DANCING WITH PARKINSON’S @ QBSC
Classes October 3 to December 5, 2024
January 9 to June 5, 2025 (no class March 13)
CLASSES EVERY THURSDAY FROM 10:30AM TO 11:30 AM
We have implemented health and safety procedures for our classes to protect the health and well-being of people with Parkinson’s and to keep adults active, connected and engaged.
Our classes are at 196 Palmer Road, Belleville in Studio A
Download Registration Form 2024-25
TO REGISTER, CONTACT parkinsonsdance@quinteballetschool.com
OR CALL 613-962-9274 ext. 23
DANCING WITH PARKINSON’S … A DESCRIPTION
Dancing with Parkinson’s classes are dance classes, not exercise or fitness. The focus is aesthetics and imagination causing dancers to move with grace, invoke creativity and emotion, and to develop their mind-body connection, thereby lessening the symptoms of Parkinson’s. During class, dancers stretch and strengthen their muscles while creating flexibility and range of motion. As range of motion increases, so does balance and gait. The rhythmic music helps dancers evade usual movement patterns which include shuffling and freezing motions. Group dances are used to connect dancers physically and emotionally to each other and to the class as a community.
MEET YOUR TEACHERS
Long-time Belleville-based dance teacher Kristina McIntosh, a certified Dancing with Parkinson’s program teacher, taught in the professional dance instructor for the Quinte Ballet School’s professional and recreational dance divisions. She trained at the Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement, Quinte Ballet School of Canada and dance intensives at Banff Centre for the Performing Arts, Pittsburgh Ballet School and Princeton Ballet School. Upon graduation, she attended Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), graduating with a Theatre Diploma and Royal Academy of Dance teaching certificate. Kristina danced with the Paula Moreno Spanish Dance company before starting her teaching career with the Pia Bouman School for Ballet and Creative Movement. She also has a teaching certificate from the Cecchetti Society.
“The Dancing with Parkinson’s training at the National Ballet School and participation in the Quinte Ballet School’s Dancing with Parkinson’s program has been life-changing for me,” says Kristina McIntosh. “It’s provided me with insight, new techniques for working with people of different abilities and enabled me to grow as a teacher of dance. As a teacher, it is so rewarding to see how creative movement exercises, social interaction and dancing together has changed our participants physically, emotionally and bonded them to the group. I’ve watched the participants come alive throughout our sessions, gaining confidence and having moments when they can forget their mobility issues and Parkinson’s symptoms as we dance together.
After returning to Canada in October of 2021, Jocelyn began teaching dance to children and adults alike, and soon after pursued a Dancing with Parkinson’s teaching degree in Toronto.
Jocelyn is thrilled to join the team at the Quinte Ballet School of Canada, and hopes she can bring as much joy to her classes as the program has brought to her.
Kristina McIntosh adds, “The benefits of the class can also be felt by participants who do not have Parkinson’s but suffer from mobility issues or another affliction. Some participants have suffered a stroke or traumatic brain injury and many of the benefits they gain from the class are the same as those who have Parkinson’s. A spouse of a Parkinson’s dancer, who suffered a stroke, joins the class every week and has been able to stop using a walker and instead uses a cane. They have reported a much fuller range of movement.” She will lead the participants through a one-hour creative movement and dance class with live piano music and support from community volunteers. as well as facilitating Dancing With Parkinson’s @ QBSC.
