Partnered Dance Aerobic Exercise as a Neuroprotective, Motor and Cognitive Intervention in Parkinson's Disease

Participants with PD will dance the follower role only and will dance with new partners (individuals without PD) every 15-20 minutes, a widely practiced method considered by the dance teaching community to enhance learning. Participants will engage in partnering exercises on how to interpret motor goals through touch, exercises to develop understanding of temporal relationship of movement to music, novel step introduction, connecting previously learned and novel step elements. Frequent repetition and musical stereotypes may foster implicit learning or muscle memory (i.e., motor learning, or procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition). Participants will not be required to memorize specific step patterns but will learn new steps in each class

The participants will receive equal contact and monitoring from study staff. WAE participants will report to the same facility and interact with the same interventionist and assistants. The participants will participate in sessions focused on at least 60 minutes of walking with breaks ad libitum, and 1/2 hour balance and stretching. The investigators have a designated, safe and non-cluttered area for walking. WAE will also take place in groups, with research volunteers and assistants to ensure that PDAE and WAE participants both receive a socially engaging intervention