American Dance Festival Receives Renewed Funding for Parkinson's Projects

The American Dance Festival has announced that it has been awarded funding to continue its Parkinson's projects for 2020-21.

ADF has been awarded a second South Arts Cross-Sector Impact Grant of $10,000 to support an innovative collaboration with Saxapahaw, NC, choreographers Tommy Noonan and Murielle Elizéon (Culture Mill) and Dr. Jeff Hoder (Duke University Associate Professor of Physical Therapy). This transdisciplinary project bridges professional dancers, people with Parkinson's disease (PD), and medical researchers. In the project's third phase, collaborators will expand workshops to reach communities in Durham and rural Alamance County, narrow their focus to evaluate beneficial outcomes of creative movement on PD, and develop a pilot toolkit of medically-informed recommendations to be widely distributed to arts and non-arts sectors working with the PD community. More information is available at www.movingthrough.live.

This project is funded in part by ADF with a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council. Culture Mill's work is made possible in part with a grant from the Kenan Charitable Trust. Additional support is provided by RTI International.

ADF has also been awarded a fourth Parkinson's Foundation Community Grant of $18,000 to support its Parkinson's Movement Initiative (PMI). PMI offers cost-free classes in partnership with Poe Wellness Solutions and NC Dance for Parkinson's to individuals living with Parkinson's disease and their caregivers. In 2020-21, PMI will offer four weekly classes (two Pilates for PD and two Dance for PD). More information is available at

www.americandancefestival.org/community/parkinsons-movement-initiative.

American Dance Festival is offering Parkinson's Movement Initiative classes in partnership with NC Dance for Parkinson's and Poe Wellness Solutions and support is provided by a community grant from the Parkinson's Foundation. Through this support, all classes offered through the Parkinson's Movement Initiative are free for people living with PD and their caregivers.