World Parkinson’s Day: This performance in Mumbai tells a story through dance

Every step you take is made possible and managed by a million neurons firing electrical impulses in the span of a split second One break in the circuit can cause chaos This is precisely the nature of Parkinsonrsquos Disease For Dr Vonita Singh founder of Movement Mantra and producer of the play Still Dancing this learning came at a personal costSinghrsquos introduction to the chronic degenerative disorder was in 2010 when her father was diagnosed with Parkinsonrsquos Disease ldquoAs the condition progressed it was traumatic and left us with a feeling of helplessnessrdquo she admits One of the lessons from the experience was that counterintuitive to common understanding movement was key to rehabilitation for such patientsVonita Singh and Sanjeev DixitldquoParkinsonrsquos is actually called a movement disorder Movement is prescribed by neurologists because the muscles get affected As my fatherrsquos disease progressed we babysat him By doing so we limited him further and made him more inflexiblerdquo Singh shares It led her to the concept of her venture Movement Mantra that seeks to help patients rehabilitate through the use of danceDirector Sanjeev Dixit recalls working on the script over voice notes from Singh and her family ldquoAs a writer you become a bit of an anthropologist On the one hand you have the events that occurred On the other hand there is the effect it has on people aroundrdquo he says The key Dixit adds was Singh herself ldquoIt is her journey and that of her family Their lessons experiences are the sum of the parts that make up this experiencerdquo Singh adds ldquoWe stayed true to the events I was so convinced of the need to reach out and start a conversation that the concern about my image ceased to bother merdquoDance forms a key motif of the narrative about Parkinsonrsquos DiseaseIncidentally the play was first staged in Dubai on April 11 2019 ldquoIt is a journey of exactly five years to the date and we are at our India premiere todayrdquo Dixit points out The India leg of the journey began in January with QTP India handling the line production on acts such as casting through open auditions scheduling and stage production Artistic director Quasar ThakorePadamsee reveals ldquoThe reason we got involved was the same mdash the incredible story I didnrsquot even know that movement was such a crucial thing to Parkinsonrsquosrsquo patientsrdquoThe play includes the Indian dance form as a key element Dixit says ldquoIt was an organic choice Vonita is a Kathak dancer herself and I spent a decade working with a dance group in Dubai It was important that this remains a theatrical pieceThe team at a reading session in MumbaiWhile we hope to spread awareness we must also deliver something with artistic merit for the audience to be engagedrdquo The troupe will use dance in expressive abstract forms as a mode to convey expressions of the characters in the playBut the dance is more than just an aesthetic Singh shares that dance is often an enjoyable way to help patients retrain the brainrsquos pathways ldquoFor a long time I thought movement was part of therapy I now realise that movement is therapyrdquo she remarks Having moved to Ahmedabad a couple of years ago she hopes to change the perception of the disease across the country The producer reveals ldquoThere is a huge gap in awareness We are socially and culturally stigmatised to the word lsquoParkinsonrsquosrsquordquoShe adds ldquoThe plan is to go panIndia with performances in multiple languages across India if possible to smaller towns The threat of Parkinsonrsquos is growing and India is at the heart of it There is no better reason than this to take it on the roadrdquo she notesON Today and April 13 730 pmAT Experimental Theatre NCPA Nariman Point Royal Opera House Charni RoadLOG ON TO inbookmyshowcomENTRY Rs 350 onwards