A Reason to Tango

Could doing the tango help people with Parkinson's? There's an intriguing short piece in yesterday's (Feb. 12) New York Times about research into just that question. A study at Washington University in St. Louis divided patients into groups that either received exercise instruction or lessons in how to tango ... and the dancers had the better of it. Both groups showed improvement, but only the dancers seemed to do better with balance. 

In an earlier post and the video The Exercise Effect, we explored some of the research into exercise and Parkinson's, but it's fascinating to consider what other forms of movement therapy might also be useful. For example, we recently did some taping at a dance class for Parkinson's patients led by two dancers with the Mark Morris Dance Group. We'll post some video from that shoot in the coming months, but in the meantime, you can read more about the Mark Morris class and the "tango effect" here and here.

All this makes me ponder the impact music can have on various disabilities -- something Oliver Sachs explores in his book Musicophilia. And it's made me curious about rhythm itself. In my own experience, I've discovered that my left arm, which because of my PD normally doesn't swing when I walk or jog, starts to move if I count my strides as I run. Now that might not have any significance at all, but you have to stop and marvel at what may influence the human brain.