Starting with this project, our website will feature a gallery of student work. If you are interested in learning more about the thinking and writing that lead to the project below, please visit the Relationships with Alzheimer's Gallery Page. 

In the Fall 2014, a collaboration began around the art form of contemporary dance and personal connections to Alzheimer's Disease. As part of IDEAS Project Block, the five students performing in this video spent a semester researching different aspects of the disease, engaging in the community, and choreographing an original dance. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

"How does Alzheimer's affect a relationship? Alzheimer’s requires intensive care, strong relationships, lifestyle changes, and it needs more recognition. To show how Alzheimer’s affects relationships, my group and I chose the art form of contemporary dance. We show the effects with our roles and storyline. Starting off as people that know that Alzheimer's exists but have not experienced it. That is showed by the wandering and the insync movement. Then, leading into one of us getting Alzheimer’s, causing the rest of us to react trying to comfort her. Unfortunately, another one of us gets it. From there were trying to move on and be the best we can for them. Eventually, yet again, another person gets it. Leaving the last two people as caregivers, they try to support them and struggle. To make our dance more informational, we made sure we showed the struggles between the people with Alzheimer's and their caregivers. We would like our audience to remember that it needs more recognition so that fewer families need to go through the struggle." - Cassandra Grande, Class of 2018

VIDEO PRODUCTION by 2014-2015 Étude Studios Interns Kelsey Fick & Alex Valenciana