“We had so many opportunities to share what we experience every week:  the miracle of music that moves us.  The miracle of coming together for a shared purpose.  The miracle of moving our bodies free from self-consciousness, fear and limitations.”

9.10.16 PARKINSON ASSOCIATION OF THE ROCKIES e3 CONFERENCE
I am standing in front of over 300 people in a hotel ballroom in Aurora, Colorado. We are presenting From Disorder to Dancer, about the benefits of creativity and dance for Parkinson’s disease. Wayne has just performed his “p.d. dancer” poem. We invite the room to join us in moving their bodies, standing or in their chairs. The music plays. We dance together.

9.11.16 RECONNECT WITH YOUR BODY 5th BIRTHDAY PARTY
I am in a dance studio at the Colorado Conservatory of Dance in Broomfield, Colorado, surrounded by the Reconnect dancers, their families, my family, the Art as Action board of directors and several past AaA performers, ranging in age from 5-75. We are celebrating 5 years of the Reconnect program and how far we have come. The music plays. We dance together.

9.20.16 DANCE FOR PD® ADVANCED TEACHER TRAINING
I am in the basement of a church in Portland, Oregon with 35 other Dance for PD teachers and our fearless leader, Dance for PD founding teacher David Leventhal. We spent the previous day sharing our successes and challenges, learning about preventing falls and using imagery in our teaching. This morning, David stands at the front of the room and takes us through a gentle and freeing modern dance warm up. The music plays. We dance together.

9.22.16 WORLD PARKINSON CONGRESS RENEWAL ROOM
I am inside the Portland Convention Center. I stand next to David Leventhal in a room so full we had to turn people away. Reconnect dancers Wayne Gilbert and Karen Talcott managed to get in. I help demonstrate exercises with 5 other chosen teachers from around the globe. In a complex where thousands of other members of the international PD community are attending sessions about research, symptoms and medication –100 of us are in this room, taking a dance class. The music begins. We dance together.

9.27.16 PARKINSON’S SUPPORT GROUP
I am at the Balfour Retirement Community in Louisville, Colorado, surrounded by residents in wheelchairs, staff and a therapy dog. I share photos and videos of the Reconnect dancers and tell the story of our dance community and the healing it brings. The music begins. We dance together.

10.01.16 MOVEMENT DISORDERS CENTER PD SYMPOSIUM
I am standing in front of over 200 people in a hospital auditorium in Aurora, Colorado with 4 of the Reconnect dancers. We perform “Revival” and invite the room to join us in moving their bodies at the end of the piece. The music plays. We dance together.

EVERY WEDNESDAY: RECONNECT WITH YOUR BODY CLASS
I am at Apex Community Center in Arvada, Colorado, leading the 12 Reconnect dancers in our weekly class. The music plays. We dance together.

Throughout the “Month of Reconnect” we had so many opportunities to share what we experience every week: the miracle of music that moves us. The miracle of coming together for a shared purpose. The miracle of moving our bodies free from self-consciousness, fear and limitations. The miracle of dancing together. I have witnessed these miracles time and again since my first Dance for PD training in 2011, where this incredible adventure began. All of the events during our “Month of Reconnect” demonstrate how far we have come in the past 5 years – and yet it still comes down to the core of what we do: the music plays and we dance together.