PORTO, Portugal, April 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --
"THERE'S NO RIGHT RHYTHM FOR LIFE". PEOPLE WITH PARKINSON'S DANCE TO THEIR OWN RHYTHM TO PROMOTE TOLERANCE
BIAL invited award-winning north-American Parkinson's movement coach and choreographer Pamela Quinn to work with people with Parkinson Disease (PD) and create a video for World Parkinson's Day, on April 11th, focused on mutual respect - and proving in the meantime that people with Parkinson's can truly be inspiring.
People have different rhythms: some are faster, some are slower. But who's to say which one is correct? In a perfect world, everyone respects each other. But in this fast-paced world we live in, that isn't always the case for thousands of people with Parkinson's Disease (PD) all around the world, who sometimes just need an extra couple of minutes to perform daily tasks.
Parkinson's is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain. For those who suffer from it, the disease means much more than the physical symptoms; it's about losing independence. Still, most patients are able to perform daily tasks like reaching for the wallet and pay for groceries, using an ATM, crossing the street or getting to their seat on a bus, but the social anxiety that derives from the fear of taking too long can worsen the symptoms, making them a lot harder to accomplish - and resulting in a tendency for people with Parkinson's to gradually give up their independence.
Knowing more about the disease and being more tolerant can effectively improve the lives of the 10 million people with Parkinson's all around the world. BIAL invited former professional dancer, Pamela Quinn, a person with PD herself and a Parkinson's movement coach, from the New York based school PD Movement Lab, to collaborate with people with Parkinson's and professional dancers on the creation of a video, aimed not only at those who have the disease, but mostly to the ones who know nothing about it.
In it, we see a choreographed performance that takes place in three different settings: in a market, on a bus and at a pedestrian crossing. Professional dancers and people with PD each dance to their own rhythm while metaphorically performing daily tasks associated with those environments, like shopping for groceries, getting to their seat on a moving bus or crossing the street.
The video ends with a statement: "There's no right rhythm for life", prompting us to be more tolerant and to know more about the disease, and leads to the second and not less important part of the campaign: a documentary of the whole project, where Pamela Quinn and three more people with PD talk about their personal experiences and their collaboration on this project, with the goal of inspiring others.
Rui Sobral, Director of BIAL's Parkinson Disease Global Department, explains the importance of this project: "Parkinson's is a disease that takes a lot from people, but the more we work with people, the more we find people like Pamela, who brings this incredible energy, and that really helped us to bring this idea to life. It was inspiring just to see her work, and incredibly humbling for us to have her collaborate with BIAL in getting across the idea that we have much to learn and to be inspired by people with Parkinson's".
The campaign will be officially launched worldwide on April 11th, the World Parkinson's Day, and it will be featured in EPDA's and BIAL's websites and social media, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, The International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society (MDS) and European Academy of Neurology (EAN).
Watch the video here
Full press release here
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