service center. Here, they temporarily forget they are Parkinson's patients as they tap into their inner dancers.

They are pioneers in an unconventional but promising approach to helping people with Parkinson's, a progressive degenerative disease. Goodman, a dance and yoga instructor, incorporates movements from those disciplines to help people with Parkinson's improve their coordination and flexibility as their disease gradually robs them of both.
The students say the class, one of two in the Bay State, eases their symptoms and gives them a sense of control over a disease that often renders them powerless over their own bodies. The combination of music and dance instills a certain grace to their movements and makes them feel good. It is a way to take on this relentless disease.
The class serves another function: It provides a social outlet for Parkinson's patients, who often isolate themselves because they feel self-conscious about their disease.

"Parkinson's stiffens you up and makes you fearful of doing very much," said Rosamond Rosenmeier, 80, who has been dancing in these classes since they began last summer. In 1998, when she complained to her doctor of a persistent trembling in her left hand, he diagnosed her with Parkinson's. The disease has weakened her balance; she finds walking difficult. Her speech often fades in mid-sentence, another symptom. The class has changed her attitude, though. "I feel stretched and happy," she said. "It's fun. It's a good group of people to be with. I don't usually gather with a group of Parkinsonians."

There's no cure for Parkinson's, which afflicts more than 1.5 million Americans. Patients take a daily mix of pills to slow the progress of the disease, which occurs when brain cells that produce dopamine die off. Dopamine is a naturally produced chemical that transmits signals that control muscle movement. When those cells are destroyed, people begin to lose their balance, coordination, and muscle control.
Recent studies have found that music and dance can be effective as a supplement to the medical treatments. One study, released this year by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, reported that patients who took tango classes improved their balance and mobility substantially. Similar dance classes for Parkinson's patients have started in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.

Patients report, and neurologists believe, that the musical rhythms help trigger coordinate movement, thus alleviating, temporarily, some of the symptoms. The music also helps people remember how to move their bodies.

"Music facilitates movement in Parkinson's disease," said Linda Tickle-Degnen, chairwoman of the department of occupational therapy at Tufts University. Two years ago she and a colleague conducted a research trial at Boston University to examine how social interaction and music affected people with Parkinson's. Among the findings: Many participants improved mobility and coordination after they had more social interaction and exercise in their lives.

"Dance gives them that practice and exercise. Dancing would not just facilitate how well you are moving your legs but your arms and your face too," she said. "Then there's this added piece that it's fun. When people are having fun, they move better."
That's one of the reasons Ed Rudman helped bring the dance class to Waltham. Rudman was diagnosed with Parkinson's 12 years ago. For the first few years, he told only his immediate family and co-workers that he had the disease.

"I didn't want people to look at me differently," said Rudman, former chairman of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Although his symptoms have slowly surfaced, he remains active. He began to notice that he felt better after exercising and dancing at the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in the Berkshires.

"I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great to start a dance group for Parkinson's but to slow it down?' " said Rudman, 71. He broached the idea with Megha Nancy Buttenheim, his yoga and dance instructor, who had been training Goodman as an instructor. They worked with dance instructors at the Mark Morris Dance Group in Brooklyn, who have been using ballet, the waltz, and other dance styles to help people with Parkinson's. The collaboration, along with input from neurologists at Boston University, resulted in the launch of a dance class last June at the Jewish Family & Children's Service. Another series of classes begins Dec. 15.

"My intent is to help people laugh and smile. Parkinson's is a disease that can be cruel," said Rudman, who takes 20 pills a day plus protein shakes to build muscle. To further research, he initially invested $150,000 of his own money and helped raised $5 million three years ago to launch Link Medicine Corp., a Cambridge start-up drug developer that is searching for a cure for Parkinson's.

"There is no cure," Rudman said. "There is plenty of medications available to mask the symptoms. You get stiff and you can't move." As he danced in class recently, he added, "Here you laugh, you kick, you stomp, and you dance."

At that recent class, 20 students, who included spouses, adult children, and caregivers, sat in a circle of chairs as Goodman led them into stretching drills. The class is open to anyone with Parkinson's.

Students chanted "Pa, pa, pa . . . Ta, ta, ta . . . Ca, ca, ca," to flex their facial muscles.

After they warmed up, the class stepped forward, scooted and shuffled at their own pace to the various dance styles. They did the twist, shimmied, and performed Argentina's national dance, the tango.

"Twist to the left, twist to the right," Goodman, urged them. Upbeat songs from Dion and the Pussycat Dolls got everyone's groove on. "If you want to turn up the spice a little, put some hip into it." Everyone seemed to float to the music.
At the end of the class, the dancers regrouped in a circle and revealed their frustrations with the disease. Among them: They can't take off their shirts unassisted, iron clothes, or open bottles.

"My legs and arms now follow a choreography I did not choose," Rosenmeier wrote in a poem she titled "Harboring P," which was discussed in the session.
As the students swapped stories, they also celebrated the joys of the class and the hope it provides on and off the dance floor.

"It is altogether a remarkable experience to be part of," Rosenmeier said. "It moves you to do better."