Greetings from the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn! What an amazing year 2025 has been for the two Dance for NeuroBalance classes at the Hawthorn Aquatic and Leisure Centre.
We wind down the year after a string of exciting programs including an African Drumming workshop, a collaborative group class with the other Melbourne-Area DPA classes and the Beaut Ballet Series with The Australian Ballet.
This term included End of Year Parties for both classes including and visit from DPA director Erica Rose.
Big thanks to our Friday Class teacher volunteer Gabi Stanger for another incredible year of support and inspiration!
Our Hawthorn location has also confirmed an ongoing Ping Pong Parkinson’s program on Monday afternoons that many of our dancers are enjoying.
We had a special class at the Hawthorn Town Hall Art Gallery. This special event was in honor of one of our original dancers Geoff Jones who passed away earlier this year. Geoff was an amazing dancers and supporter of our program. He not only attended classes for 6 years he appeared in our short film Stupendous: Dancing through Parkinson’s in 2017.
Our Town Hall event would have greatly appealed to Geoff with its fusion of still life art and movement including a specially curated tour of the exhibit and morning tea.
On Tuesday 9 December I (Paris Wages) presented at the Goulburn Valley Parkinson’s conference in Shepparton, Victoria. For the fifth year I shared information about Dance for Parkinson’s along with a sample class. The presentation was viewed as very popular and this year Gabi Stanger joined me. Sharing the presentation with another teaching artist enriched the experience for the participants. Gabi and I will come home with more Parkinson’s information that we learned from the presenting neurologists and specialists in the field. Lots of enrichment!