Movement therapy
One in 500 people in the UK have Parkinson’s disease. Causing progressive loss of nerve cells in the brain, the disease makes movement difficult and there is as yet no cure. Improving the quality of life is crucial. The English National Ballet has been teaching the Nutcracker ballet to a class of about 40 people with Parkinson’s. Scientists, Dr Sara Houston and Ashley McGill, from the Centre for Dance Research at the University of Roehampton, were asked by the ENB to evaluate and refine the project. It is the first of its kind in the UK.

Their research took a combined approach. They filmed every class using two cameras capturing movement and social interaction, using the Laban movement analysis techniques. In depth interviews and participants’ diaries gave the researchers a more rounded picture of their experience and how the dance was fitting in with the rest of their lives.

Relief from symptoms
Houston explains, ‘we found that when they were dancing to the music, strides were lengthening in time to the music. Some were starting to coordinate their arms and their legs when they were walking. So fluency of movement was seen while they were in the dance phase. For some, this continued afterwards as well. Some people said they actually hummed the tunes from the dance, to get them out of a particular hairy moment during the week, as well as trying to pace themselves. It seems that movement to music has a very strong affect on people’s Parkinson’s. Dancing to music temporarily relieves them of some of the motor complications.’

One of the challenges the team found is proving their findings scientifically. Parkinson’s sufferers take a number of drugs and can be affected by other factors, such as sleep and weather. The team have introduced a control group, to compare the results with sufferers who don’t dance.