Dementia and Alzheimer's patients see symptoms ease as dance bring clarity and rejuvenation

Extract from The Guardian

By Jonathan Hair

Posted about 10 hours ago

Photo: The classes are run by not-for-profit group Dance Health Alliance. (ABC News: Jonathan Hair)

Map: Maroochydore 4558

Dancing is proving to be an effective way to bring the attention of people with dementia back into the here and now, according to instructors running specially designed dance classes.

Photo: Gwen Korebrits is one of the dance teachers. (ABC News: Jonathan Hair)

Not-for-profit group Dance Health Alliance has just started running the classes on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, aiming to stimulate brains and get joints moving.
Dance teacher Gwen Korebrits has been helping to run the classes in New South Wales, where they have been held for several years.
"The main aim is absolutely to get people moving, to really stimulate them physically," she said.
"All the movements start off slow and small — there is no right or wrong in the class. We always make that very apparent and there is no technique that is necessary."
The instructors also work with people with disabilities, and illnesses such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis.

Photo: Classes are also aimed at people with diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, dementia and MS. (ABC News: Jonathan Hair)

"It's lovely to see people become present again," Ms Korebrits said.

"People with Alzheimer's and dementia [who] may not have been present for a while, actually immediately after [the dance] class come into the here and now."

Gerda Streiner lives at the nursing home where the first Queensland class took place.
She took part in the session, sitting next to her daughter Edith Streiner, who was visiting from NSW.
She said she loved dancing when she was younger.

Photo: Gerda Streiner, with her daughter Edith, lives at the Queensland nursing home where the first class took place. (ABC News: Jonathan Hair)

"I missed it since my husband passed away — I was a loner and I didn't have any movement anymore," Mrs Streiner said.
"[I had] nothing which I really looked forward to and now today, it was good."
Her daughter said she noticed a difference in her mother after the class.
"My mum was a lot looser in her body motions," Ms Streiner said.
"She says she doesn't move that way much anymore — she was a good dancer once, very good."
The group is hoping to run classes in Brisbane soon.