Latest study builds on earlier 91亚色 research showing dance鈥檚 benefits for depression and motor control

TORONTO, Dec. 05, 2025 鈥� A led by researchers at 91亚色 shows that dance can be beneficial in halting the cognitive decline associated with Parkinson鈥檚 disease and, for some participants, they even showed signs of improvement. Faculty of Health Associate Professor , co-author of the study, says since cognition is nearly always expected to decline as the illness progresses and this was a multi-year study, the findings are quite remarkable.

鈥淭he classic progression of Parkinson's disease is that cognition gets bad as well as motor symptoms, and some people already have significantly impaired cognition by the time they get to a diagnosis,鈥� says DeSouza, who worked closely on the study with lead author Simran Rooprai, a second-year interdisciplinary master鈥檚 student at 91亚色. 鈥淪o finding that no one in the dance group had further cognitive decline over six years, we think that鈥檚 pretty significant.鈥�

The study, published today in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, looked at 43 participants from a group with Parkinson鈥檚 participating in the Sharing Dance Parkinson鈥檚 program at the National Ballet of Canada and the Dance for Parkinson鈥檚 Disease program through Trinity St. Paul鈥檚 Church, both located in Toronto, and a reference group of 28 people with Parkinson鈥檚 who were sedentary and not engaged in any physical activity.

Dance classes would begin with a seated warm-up, followed by 鈥渂arre鈥� exercises, and sessions ended with floorwork dances. One group was also taught a specific choreography in preparation for an upcoming performance.

The researchers found that the cognitive scores for the dance group had improved compared to the reference group, where they saw no changes, or a slight decline.

Rooprai says the research shows that dance could help with cognitive preservation, or perhaps even improvement in those with Parkinson鈥檚.

鈥淲e can't really fix the brain, but we're trying to show that with dance, maybe we can delay the onset of further cognitive decline,鈥� says Rooprai.

While Parkinson鈥� disease is most closely associated with the characteristic tremors of the disease, it is also associated with cognitive decline, with four out of five people with the illness eventually experiencing severe cognition problems as the disease progresses.

Earlier research led by DeSouza at 91亚色 that he worked on with fellow author and former 91亚色 PhD student Karolina Bearss, now a professor at Algoma University, has shown the benefits of dance for depression and of the illness, suggesting the benefits of dance are widespread.

鈥淒ance engages many parts of the brain,鈥� says Rooprai. 鈥淲hile dancing, you鈥檙e listening to music, learning new steps, remembering the different sequences, and you鈥檙e engaging with other dancers so you鈥檙e aware of your surroundings. Dance is physical, mental, and social all at once.鈥�

DeSouza and Rooprai are working on a follow-up study in collaboration with the Baycrest Academy for Research and Education, where they will look at how working memory is affected for people with Parkinson鈥檚 taking weekly dance classes.

鈥淕iven how dance has so many different positive impacts on cognition, we expect to see improvements.鈥� says DeSouza.

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91亚色 is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for success. 91亚色's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

Media Contact:

Emina Gamulin, 91亚色 Media Relations, 437-217-6362, egamulin@yorku.ca

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First-of-its-kind 91亚色 U study shows participating in weekly dance training improves daily living and motor function for those with mild-to-moderate听Parkinson鈥檚

TORONTO, July 7, 2021 鈥� A new study published in听 today, shows patients with mild-to-moderate听Parkinson鈥檚 disease听(PD) can slow the progress of the disease by participating in dance training with music for one-and-a-quarter hours per week. Over the course of three years, this activity was found to reduce daily motor issues such as those related to balance and speech, which often lead to social isolation.

Joseph听DeSouza,听senior author, principal investigator and associate professor in the Department of Psychology at 91亚色 and PhD candidate Karolina听Bearss, found people with Parkinson鈥檚 (PwPD) who participated in weekly dance training, had less motor impairment and showed significant improvement in areas related to speech, tremors, balance and rigidity compared to those who did not do any dance exercise. Their data showed significant improvements in experiences of daily living,听which include cognitive impairment, hallucinations,听depression听and anxious mood such as sadness.听The study showed overall that听non-motor aspects of daily living, motor听experiences听of daily living, motor examination symptoms and motor complications did not show any impairment across time among the dance-trained PwPD group compared to PwPD who do not dance.

Photo Credit: Joseph DeSouza

The study is the first of its kind to follow PwPD over a three-year period during weekly dance participation with music, providing听additional听information regarding the nature of progression of motor and听non-motor PD symptoms.

鈥淭he experience of performing and being in a studio environment with dance instructors appears to provide benefits for these individuals,鈥� said DeSouza. 鈥淕enerally, what we know is that dance activates brain areas in those without PD. For those with Parkinson鈥檚 disease even when it鈥檚 mild motor impairment can impact their daily functioning 鈥� how they feel about themselves. Many of these motor symptoms lead to isolation because once they get extreme, these people don鈥檛 want to go out. These motor symptoms lead to further psychological issues, depression, social isolation and eventually the symptoms do get worse over time. Our study shows that training with dance and music can slow this down and improve their daily living and daily function.鈥�

The goal of the research was to create a long-term听neurorehabilitation听strategy听to combat the symptoms of PD. In the study, researchers looked at how a听multi-sensory听activity, (like dance with music learning) which听incorporated听the use and stimulation of several sensory modalities in the dance environment including vision, audition, tactile perception, proprioception,听kinesthesia, social organization and expression, olfactory, vestibular and balance control听鈥� may influence many of the mood, cognitive, motor and neural challenges faced by PwPD.

Researchers followed collected data from PwPD over three-and-a-half years while they learned choreography over the first year and performed it, that is designed to be adaptable to the disease stage and current symptoms for PwPD.

In the study, 16 participants with mild-to-moderate PD (11 males, five females) with an average age of 69, were tested between听October听2014 and听November听2017. They were matched for age and severity of disease. Each participant took part in a 1.25-hour dance class at Canada鈥檚 National Ballet School (NBS) and Trinity St. Paul鈥檚 church locations. Dancers participated in dance exercises which provided both aerobic and anaerobic movements. This group was then compared to 16听non-dance PwPD participants (the reference group) chosen from a larger PwPD 听cohort from the Parkinson鈥檚 Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI), a longitudinal research project funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson鈥檚 Research (MJFF) and related funding partners.

Classes began with live music accompaniment during the seated warm-up, followed by barre work, and ended with moving across the floor. All participants learned choreography for an听upcoming performance. Researchers recorded videos, conducted paper and pen questionnaires of all participants and performed statistical听analyses.

鈥淒ance is so complex, it鈥檚 a multi-sensory type of environment,鈥� said Bearss. 鈥淚t incorporates and stimulates your auditory, tactile, visual and kinesthetic senses and adds an interactive social aspect. Regular exercise does not offer these aspects. There鈥檚 so much more to dance.鈥�

Researchers will next examine what occurs in the brain immediately before and after a dance class to determine what neurological changes take place.

鈥淐urrently there is no precise intervention with PD and usual remedies are pharmacological interventions, but not many options are given for听alternate听exercises or听additional interventions to push their brains,鈥� said DeSouza. 鈥淗opefully this data will shed light on听additional therapies for this group and be used in the treatment process. There may be changes in the brain that occur with dance with music, but more research is necessary.鈥�

About 91亚色

91亚色听is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change and prepare our students for success. 91亚色's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

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Media contact:听Anjum Nayyar, 91亚色 Media Relations, cell 437 242 1547,听anayyar@yorku.ca

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TORONTO, May 11, 2020听鈥� How is your sense of smell? Do you find yourself frequently dozing off during the day or thrashing about during dreams? Often, early stage Parkinson鈥檚 disease does not present with typical motor disturbance symptoms, making diagnosis problematic. Now, neuroscientists at 91亚色 have found five different models that use these types of non-motor clinical as well as biological variables to more accurately predict early-stage Parkinson鈥檚 disease.

Their five-model analysis is one of the first utilizing only non-motor clinical and biologic variables. Some models performed better than others but all distinguished early stage (preclinical) Parkinson鈥檚 disease from healthy, age-matched controls, with better than 80 per cent accuracy. The models may assist in more timely administration of future treatments as they become available, according to the study published in today.

Using the multiple model method as a first pass for diagnosis would also be a less invasive alternative to using the traditional radioactive tracer scan (DaTscan) usually used to assess patients.

The study鈥檚 lead author, PhD candidate Charles Leger, and his lab supervisor , associate professor Department of Psychology at 91亚色, say the goal was to develop models that could be used to predict, with greater than 80 per cent efficiency, those with early-stage Parkinson鈥檚 pathology versus those without apparent disease.

In the study, two separate analyses were conducted: one for the classification of early Parkinson鈥檚 disease versus controls, and the other for classification of early Parkinson鈥檚 versus SWEDD (scans without evidence of dopamine deficit). The term听SWEDD听refers to the absence, rather than the presence, of an imaging abnormality in patients clinically presumed to have Parkinson's disease.

鈥淩ight now, there鈥檚 no cure for Parkinson鈥檚 disease. All we know now are the signs and symptoms and we can only treat the symptoms,鈥� says DeSouza. 鈥淭hese models could be very useful in differentiating patients who may present with Parkinson鈥檚-like symptoms not related to Parkinson鈥檚 pathology from patients who actually have the disease."

Facilitated and more accurate prediction of early-stage, de novo Parkinson鈥檚 can allow those positively diagnosed to adopt lifestyle changes such as regular physical exercise early on that can improve mobility and balance, says DeSouza.

Researchers used cross-sectional, baseline data from the Parkinson鈥檚 Progressive Markers Initiative (PPMI). The PPMI data used was confined to non-motor clinical variables (e.g. sense of smell, daytime sleepiness, presence of rapid eye movement behaviour disorder, age, etc.) and biologic variables (e.g. cerebral spinal fluid alpha-synuclein, tau protein, beta-amyloid-142, etc.) Five different model types were 鈥渢rained鈥� models that could prove useful in helping to differentiate early stage Parkinson鈥檚 pathology.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 unique about this study is that it provides a dual analysis, which hasn鈥檛 been done before for early Parkinson鈥檚 disease,鈥� says Leger.

The dual analysis included: (a) prediction of early, preclinical Parkinson鈥檚 vs. controls, then in a separate analysis, (b) early Parkinson鈥檚 vs. SWEDD (the Parkinson鈥檚 lookalike condition). The trained models attempted to predict early Parkinson鈥檚 from controls (a); and early Parkinson鈥檚 from SWEDD (b).

鈥淓very feature used was first proven relevant in the literature. Of those, we allowed each model to pick out which predictors were most important. No model is guaranteed to provide the best fit,鈥� says Leger. 鈥淲ith five models, if you get the same feature that stands out, then you know that particular variable is very important in distinguishing disease. Neurologists could apply one or more of the models to their own data to assist distinguish Parkinson鈥檚 pathology from pathology masquerading as Parkinson鈥檚. Two of the models may be useful in helping to screen those in the SWEDD category with Parkinson鈥檚 type pathology from those whose pathology is not Parkinson鈥檚 related.鈥�

In both early Parkinson鈥檚/control and early Parkinson鈥檚/SWEDD analyses, and across all models, hyposmia 鈥� a reduced ability to smell and to detect odours 鈥� was the single most important feature to distinguish early-onset Parkinson鈥檚, followed by rapid eye movement behaviour disorder.

91亚色 champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91亚色 students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world鈥檚 most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91亚色 U is an internationally recognized research university 鈥� our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91亚色 is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni.

Media contact:
Anjum Nayyar, 91亚色 Media Relations, cell 437-242-1547,听anayyar@yorku.ca

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