Impact of Amazonian dance on speech performance in people with Parkinson's disease

iScience. 2026 Aug 10;29(8):117185. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.117185. eCollection 2026 Aug 21.

ABSTRACT

Dance interventions improve limb motor function in Parkinson's disease (PD), yet their impact on speech-related motor control and overall language (e.g., semantics) remains unexplored. To test this, we conducted a 12-week exploratory clinical trial comparing Amazonian dance (two groups: north and south) with a matched-physical intensity control (Nordic walking) and ran automated speech and language analysis pre- and post-intervention. The clearest corrected effect was in the dance north group, who showed improvement in prosody (main tone) compared with Nordic walking. We observed additional consistent signals (uncorrected) for prosody and semantic organization (granularity), particularly when both dance groups were pooled relative to the Nordic walking group. These findings were further supported by subject-level consistency and covariate-adjusted analyses. Our exploratory study suggests that dance may enhance speech-motor and language functions in PD, potentially through auditory-motor coupling, improved timing, and the engagement of overlapping neural substrates between dance and speech and/or language.

PMID:42621230 | PMC:PMC13486893 | DOI:10.1016/j.isci.2026.117185