Article By
A new adaptive dance program, done in partnership with California State University Channel Islands and Pleasant Valley Recreation and Park District, is designed specifically for those living with Parkinson’s disease and other mobility challenges.
Over 1 million people in the U.S. live with Parkinson’s disease, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation.
One Friday morning in Camarillo, seniors and students from Cal State University Channel
Islands gathered for a dance class.
Louis Svendson, a 77-year-old local, had attended several of these classes with his wife, Mary Kennedy. The six-week session is offered at the Pleasant Valley Community Center for $12 a class.
“It just gives you a little bit of a good workout,” Louis Svendson, one of the dance students, said.
Svednson was diagnosed with Parkinson’s three years ago, so this class was perfect for him.
Parkinson’s is a brain disorder that affects movement, and while the Parkinson’s Foundation said there is no cure, treatments can help improve quality of life.
“You want to just sort of sit and watch instead of doing. I think this helps move you past that,” Svendson said.
The class, called a Feeling for Healing, is led by Cal State Channel Islands dance instructor Bonnie Lavin Hughes.
“We can do jazz hands, and we can do falling stars, and we can do so many things where the tremor is, strength and is a creative, you know, emphasis, not a deficit,” said Bonnie Lavin Hughes, dance lecturer at CSUCI.
Hughes noted that the fun dance steps can also help with stiffness and even memory.
“Putting all those steps into identifiable patterns and having to retain them and bring them back and refine them is incredibly good, stimulating for the brain, stimulating for the mood,” she said.
Mary Kennedy, who has been married to Svendson for over 40 years, explained that she’s noticed improvements in his balance, that being around others facing similar challenges also makes a difference.
“This does get you out. It reminds you that you’re not the only person in the world that’s facing this,” said Kennedy.
Cal State Channel Islands Health Science students are also involved. They receive internship hours while also gaining hands-on experience.
While Svendson said he was still figuring out some of the dance moves, the class is something he enjoys.
“At least in my case, knowing that I can’t do more, there’s some days I just can’t, and it’s good that she drags me off to these things,” said Svendson as he nodded to his wife. “It makes it so I can.”
Hughes said she hopes dance improves all her students’ quality of life, one dance move at a time.
Check out the video that accompanies this article here.