“Dance Me To The End With Love”
Chapter from the book Dancing Across the Lifespan: Negotiating Age, Place, and Purpose
Rebecca Barnstaple, Christina Hugenscmidt, and Christina Soriano also contributed a chapter in a new book! A growing body of evidence suggests that the skills required to meet the challenges associated with aging and age-related disease can be facilitated through engaging in dance, and a growing number of dance-based programs directed towards older adults have emerged globally in recent years. This chapter introduces research on the benefits of dance for older adults, particularly those faced with neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s (PD) and Alzheimer’s (AD) diseases. We outline how this research aligns with developmental and neuroscience models to suggest how and why dance may support healthy adaptations in aging and slow or counteract neurodegeneration.