Send dNaga Dancers to the World Parkinson Congress
An intergenerational dance company including dancers with Parkinson’s disease heads to Portland!
We are thrilled to announce that dNaga has been invited to perform at this year’s World Parkinson Congress from September 20 to 23, 2016, in Portland, Oregon. There will be about 4000 attendees from all over the world at the Congress including researchers, medical professionals, people with Parkinson’s, their families and caregivers.
dNaga is an intergenerational dance company based in Oakland, California that includes adult dancers with Parkinson’s disease performing with high school dancers. We are an extension of the Dance for PD® program that began in 2001 at the Mark Morris Dance Group in Brooklyn. dNaga director and choreographer Claudine Naganuma has been offering Dance for PD® classes in Oakland since 2007. Claudine is featured in Dave Iverson’s documentary about the dance program, “Capturing Grace”.
Our work is entitled Proteinology and it is inspired by the recent discovery of the misfolding protein. Our newest section, “Ode to the Sticky Protein and Momentary Lapses of Escapism” is performed to the music of the fantastic Portland group Pink Martini. If everything falls into place, dNaga will have the amazing opportunity to perform with them LIVE!
Collaborators and audience alike are inspired by the courage and grace of our dancers. For those with Parkinson’s disease, dancing provides an opportunity to creatively express and share the private struggles of living with PD. For our young dancers, the unique experience of working with dancers with PD is a precious opportunity to form bonds across the generations while creating art together.
Our collaborative choreography, from whimsy to solemn and back again, features personal narratives, current PD research, original sound scores, symbols, poetry and myth, all around the theme of living with Parkinson’s disease.
We are seeking funding to cover the costs of this project: In particular, we need to pay for flights and housing for our 10 member company, 5 dancers with Parkinson’s disease and 5 adults/youth will be traveling with our director, composer, stage manager and lighting designer!
As a supporter of dNaga’s World Parkinson’s Congress adventure, you will be associated with the cutting edge concept that exercise, and in particular, dance, provides relief for many PD sufferers. While a cure has yet to be found, dance brings movement, joy and community to those with this affliction.
Unless you prefer to remain anonymous, contributors’ names will be printed in the WPC program, projected on the backdrop of the stage during the performances at the WPC and listed on dNaga’s website.
Your contribution will help us get to Portland and pay for housing (which is VERY EXPENSIVE!) Our lighting designer (of two decades) will be travelling from Texas and our composer (also of two decades) will be bringing his MARIMBA LUMINA! (Buchla instrument). We also plan on having new costumes made!
dNaga’s dancers have been creating and performing since 2001. We have presented work annually at Laney College Theater in Oakland, at Danspace in Oakland (our home studio), Z Space and SomARTS Cultural Center in San Francisco, Tapestry at the Mormon Temple Auditorium in Oakland, and several site specific dances. dNaga’s work has also been performed at the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn and the Mulberry Street Theater in New York City.
Our dancers, those with Parkinson’s as well as our youth dancers, are dedicated, hardworking and aware of the profound meaning of the dance, the process, the community we are creating and its message to those with Parkinson’s, their families, caregivers, researchers and medical professionals
For people with Parkinson’s, every day is a challenge. We live with tremors, unruly limbs, rigidity, extreme fatigue, balance issues, muscle and joint pains, and sometimes cognitive impairment. Despite this, we are devoted to the work we are creating and presenting. Most of us are either not working any longer or are “semi-retired”. This is why we need your help to fulfill this golden opportunity to perform at the 2016 World Parkinson’s Congress.
Failure to reach our fundraising goals would have a huge impact on our performance and presence at the World Parkinson Congress. Burdened by medical costs, our dancers are not able to finance the project independently. Without your support, we will have to re-choreograph and adjust so that fewer dancers will be involved. Scaling down our production would put a huge damper on our ability to connect with attendees and share our stories.
You may be wondering why we have such an early deadline! Coordinating housing, transport and other logistics for our dancers and collaborators requires early reservations and planning. Delays in the process will increase costs and create larger hurdles beyond what we already face.
Help us create a successful performance at the World Parkinson Congress! Having all of our dancers onstage, opening their hearts to the audience and connecting with others in the same predicament will have an immeasurable benefit.
Please help us spread the word to those who might be financially able to support us. Tag and share this campaign on social media. Send us your story of living with Parkinson’s disease.
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