![\"tulip-unfold-2\"](\"https:\/\/www.journeyofaday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/10\/tulip-unfold-2-300x113.jpg\")
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Anyone who knows me at all knows I love dance.\u00a0 I love to dance; I love to watch dancers.\u00a0 I don’t claim to be good at it … I just love it.\u00a0 For me, dance embodies Haanel’s 3-7 quote, “When the Solar Plexus is in active operation and is radiating life, energy and vitality to every part of the body, and to every one whom he meets, the sensations are pleasant, the body is filled with health and all with whom he comes in contact experience a pleasant sensation.”\u00a0 That’s what I experience when I dance or when I see others dance.<\/p>\n
Now, who’s Suzanne?\u00a0 Well, I met Suzanne Ryan and another incredible woman, Lisa Sirridge, at the Bolender Center For Creative Movement<\/a> when it opened with a Dance Day event several years ago.\u00a0 I was so impressed, I took classes from them both for awhile.\u00a0 Lisa teaches Pilates and Suzanne taught Modern dance at that time.\u00a0 Both inspired me.\u00a0 Both moved me — helped me correct my posture and positioning to get the best out of my body and help make it stronger.<\/p>\n https:\/\/youtu.be\/vy5qCZYlHhg<\/p>\n Suzanne Ryan, choreographer<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Suzanne, an incredibly talented choreographer (you can view clips of her work in the video above) has since then begun to teach dance for patients with Parkinson’s Disease.<\/a>\u00a0 But she has taken that incredible gift and made it shine even brighter.\u00a0 She has choreographed a beautiful work called “A Tulip Unfolding<\/a>“.\u00a0 This amazing work premiered at the Kansas City Fringe Festival<\/a> two years ago.\u00a0 I was invited by both Suzanne and Lisa (Lisa’s daughter, Grace, was one of the dancers.\u00a0 (Since I’ve known Lisa, I’ve known Grace, a beautiful young woman who’s talent, beauty and brains fit her name perfectly.)\u00a0 I wasn’t able to attend since I was working for the festival at another venue.<\/p>\n In the past week, however, I got to witness what I think is the most powerful performance of “A Tulip Unfolding” I will ever come to know.\u00a0 This event, starring Suzanne’s choreography and Grace’s dancing talent, along with several other talented UMKC dancers, was presented at the UMKC Student Union Theater.\u00a0 This unique dance tells the stories of 5 patients with Parkinson’s Disease.\u00a0 Some of the moves included were specifically created by the patients themselves, and 4 of the 5 were in attendance.\u00a0 To see the dancers connect with the sources of their stories and to experience this phenomenal heart-felt iteration of the real people behind the disease was an incredibly moving experience.<\/p>\n At some point down the road, dear reader, you too, will have an opportunity to witness this spectacular story.\u00a0 A film crew has been following the creation and performance of this dance.\u00a0 They filmed the initial interviews with the patients, the dancers and their experience in learning about the disease and the patients, and they filmed the performance.\u00a0 The documentary is being edited now.<\/p>\n But what added to this special event at the college blew me away in another direction.\u00a0 Even though this performance was open to anyone, it was particularly created for the students of the UMKC School for Medicine?\u00a0 WHAT?\u00a0 Doctors in training learning their craft from DANCE?<\/p>\n![\"tulip-unfolding-dancers\"](\"https:\/\/www.journeyofaday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2016\/10\/tulip-unfolding-dancers-300x200.jpg\")
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