Fort Wayne Dance Collective believes strongly in the concept of helping others achieve health and wellness through movement and rhythm and offers alternative approaches to taking care of one’s self. FWDC offers classes both on and off-site that empower people to actively participate in their personal health and well-being and educates students on the body’s abilities to be self-aware, self-maintaining, self-healing and self-improving.
FWDC currently offers, or has offered, classes and programs including:
Healing Arts Program: FWDC has collaborated with Parkview Health to offer the Healing Arts Program. This innovative service integrates literary, movement, music and visual arts into patient care, healthcare facility design and aesthetics, the care of caregivers and the community. A person’s health and well-being isn’t just dependent on the health of the physical body, but also the health of mind and spirit. The Healing Arts program brings professional Artists in Residence to the bedside in many departments throughout both Parkview Regional Medical Center as well as Parkview Randallia and Parkview Behavioral Health. If you are interested in receiving a visit from a Healing Arts Artist in Residence please contact: 260.266.HEAL.
FWDC has also offered a variety of Senior programming at locations such as: Parkview Center for Healthy Living locations, Parkview Senior Wellness Center, Lutheran Life Villages locations, Coventry Meadows, and Evergreen Villages.
Dance for Parkinson’s Disease (a.k.a. Chair Dancing, Dance In Your Seat): This class is designed for anyone who is challenged by mobility and has a desire to become more in tune with their movement. Simple combinations and relaxation will increase your energy level and self-image. FWDC currently teaches Dance for Parkinson’s Disease/Dance for Seniors classes at our on-site school, and has taught for the local Parkinson’s support group as well as others challenged by limited mobility. These classes are based on the Mark Morris Dance Group Dance for PD® program in New York, NY.
Other wellness classes include, but are not limited to, the programs listed below:
Feldenkrais: Awareness Through Movement® (ATM): In Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement® classes, people engage in precisely structured movement explorations that involve thinking, sensing, moving and imagining. The lessons consist of comfortable, easy movements that gradually evolve into movements of greater range and complexity. Participants move with greater ease, have less pain and develop healthy movement patterns.
Movement Fundamentals for Seniors: This class is based on a series of exercises that gives students the tools to move more efficiently, maintaining and improving movement function and greater physical self-confidence, with the ability to diminish fear of falling and injury.
Tai Chi: Although Tai Chi is often described as “meditation in motion,” it is referred to as “medication in motion” (Harvard Health Publications). This mind-body practice, which originated in China as a martial art, has value in treating or preventing several medical conditions including: arthritis, low bone density, heart disease, hypertension, sleep problems and Fibromyalgia. With its low-impact, slow-motion exercises, Tai Chi can be easily adapted for anyone at any skill level.