PD Movement Lab | from Parkinson's Coach Pamela Quinn

Welcome to the web tutorial for the dance “Ooh Aah!” In the following pages you will find a combination of text and videos that will guide you through learning the movement step-by-step. If you are worried about your ability to learn the dance, you might find it helpful to know that two years ago a group of people with Parkinson’s performed a version of this piece in New York, and they did very well. Over the course of six one-hour group sessions everyone was able to learn the dance fully.  I have full confidence you will be able to learn “Ooh Aah!” just as well.

Here are some logistical details about our performance in Kyoto, and an overview of the learning process.

Location: Kyoto International Convention Center

Number of Performers: 40-50

Performance Date: evening of Tuesday June 4th

Rehearsal Dates in Kyoto: Monday, June 3rd and Tuesday, June 4th (both in the afternoon)

After learning “Ooh Aah!” over the next two months with your rehearsal group or on your own, we will have two opportunities to all rehearse together in Kyoto. The first will be a three-hour session in a room at the Convention Center on Monday afternoon. This will give us a chance to meet and practice as a larger group. On Tuesday afternoon we will rehearse for several hours on the stage where we will perform. This way we will know exactly how the performance will go when we do it later on that evening. It is important that you know your part of the dance very well before arriving in Kyoto. These rehearsal sessions are for smoothing out the details of performing together and familiarizing ourselves with the space.

The piece will be the closing segment of the Congress’s opening program, performed before an international audience of researchers, physicians and people with Parkinson’s in the main hall of the Convention Center. A video recording will also be released online, which will enable even more people to view the performance all around the world.

The Learning Process:

I have divided the cast into three different groups, group 1, 2 and 3. Each group will perform a similar, but different sequence of movements. You will be part of group 1.

Each group will have its own webpage, which will walk you through the dance. Every section of the dance will have an explanation, a demonstration, and a video for you to follow.

As you follow along with me in each video mirror my actions. If I move this way…

…you move in the same direction. If I move this way…

you move in that direction as well.

Repeat each video as many times as you need to learn the part.

To make the learning process easier, I have broken the piece into four different sections, so you can learn one section at a time. I advise you not to do more than that because you will need some processing time.

The total running time of the dance is just under four minutes.

You should also know that when we perform at the WPC, I will be on stage in a chair facing you just as I am in the videos here. I will perform the dance with you and help alert each group about what to do next – a dance conductor! 

If at any point in the learning process you have questions you can email me at pamelag.quinn54@gmail.com

Let’s begin.