New York man uses ballet as therapy for Cerebral Palsy

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Living with cerebral palsy, 31-year-old Gregg Mozgala has said that all his life he’s received “stares and looks” because of his uncontrolled walk caused by the debilitating brain disorder that has no known cure.

Last month, however, things changed. People were staring for a different reason. Mozgala performed as the lead in the ballet performance of “Diagnosis of a Faun” at New York’s La Mama Experimental Theater Club.

“Your body does not cooperate. There’s a big disconnect between the brain and the body. ...There is a great deal of frustration that goes along with it,” Mozgala told ABC News.

After years of going to different doctors, and physical therapists, Gregg had resigned himself to the fact that he was never going to have a ‘normal’ gait. That was until he met Tamar Rogoff, a choreographer with no professional medical training or experience.

Rogoff first saw Mozgala acting in a performance of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and knew there were things she could fix.

“Tamar looked at my body and said this is too short, this is too long, let’s fix this,” Mozgala recalled.

For eight months the pair trained together, attempting to get his body conditioned to what he needed it to do.

“We weren’t even interested in curing cerebral palsy, or anything like this. We were just interested in getting his heels down, so he could balance for the performance,” Rogoff said.

What happened next is considered nothing short of a miracle by the two. Gregg was starting to be able to actually control his movements, he was able to actively combat the odd brain waves that caused the jerky motions he had dealt with his entire life.

“The prognosis that nothing can be done, which is what I heard for most of my life, doesn’t hold water for me anymore,” Mogzala said.

The changes Mozgala has undergone could mean a great deal to others living with cerebral palsy, and being told nothing can be done for them. In particular, the children at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, who are already beginning dance therapy, and seeing the possibilities of a better life ahead.

“This is life-changing, when the kids start to feel new parts of their body,” Dr. Citlali Lo’pez-Ortiz, a therapist at the institute told ABC. “I can see it in the class, their eyes light up.”

The Chicago Institute has taken the dance therapy to the next level, using motion sensor cameras to track any progress that is being made.

Going from a dance performance he never thought possible to helping a new generation to believe that there is hope for improved movement in the future, Mozgala walks down the street in a whole new way.

“It feels wonderful. It’s an amazing feeling. The fact that I can experience all of this change and a better understanding of myself and create a wonderful piece of art at the end of it, that’s a dream,” Mogzala said.

By Oliver VanDervoort
digitaljournal.com

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