Sayaw PD
Dance for Parkinson's
by Novy Bereber
Sayaw PD is a free dance class for people living with Parkinson’s disease — the first programme of its kind in Asia, founded and taught by Novy Bereber, the first male practitioner of Dance for Parkinson’s in Australia.
It is a dance class, not a therapy session. The classes emphasise the aesthetic and imaginative elements of dance to stimulate creativity, imagination, cognitive skills and emotion — and spouses, friends, family and carers are welcome in the room.
Join a class
- What
- Online Sayaw PD dance class — free
- Where
- Sayaw PD on Facebook
- When
- Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 2:00 PM Manila time
- Who
- Anyone with Parkinson’s, and the people who come with them
01 On stage Lubid
Lubid — Untangling Misconceptions and Resilience in Parkinson’s Disease. Sayaw PD’s first full production has its world premiere on 11 November 2026 at Rose Memorial Hall in Iloilo City. Novy Bereber directs and choreographs, with costume design by Tata Pinuela and production design by Ron Espinosa, danced by the Iloilo Bereber Dance Company with ECD Dance Company Philippines.
It is funded under the National Commission for Culture and the Arts Competitive Grants Program. Auditions were held in Iloilo City in June 2026, open to professional ballet, contemporary and jazz dancers.
“This is more than a performance,” the call for dancers said. “It’s a movement for awareness and resilience — help us untangle misconceptions through dance.”
This season
- 13 September, 2:00 PM
- The Iloilo Bereber Dance Company represents Sayaw PD at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Manila International Performing Arts Market — Nosi Ba Lasi, Fuego, Anak Asia, and an early preview of LUBID
- 23 October
- Sayaw PD hosts Ballet Manila for a special staging of Ibong Adarna, Gerardo Francisco Jr.’s adaptation under artistic director Lisa Macuja-Elizalde
- 11 November
- LUBID — world premiere, Rose Memorial Hall, Iloilo City
02 What it is A dance class, not a therapy session
Bereber Sayaw PD is purely art-based: a dance class for dancing’s sake, by design and by demand, with people who have Parkinson’s disease. The focus is on the dance. There are elements of therapy, but the artistic component is the key to what we do — and it requires the knowledge a dancer has to teach this kind of class successfully.
Participants don’t come to a Sayaw PD class to get therapy. They come to learn to dance and to enjoy themselves in an artistic, social setting. Sayaw PD is about building a community around them, which is why their families, partners and caregivers are welcome to attend.
Parkinson’s reaches about 1 in 675 people — some twelve million worldwide. Sayaw PD’s chair-based classes are built for them: safe places to move, connect and feel seen.
The classes are based on a set of principles and approaches found to be particularly beneficial for people with Parkinson’s, and they are free.
03 Why Our mission
- Encourage people with Parkinson’s Disease to lead a full and active life
- Create and raise awareness for Parkinson’s Disease
- Provide a Bereber Sayaw PD class in different regions in the Philippines
- Produce trained dance teachers capable of conducting Bereber Sayaw PD classes
- Collaborate with medical companies to help seniors with Parkinson’s Disease receive medicine through corporate sponsorship and donations to our foundation
- Develop a joyful and positive community for people with Parkinson’s Disease
04 How Our principles
Twelve of them, and every class is built on them.
- Develop the feeling of joy for dance.
- Learn from trained professionals, experienced teaching artists, who love what they are teaching and enjoy working with seniors.
- Learn dancing actual choreography by dancemakers of local and international stature.
- Dance with live musical accompaniment whenever possible.
- Aim for mental and physical development working with trained artists, who are not teaching just systematic response.
- Set aesthetic without necessarily striving for perfection.
- Emphasize the use of imagery to invoke a wide range of specific, contrasting movements.
- Integrate specific, identifiable dance styles and techniques to develop strength, balance, coordination, rhythm, and grace.
- Express emotions and explore your imagination through specific choreography, structured improvisation, and physical storytelling.
- Dance together in circles, lines, couples, and groups.
- Emphasize the essentially joyful nature of dance.
- Support each other as a community.
05 Watch Sayaw PD on film
Six films about the classes — what they are, who comes, and what an hour in the room actually looks like. Each opens on YouTube when you press play.
What is Bereber Sayaw PD all about? | Dance for people with PD and their Carers
Bereber Sayaw PD
Sayaw PD Introduction, Dance for People with Parkinson's with Novy Bereber
Bereber Sayaw PD
Dance for Parkinson's Australia with Novy Bereber
Bereber Sayaw PD
Dancing with Parkinson's Disease - it's possible!
Bereber Sayaw PD
Teacher Novy sharing hope and joy to students with Parkinson's Disease
Bereber Sayaw PD
Sayaw PD by Novy Bereber at Addlib Dance Studio
Bereber Sayaw PD
06 The room Classes, in pictures
Sayaw PD has run across Metro Manila for years. The last studio-based class was hosted by Addlib Dance Studio in Cubao — thank you to Addlib for donating the space. When the pandemic closed the studios the classes moved online, to Facebook Live and Zoom, so that nobody lost the room.
On Facebook Live
07 Help Support Sayaw PD
Running these classes costs money, and they stay free. Support helps us improve the quality, keep the regular online classes going, and grow the community around them.
Sayaw PD works with Sun Pharma, and its founder has carried the programme abroad — to Kathmandu in 2024 — to share how it is taught.
What your support pays for
- Internet access and utilities
- Sayaw PD website
- Zoom online meeting service
- Copyright-free music
- Video editor
- Lighting equipment
- Graphics design
- Wireless speaker system
- Video camera and computer
- Camera operator
Please consider supporting us through the donate link on sayawpd.com. We accept PayPal and credit cards.
08 Ask Message us
Got a question? Want a private class? Need information about the benefits of Sayaw PD, Dance for Parkinson’s? We are here to help.
