JUDITH SACHS has been working with adaptive dancers and bringing them to performance for the past 6 years. Working toward her certification in Dance for Parkinsons® has made her adept at creating movement for unconventional dancers and encouraging them to do more than they think they can. Her years of writing books with physicians and as a creative director in pharmaceutical marketing make her aware of the concerns of individuals with movement restriction. Her goal is to give them awareness of body and mind. As a teaching artist, she works at senior centers, libraries, nursing homes, assisted living and residential facilities and at geriatric rehab centers. She posits that dancing to music in a chair, wheelchair or walker can free a body from its physical restrictions and galvanize a group to work together on rhythm, grace and confidence. In addition, she trains healthcare providers in these settings to treat patients as people and communicate non-verbally with compassion and energy. By interweaving the clinical and the physical, joy can result.

To give new life to the body is to foster joy. In my work as a dancer and teacher of dance to those in chairs, wheelchairs, walkers and the able-bodied, I motivate others to take charge of the parts of life we often shy away from or neglect. All of us find ourselves with more physical limitations the older we get, but we can only grow stronger if we keep moving, day by day, hour by hour.