April News Updates – Queensland 2025

Afternoon Tea on the Kite Terrace at the Thomas Dixon Centre after the Queensland Ballet Class in honour of World Parkinson’s Day. With amazing volunteers Wendy, Lyndyl and Roberta and Teaching Artists Ally & DPA Director Erica Rose.

In late February a we helped to bring song dance and community together through a  collaboration between ‘Park ‘n Songs’, Dance for Parkinson’s Australia, and Queensland Ballet’s Dance for Parkinson’s program. With fantastic community support from the Toowoomba Parkinson’s Support Group.

Launched in 2017, ‘Park ‘n Songs’ was created in partnership with the University of Southern
Queensland (UniSQ) and the Parkinson’s Queensland Support Group to offer a supportive space for singing. Associate Professor Dr Melissa Forbes, who was instrumental in establishing the group, said evidence-based music interventions improved vocal health, boosted confidence, reduced stigma, and strengthened social connections for participants.

“Music and dance have an unparalleled ability to connect people,” Dr Forbes said. “We’ve found that ‘Park ‘n Songs’ has improved quality of life for people with Parkinson’s, reduced stigma, anxiety, and stress, strengthened social connections, and enhanced relationships between caregivers and participant,” she said.
“Both song and dance for Parkinson’s have been shown to provide emotional and social
benefits, fostering a sense of belonging and reducing the stigma associated with the
condition.” Link to Full story here. 

A new class in Yeppoon started this year led by the wonderful Alexandra Darnley-Stuart from Allegra Studios, supported by Dr Jeannette Neden, the local Parkinson’s support group, an active volunteer cohort and Livingstone Shire Council.
See what they have to say below!Since classes launched in March, we have seen a really positive response from the community. We have a broad array of community members, including members from the Parkinson’s Support Group. Each week we see many returning faces along with new faces eager to try out something different, getting between 15-20 participants each week. We are lucky to have a wonderful network of volunteers to help support this class and would like to thank them and Livingstone Shire Council for so wonderfully supporting this new initiative for the Yeppoon community’.

Feedback has been very positive, as dancers appreciate the quality of the class, having ‘proper’ dance artists to lead, having so much fun and feeling the benefits of moving expressively every week.  They have also said it’s really helpful to have social time with coffee together afterwards, as they are making new friends and feeling part of a community. The DfPD approach is making an important contribution to changing lives here in region Queensland.