BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) —  Dancing is something that runs deep in Louisiana’s blood.
And in the Capital area, people are using it to fight Parkinson’s disease uniquely.

Randy LeBlanc has lived with Parkinson’s disease for more than 17 years.

“People think that Parkinson’s is just the shakes, but it’s so much more to it,” he explained. “Slow movement, which is mine or the resting tremors and that’s the visual. But again, there’s just a lot of other symptoms that are so troublesome.”

He said the one thing that helps him is dancing.

“It’s really movement just getting up and moving. We have a class that I go to every week,” he explained. LeBlanc has been going to dance classes since he was diagnosed. Bringing his wife and meeting new friends along the way.

Every member of the class has Parkinson’s disease or a mobility defect.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive nervous system disorder that slowly impacts movement. Making some of the complications of dance classes important for people whose bodies are finding it harder to move.

“Your hands shake or you can’t move. You have this slow, shuffling movement that affects your speech,” LeBlanc expressed.

Medical experts say that dancing slows the progression of the disease.

In this class, dancers move for an hour straight while sitting. Swaying arms or moving feet.
The coordinator of the class, Jaelyn Robinson, said it’s important for them to keep moving.

“Exercise and movement is a crucial part of staying and living healthy.” LeBlanc agreed. “There is no cure currently. So but the one thing that is known to delay the progression is exercise.”

For more information, click here. Future classes will be hosted every Thursday.