Join the dance · Inserm, science for health

And one, two, three and four… In this report we take you dancing the tango. But not just any tango: therapeutic tango. Visit the geriatric hospital center in Albigny-sur-Saône, north of Lyon, where around twenty residents prepare for dance under the guidance of an accordionist and a professional dancer.

“ Tango is the dance that comes closest to natural walking “, he explains to us straight away. That’s why it’s particularly suitable for an older audience. Through regular practice, people with Alzheimer’s disease can relearn simple but forgotten gestures: rocking from one foot to the other, turning around, walking backwards, etc. In addition to improving motor skills, therapeutic tango stimulates memory and promotes contact with others and increases the overall quality of life. France Mourey’s research team was able to demonstrate this many positive effects by measuring residents’ skills before and after three months of therapeutic tango workshops. Come, stretch your head as far forward as possible and let this rhythm from Argentina guide you!

An older woman sits on a chair and sings with joy.

To warm up, residents are first invited to sing “The Most Beautiful Tango in the World” by Tino Rossi. “ I adore ! This is joy » shouts resident Mariane Le Cosquino.

The musician Patrick Bullier accompanies her on the accordion. From the first notes, some stand up to sing. “ It’s the sharing in music, we manage to create such emotions. »

A man plays the accordion and an older woman happily stands opposite him. A young woman looks at her smiling.
The young woman in the previous photo is dancing with an older woman who closes her eyes as if she is swept up in the music or the moment.

“ Therapeutic tango helps to re-establish contact with the residents, we rediscover them. For some of them it was a revelation », tells us Jaël Gelay, psychomotor therapist (right).

Tango is above all a dance that invites contact. “ We have residents who no longer look at anyone, who end up looking for others to dance with », welcomes the very committed team of supervisors.

An older woman dances with a very smiling younger woman, they look into each other's eyes.
A man in his thirties holds wooden chopsticks in each hand. He is surrounded by two older women holding identical chopsticks and tapping his chopsticks.

If you want, you can also tap along to the cadence with percussion instruments. A way to regain the sense of rhythm. In the middle, Renaud Jamet, advanced practice nurse, sets the pace.

An older man in a T-shirt and shorts stands in the position of a tango dancer. He is surrounded by many cameras.

The research component is carried out in Dijon. At the heart of the CAPS lab, volunteers like Pascal Godon are asked to perform a series of movements that are recorded.

The silhouette of the same man as in the previous photo stands out in black against a white background when backlit. We see spherical objects the size of walnuts attached to his wrist, arm, and right shoulder.
In an image designed by a computer, we see the silhouette of a person. This silhouette is formed by lines connecting points corresponding to the sensors attached to a volunteer, as in the previous photo.

Muscle electrical activity and movement characteristics are measured using reflective ball sensors attached to the volunteer’s arms and infrared cameras. The volunteer’s movements are reconstructed on the computer. The aim of this research is to decipher the mechanisms of movement and the influence of aging on them ultimatelyto understand how tango music can influence them.

Almost forty senior citizens’ facilities have introduced tango therapy: in the context of neurodegenerative diseases, it represents an alternative or supplement to pharmacological treatments.

France Mourey is a researcher in the department Action cognition and sensorimotor plasticity