A pilot program offering free dance classes to people living with Parkinson’s disease concludes this week with a final session on Thursday.
The classes are provided by the Mendocino Dance Project, a non-profit based in Fort Bragg, and co-founder Kara Starkweather is the lead instructor for the sessions hosted at the Redwood Studio on East Redwood Avenue.
Starkweather said the idea for the program came about after she became certified to teach such classes, then decided to seek funding in order to offer them on the Mendocino Coast.
“We applied for a mini-grant from the parks district, and were awarded enough funding (through a District Services Grant from the Mendocino Coast Recreation and Park District) to allow the group to offer a six-week pilot run,” she said, admitting that while in the beginning she was not sure if there was a need, or even a desire, for these classes, but her leap of faith was rewarded.
“There has been a lot of interest and we’re getting a good turnout – people seem to be really excited,” she continued, explaining that while many of the attendees already knew each other, the classes have helped strengthen the existing connections and grow new ones in ways that have “felt really special.”
When asked to describe how she tailors the classes, Starkweather said she has students “do modified versions of movements, either sitting in chairs or at a slower pace, focusing on shifting your weight and building balance and coordination with slow and careful work of certain muscle groups.”
“Dancers tend to have more coordination, more balance and more strength than those who aren’t dancers,” she said, noting that coordination, balance and strength are important physical qualities for anyone to have, but especially those struggling with a disease, disability, or simply trying to remain more independent as they age.
In addition to helping her students hopefully gain more control over their physical selves, Starkweather said she also tries to infuse the more artistic and creative aspects of dance into her classes, such as tapping into the universality of music, which she noted has a profound effect on everyone, no matter your age or ability, because “our bodies want to move to music.”
The classes were supposed to end in December, but one of the early classes was canceled due to electrical work being performed in the studio’s building, so a make-up class was scheduled for this week on Thursday, Jan. 2, beginning at 10 a.m. at the Redwood Studio in Fort Bragg, 305 East Redwood Ave. The classes are free, and the MDP is seeking more funding in the hopes of offering more classes in the future.
“We have realized that there is not much in the way of support groups for PD on the coast, so in addition to the movement help, it is a space for connection to happen,” said Mackenzie Rain, another member of the MDP. “We are currently seeking more funding so that we can continue the program.”
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