Deerfield Woman Uses Dance Therapy to Help Those With Movement Disorders

A Deerfield woman continues to make a profound impact on people who suffer from movement disorders.

Erica Hornthal, founder of North Shore Dance Therapy - which provides dance/movement therapy and counseling services to older adults and their families - uses dance as a therapeutic tool to help others process feelings and integrate cognitive, physical and social wellness.

Some of Hornthal’s clients suffer from Parkinson’s disease, so, in April, she led a National Parkinson’s Foundation fundraiser, bringing together professionals, individuals and families affected by the disease and other movement disorders with a goal to “foster expression, communication, and awareness in regard to movement and cognitive disorders in the greater Chicago community through movement and music,” she said.

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The Foundation then awarded North Shore Dance Therapy with its “2015 Communication Grant Award,” a $5,000 grant that will allow Hornthal to co-facilitate classes from September 2015 to May 2016 with an instructor from the North Shore School of Dance in Highland Park.

Classes run an hour-and-a-half long and incorporate “breathing, stretching, choreographed movement as well as authentic/creative movement to enhance physical as well as cognitive abilities.”

“This strengthens the bond and builds empathy,” said Hornthal, who works with people of all ages and levels of dancing ability.

More on Hornthal’s methods via WCIU