Dancing Through Parkinson’s (DTP) provides dance classes to people living with Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative, mobility, and age-related conditions. DTP is a versatile program that connects storytelling through movement with physical health, mental health, and joyful community.

Placing creativity at the forefront of our program is vital to its function and our ability to support our dancers well-being.
Inviting Guest Artists into our space to expand our curriculum, practicing improvisation & celebrating unique movement, and engaging dancers in screendance are ways that we champion their individuality and identity while activating their creative mind.

Below are some of our creative projects featuring our amazing DTP community.

A Form to Return To: The Body as Form, Force, and Language

A Form to Return To: The Body as Form, Force, and Language is Dancing Through Parkinson’s second annual live performance, directed by Rachel Whiting in collaboration with poet laureate Francine Ringold.

Drawing from poetry, somatic improvisation, and multi-sensory practice, the piece reimagines form as a living language shaped by the counterforces of gravity and grace. Gravity embodies what pulls us down—self-doubt, physical limitation, social pressure—while grace emerges as its counterbalance: a release found through breath, tenderness, intention, and community.

The choreography draws inspiration from the abstract shapes and forms of the artist Paul Klee, translating his fluid lines and geometric explorations into movement that bends, folds, and transforms across space.

The performance features dancers living with the realities of Parkinson’s Disease, many of whom are stepping onto the stage for the first time to share their stories through movement. Their artistry is joined by a cast of interdisciplinary collaborators, weaving together dance, text, and sound into an embodied inquiry of what it means to return to a shape—not to repeat it, but to transform it.

At its heart, this production is a collaborative process rooted in care, listening, and joy, where movement becomes more than expression—it becomes a means of reclaiming space, voice, and visibility.

A Form to Return To premiered at the Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center in September 2025. 

Cartography of Hope: A Journey of Change

It’s time now that we thrive! Cartography of Hope: A Journey of Change is about what it is to thrive. In these challenging times, we discover new depths within ourselves and each other. Together, we rise above obstacles and share stories of resilience, courage, and hope. This is the essence of our Dancing Through Parkinson’s (DTP) community.

Every performer you see on stage participates in weekly dance classes alongside people living with Parkinson’s, their friends, family, care partners, and even dogs! They come to sweat, play, stretch, and bend—but above all, they come to express themselves and seize the fleeting beauty of dance.

Directed by Rachel Whiting, in collaboration with poet laureate Francine Ringold and the DTP community, this multimedia performance blends dance, poetry, film, and visual art into a dynamic tapestry of creativity. Through self-portraiture, participants reflect on their inner landscapes and the essence of self, transforming personal and collective stories into powerful embodiments of movement. As we map out the peaks and valleys of our experiences—memories, skills, and emotions—we create vibrant collages of expression revealing our strengths, challenges, triumphs, and even hidden superpowers.
Cartography of Hope: A Journey of Change premiered at Highways Performance Space in September 2024. 

Blossomed

Blossomed is a Screendance Film inspired by the collaborative artistic device, Exquisite Corpse, where an ending movement is passed to another dancer until a full dance is woven together. Invertigo Dance Theatre’s program: Dancing Through Parkinson’s creates a movement chain-letter to celebrate how dance brings the Los Angeles Parkinson’s community together.
Each frame highlights a new environment and movement motif that celebrates the individual, while building on collective creativity. The Tulip flower is incorporated in each segment to represent our colorful community. Blossomed layers original poetry and music, created by the Dancing Through Parkinson’s members, to integrate the personal struggles of living with Parkinson’s, while illustrating the power of dance to enrich the lives of those affected by the disease.
Blossomed received an honorary mention in the World Parkinson’s Congress 2023.

Living On One: Micro-Documentary

A micro-documentary created by Optimist Films featuring long time DTP dancer, Jack Gregory.

Living On One producers celebrate how a diagnosis of Parkinson’s has sparked a sense of community through the power of dance and highlight how DTP’s spirit is infused with inclusion, challenge and collaboration. The uniqueness of our class demonstrates how the principles of a dance class can become the foundation to success in daily activities.

“People dance every day for all different reasons. Some dance to work out, and some dance to be part of a community. Jack, who participates in a dance class for people with Parkinson’s, finds happiness in moving his body and doing it in a group while wearing his “crazy socks.” Dancing Through Parkinson’s is building confidence, community, and well-being through dance therapy.” -Lightbeam Stories

Nelken Line

Participant’s of Invertigo’s Dancing Through Parkinson’s program dance the Nelken Line as part of the Pina Bausch Foundation’s The Nelken Line Project.
Filmed on the Santa Monica Pier.

This video is a special submission for the World Parkinson Congress 2019.
Film produced by Joey Merholz and Mel Metcalfe.
Music: “West End Blues” by Louis Armstrong/Universal Music

Arts Infusion | Joaquin Gamboa

In 2022, Invertigo Dance Theatre was awarded a grant from the Parkinson’s Foundation to enhance learning and deepen core curriculum through the Arts and Neurology Infusion Initiative. DTP partnered with LA-based neurologists in an informative exchange focused on the latest medical research and movement therapies used to support those living with PD — and! — Invertigo invited four guest artists to teach genre-specific dance classes to our DTP community.

Our four multidisciplinary guest artists to engaged participants with varying movement disciplines. From Salsa to Jazz, Tap to rhythmic drumming, each specialty workshop allowed for versatility and movement translation and enriched perspectives on culture and storytelling. This video features our first Guest Artist, Joaquin Gamboa offering a lively how-to on rotating hips and complicated foot work through Salsa partnered dance.

Video by Glyn Gray

Crane Dance

Dancers from Invertigo’s Dancing Through Parkinson’s program created this special video for the PD Crane Dance Project. This film along with many other video submissions from the worldwide PD community was compiled into a single continuous video and shown at the 5th World Parkinson’s Congress in Kyoto, Japan 2019.