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Stouffville Sun-Tribune | Thursday, October 13, 2016 | 12 COMMUNITY March of Dimes honours dance company with community partnership award Motus O receives recognition for its work with people with aphasia, stroke Ali Raza aliraza@yrmg.com There's more to dance than just stage performances, says Motus O Dance Theatre director Jack Langenhuizen. Langenhuizen, along with co-directors James and Cynthia Croker, lead the Stouffville-based dance company Motus O. Though their work mostly involves stage productions and tours, the company has moved into helping social service organizations for the last few years. Through that community work, Motus O has been recognized by March of Dimes Canada for its "dedication to inclusivity by learning about aphasia and other communications disorders and adapting their dance workshops," said March of Dimes in a release. The dance company received a community partnership award for its work with people with stroke and aphasia. The award is part of March of Dimes' annual recognition of community partners and employees. "Our work is enriched by partnerships like the one we have with Motus O Dance Theatre," said March of Dimes Canada president and CEO Andria Spindel. "A wonderful partnership has developed between this unique company and our Aphasia and Communication Disorders program in York Region." The Aphasia and Communications Disorders program helps people struggling from communications challenges due to prior illness through various meetings and workshops. For example, in some workshops participants sing, work together in groups and go through photo albums to activate parts of the brain dormant from stroke or similar conditions. The meetings occur once a week for six weeks, throughout various locations in York Region. It was at these meetings that Motus O became involved, most recently at a Dance for Dimes fundraiser at the Stouffville location, Parkview Village Auditorium. "We worked with people with aphasia, stroke victims," Langenhuizen said. "We were doing movement workshops. It's helpful for physical exercise and taps Dhoui Chang photo Motus O Dance Theatre representatives Jeff Young (left) and Jack Langenhuizen (second from right) receive their community partnership award from nominator Ruth Paterson of March of Dimes and event MC Blair Roblin. into the creative side of the brain." Motus O made six visits from March to May this year to the program meetings and spent an hour each visit doing what they call "capacity movements," warm-up exercises aimed at rebuilding repetitive movement. "We do some really fine motor skill work," Langenhuizen said. "Squishing your fingers, lateral movements across your body and spatial awareness exercises." Motus O plans to release a full-length show in April 2017 that features stories of people with autism, their caregivers in the first act, and stories of people with aphasia and their caregivers in the second half. The show combines the stories collected from work with March of Dimes and interviews and video clips of participants talking about themselves and their experiences living with aphasia. "You start to see dance is made for more than being on stage," Langenhuizen said. "Our experience over the years, since we started working with cerebral palsy, Parkinson's, people invited us to do these projects. "Movement is used for both emotional and physical therapy, it has such a greater purpose," he added. An approved Trillium grant the company received three years ago is what helps it fund its social service work. With that grant ending soon, Motus O plans to continue its community work. "It's been a good connector the type of work we do," Langenhuizen said. "It's had a lot of benefits; we'd like to see this in the long-term." 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