Dance for Parkinson’s dancers to perform at New College

For more than 15 years, Dance for Parkinson’s Disease has been offering people who have Parkinson’s Disease a chance to improve endurance, balance and motor control through dance.

These dancers will get the chance to show their skills and passion for expressive movement during a free performance and panel discussion at New College of Florida.

“Embodied Cognition in (Inter) Action” is scheduled 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in the College Hall Music Room, 5800 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota.

Members of Sarasota Contemporary Dance will perform alongside Parkinson’s dancers to the accompaniment of live drumming.

Since space is limited, attendees are asked to register at https://danceforparkinsonsncf.eventbrite.com.

Participants in the Dance for Parkinson’s Disease program, commonly known as Dance for PD, learn strategies for enhanced life quality at the same time they are improving their motor skills, according to a news release on the event.

At the same time, the dance classes offer researchers interested in new models of how the brain adapts a way to see such cognition in action.

The event will bring together dancers, practitioners and theorists, the release states.

The performance itself features Leymis Bolanos-Wilmott, the artistic director of Sarasota Contemporary Dance who trained in the Dance for PD program through the Mark Morris Dance Group.

The panel discussion will include Peter Cook, assistant professor of psychology at New College; April Flakne, associate processor of philosophy at New College and Marilyn Tait, executive director of The Parkinson Place in Sarasota.

This story was originally published April 19, 2017 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Dance for Parkinson’s dancers to perform at New College."