Dance for PD®, Mark Morris Dance Group,
the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, UC Davis,
and Pamela Trokanski Dance Theatre
in association with Brooklyn Parkinson Group present
A Dance for PD®
Introductory Workshop
for dancers, dance teachers, students, therapists, and allied health professionals
Sunday, March 13 & Monday, March 14, 2016
Davis, CA
We invite you to apply at the link below!
► Learn best practices and methods from one of the program’s founding teachers. ► Hone your teaching skills. ► Deepen your knowledge with our specially-created modules and acclaimed interactive sessions. ► Participate in an actual Dance for Parkinson's class with members of the local Parkinson's community.
"A dynamic workshop and a fabulous life experience. I could not have been more pleased with time well spent.”—Dance for PD workshop trainee
"Dance for PD® is a hands-down success. It’s one of the most important programs for Parkinson’s disease in the country."—Mary Ellen Thibodeau, RN
RI Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association
About Dance for PD® workshops and seminars
Since 2007, more than 1100 people from 32 states and 15 countries have participated in Dance for PD® (Parkinson's Disease) workshops and seminars, designed and produced by the Mark Morris Dance Group and Brooklyn Parkinson Group.
Our educational programs are designed to enrich, inform and inspire a diverse group of individuals who want to learn about the unique approach of this internationally acclaimed community arts & health program from its original creators. To learn more about our complete four-step training program, including the pre-requisite online course, please click here.
This workshop
Our introductory workshop is specially designed to help dance teachers adapt your expertise to work effectively and comfortably with the Parkinson’s population under the guidelines and methodology of the Dance for PD® program. You'll cover special modules that focus on class structure, pedagogy and exercise design, and participate in a practicum class to develop class content and teaching techniques with a founding teacher and other trainees, in addition to covering general modules about safety and working with Parkinson’s participants.
Although this workshop is specifically geared toward dance teachers, we welcome a diverse group of individuals who may be interested in the workshop for Educational & Professional Enrichment (EPE). In this workshop, you will attend as Active Auditors, participating in all group discussions and modules, while observing the teaching practicum on Day 2. The EPE program is designed to provide a comprehensive and intimate look at core components of the Dance for PD® program so that a wide variety of individuals without dance training or dance teaching experience--including people with Parkinson's and care partners--can learn about our methods and benefit from our resources.
Our introductory workshops are non-certifying. Attendance at one of our introductory workshops is a prerequisite to qualify for our Dance Teacher certification program or Registered Teaching Assistant program.
Courtesy of People Dancing (photo by Rachel Cherry)
Time and location
The course will take place on Sunday, March 13 and Monday, March 14 at Pamela Trokanski Dance Workshop and Performing Arts Center, 2720 Del Rio Pl, Davis, CA 95618.
Schedule
Hourly schedule subject to change
Sunday, March 13
9:00a-10:00 Introduction
10:00-11:00 Class structure/risk assessment/safety
11:00-12:30 Balance and freezing workshop
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30-3:00 Dance for PD® community class
3:15-4:00 Post-class discussion with class participants
4:30-6:00 Technique and improvisation modules
Monday, March 14
9:00a-10:30 Technique and improvisation modules
10:30-12:15 Practicum I
12:15-1:00 Lunch
1:00-4:00 Practicum II
Tuition includes:
* all printed materials and sessions
*our media bundle (3 At Home DVDs and 3 companion CDs, a $120 value) when you register.
* a one-year Dance for PD® program membership with special access to continuing education materials and tools (a $45 value), and access to our international teachers' listserv.
Workshop tuition does not include the pre-requisite online course ($100), which must be completed before the workshop.
On-site lunch will be available for an additional fee, or you may bring your own.
No payment is required to apply. Please click below to complete our application. We will notify you upon acceptance into the training program. At that point, we will let you know about accessing the online course and provide more information about workshop registration.
Questions?
For questions about eligibility or workshop content, please email david@danceforpd.org.
Workshop Reviews
"Extremely well coordinated, very respectful and appropriate content for a broad range of learners!"
—2012 workshop attendee
"This workshop was completely satisfying, both on personal and professional levels. I thoroughly enjoyed each day's activities and the way in which [the trainer] conducted the discussions and experientials. His teaching ability is outstanding, along with his understanding of group process...I feel uplifted and inspired by all I witnessed..."
—2012 Trainee
"My staff reported to me that this was the only training they had ever received in movement/exercise other than cursory information during nursing assistant or nursing training. They were so excited to start using the tools immediately and have other staff to partner with for spontaneous play with each other and the residents."
—2012 workshop attendee and assisted living facility senior manager
"I learned more than I could have ever imagined and I love to dance more than I ever imagined. I have already utilized some of your ideas into my treatment approaches with my patients and they have worked GREAT!"—2011 participant and DPT
Facilitator for this workshop
David Leventhal is a founding teacher and Program Director for Dance for PD®, a collaborative program of the Mark Morris Dance Group and Brooklyn Parkinson Group that has now been used as a model for classes in more than 100 communities in 14 countries. He leads classes for people with Parkinson's disease around the world and trains other teachers in the Dance for PD® approach. Since 2007, he has trained more than 600 teachers in the Dance for PD® approach in 25 cities around the world. He's co-produced three volumes of a successful At Home DVD series for the program and has been instrumental in initiating and designing innovative projects involving live streaming and Moving Through Glass, a dance-based Google Glass App for people with Parkinson's. He is the co-recipient of the 2013 Alan Bonander Humanitarian Award from the Parkinson's Unity Walk. He has written about dance and Parkinson's for such publications as Dance Gazette and Room 217, and has a chapters about the program in two recently published books: Moving Ideas: Multimodal Learning in Communities and Schools (Peter Lang), and Creating Dance: A Traveler's Guide (Hampton Press). He is in demand as a speaker at international conferences and symposiums, and has spoken about the intersection of dance, Parkinson's and health at the University of Michigan, Rutgers, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Brown University, Stanford, Columbia, Georgetown, and Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Liège (Belgium), among others. He's featured in the award-winning 2014 documentary Capturing Grace directed by Dave Iverson. As a dancer, he performed with the Mark Morris Dance Group from 1997-2011, appearing in principal roles in Mark Morris' The Hard Nut, L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato, and Prokofiev's Romeo & Juliet, on Motifs of Shakespeare. He received a 2010 Bessie (New York Dance and Performance Award) for his performing career with Mark Morris. He graduated from Brown University with honors in English Literature.
About Dance for PD®
Dance for PD® offers dance classes for people with Parkinson’s disease in Brooklyn, New York and, through our network of partners and associates, in more than 100 other communities around the world. In Dance for PD® classes, participants are empowered to explore movement and music in ways that are refreshing, enjoyable, stimulating and creative. An on-going collaboration between the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Brooklyn Parkinson Group, the Dance for PD® program also provides teacher training and nurtures relationships among other organizations so that classes based on our model are widely available. The Dance for PD® method has been presented at the International Congress for Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders in Berlin (2005), the World Parkinson Congress in Washington, D.C. (2006) and at Neuroscience 2008 in Washington D.C. The program was recognized as a model program at the Society for the Arts in Healthcare’s annual conference (2010). The World Parkinson Congresses in Glasgow (2010) and Montreal (2013) included Dance for PD demonstration classes, and the program was presented two years in a row at the Parkinson's Unity Walk in Central Park. Features about the program have appeared on PBS NewsHour, NPR, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, and Reuters, and in The New York Times and USA Today, among others. Scientific research conducted in the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany and Canada highlights the program's benefits and efficacy for people with Parkinson's.
