Dancing to ease Parkinson's

The Jockey Club is launching a three-year dance project to help Parkinson's disease patients, their families and friends, through dancing classes and events in art spaces like galleries, museums and performance venues.

The Jockey Club Dance Well Project, organized by the School of Dance of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, is going to launch the Dance Well classes next month.

Academy director Gillian Choa said: We are delighted to lead this meaningful project, which aims to bring positive impact to the overall well-being of those with Parkinson's disease, their families and close friends, and at the same time generate awareness of the disease in society.

"We are extremely grateful to Hong Kong Jockey Club for its kind support to the project."

The Jockey Club Dance Well project is modeled on the Dance Well initiative introduced in Italy in 2013.

The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts introduced this approach to the city and invited local dance artists to helping bringing a dance experience to citizens.