Dance For Parkinson’s

Rachel Stanislawczyk is a graduate of Rutgers University, where she earned her Ed.M in Dance Education with a K-12 teaching certification, and Virginia Commonwealth University, where she earned her B.F.A in Dance and Choreography. Rachel is the Director and Founder of the Dance for Parkinson’s Program at American Repertory Ballet: a program for people diagnosed with PD and their caregivers. As Director, she has presented at The Parkinson’s Foundation’s Moving Day NJ, Dr. Jill M. Giordano Farmer’s PD Education Conference, The American Parkinson’s Disease Association’s Annual Spring Conference, and The Parkinson’s Alliance’s 5K Team Parkinson Run. In 2017, Rachel progressed from an intern to a lead teacher of the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) Dance for PD® program, where she taught classes at MMDG, New York University, and Ballet Academy East. Currently, Rachel is a full-time dance educator at Abraham Clark High School, and performs professionally with Rock Dance Collective.

Michael Vitaly Sazonov is a bilingual performing artist, theatre maker, and teaching artist who utilizes movement, music, and words to create a space where we can be ourselves and find joy through new perspectives.  Since 2014 Michael has worked with the Dance for PD® flagship program in Brooklyn, NY, through the Mark Morris Dance Group, where he continues to teach in both English and Spanish.  Michael is also a member of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts’ Creative Aging Communities of Practice, and their Creative Aging Learning Laboratory (CALLab).  Since 2018 Michael has created numerous expressive arts-based workshops and interventions based in dance, theatre, poetry, and improvisation for older adults and people living with Parkinson’s, Ataxia, and post-Stroke, both within community and university research settings.

As a first-generation American, Michael is an alum of the New York Foundation for the Arts’ Immigrant Artist Mentorship Program: Social Practice, where he deepened his dedication to creating multi-disciplinary, performance-based, documentary style theater with a social impact.  A member of the Actors’ Equity Association since 2004, Michael has enjoyed working as a professional actor in New York City – from new works to off-Broadway – and regionally in his hometown of Washington, DC.

His love for teaching is shaped by his spirited and holistic approach to the power of the imagination and creative self-expression.