Art, body, and soul: A conversation with dancers David Leventhal and John Heginbotham.

Dance has been an important part of ceremony, rituals, celebrations, and entertainment since prehistoric times. ‘‘One of the earliest structured uses of dance may have been in the performance and in the telling of myths. It was also sometimes used to show feelings for one of the opposite gender. It is also linked to the origin of ‘‘lovemaking.’’ Before the production of written languages, dance was one of the methods of passing these stories down from generation to generation’’. Depictions of human figures dancing and primitive musical instruments have been discovered in prehistoric cave dwellings and rock shelters around the world. There is a human need to tell stories and share myths and legends through art. It is the primary mode in which we learn about life and ourselves, discover human values, become sociable. Sharing myths and legends, of stories of loss and grief and hope and love is as old as the ancient Sumerian epic, Gilgamesh which extends back to the third millennium, B.C. There have been numerous articles in the press and professional medical, nursing, and allied health journals on the efficacy of dance for individuals who have Parkinson’s disease (PD). They discuss how and why dance is so important for people with this movement disorder. Most include commentary of the dance class participants, and they are heartening, instructive, and revelatory. Students’ comments reveal that the dance classes have renewed their spirits, allowed them to move more gracefully, so that when they dance they feel liberated and more hopeful. Several videos of the Dance for Parkinson’s classes in action have been produced. At present, neurologists and other scientists are researching this phenomenon. They are looking at what actually happens neurologically, kinesthetically, and psychologically to participants in the dance class, trying to understand how music and dance are able to free those with this movement disorder in ways that exercise alone cannot.