Adapted Tango: Joy in Movement for Parkinson's

Adapted Tango: Joy in Movement for Parkinson’s

Bringing Tango to People with Parkinson’s

Tango Mercurio’s Adapted Tango Program provides the scientifically proven therapeutic benefits of partnered and improvised social dance to people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) through a safe, interesting, and fun adaptation of traditional Argentine tango. Developed by dancer and neuroscientist Dr. Madeleine Hackney, and inspired by the Tango Therapy Project in Philadelphia, our Program consists of two parts: training for instructors and two five-week pilot series for people with PD and their caregivers.

Why Parkinson’s?

As part of Tango Mercurio’s mission to build community through tango, our Older Adult Outreach Program has been bringing tango dance, music, and poetry to older adults in day care and residential settings in the Washington, DC area since 2019, mainly through our partnership with Arts for the Aging. Participants have included many seniors with physical or cognitive limitations, along with staff and caregivers.

According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, Parkinson’s disease is the second most-common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s. It impacts 1.1 million in the U.S., with nearly 90,000 people diagnosed every year. The disease causes motor and nonmotor symptoms that can be physically, emotionally, and psychologically debilitating. There is no known cure, though medications may help relieve symptoms. However, physical activity can not only maintain and improve mobility, flexibility and balance but also ease non-motor PD symptoms such as depression. And studies on Adapted Tango and other types of exercise have shown that tango works as well as and sometimes better than other movement forms.

Why Tango?

Argentine tango is a social partner dance, the basic step of which is simply to walk with a partner while hugging, so it is appropriate for all ages and fitness levels. And because it is improvised, the two partners have to communicate with each other in the moment, creating a unique partnership with each other and the music.

As a therapeutic tool, tango is a moderate-intensity activity that offers motivation and practice in numerous real-life skills that can be challenging for people with Parkinson’s and other conditions: walking forward and backward, initiating movement and stopping it, varying speed and rhythm, placing the foot and coordinating the whole body, navigating among others, sustaining attention, working with a partner and synchronizing movement with them, leading and following, and more.

Improving Quality of Life

The United States is a country with an aging population and an epidemic of loneliness that has had devastating effects on public health. Tango offers a safe space for touch, social connection, and community, along with exposure to the dance, music, and poetry of a unique art form. It enables dancers of all abilities to enjoy moderate physical activity that helps them build new neural pathways and experience social interaction, which research has demonstrated boosts happiness and well-being.

Why Give?

Our Adapted Tango Program is partially funded by a generous grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Please help us make up the difference by contributing to this campaign, modeled after the Tango Therapy Project’s. Your support now will help us realize our ambitious inaugural year goals. In 2025, we intend to:

• Bring Dr. Hackney to Washington, DC in September to offer her Adapted Tango Fundamentals training. Dr. Hackney is a world-renowned movement scientist who has published extensively on the benefits of adapted tango for people with PD and others.

• Collaborate with Dr. Pritha Ghosh, a neuroscientist at George Washington University Hospital.

• Pilot two Adapted Tango Program series for people with Parkinson’s in DC in September–November. These adapted tango classes will be FREE for participants, who will receive support by volunteers trained in our Adapted Tango Program and safety protocols for working with people with Parkinson’s.

• Conduct evaluation of the training and programming.

• Form institutional partnerships with hospitals, universities, research scientists, senior residences, rehabilitation facilities, and more.

• Celebrate the healing power of tango, dance, and human connection by sharing stories of this work.

Donations directly support training, administration, programming, evaluation, and documentation. Your contributions now will help us achieve our mission of building community through Argentine tango.

We are grateful for your support and interest in our work. Let us know if you would like to be added to our email list to receive announcements about the Adapted Tango Program and our other activities.

With heartfelt thanks,

Alex

S. Alexandra Russell

Program Manager, Older Adult Outreach

Tango Mercurio