How it all started
Natalie Muschamp had seen the development and the decline of a person with Parkinson’s within her own family. Her aunt Ineke Spoorenberg sadly lost her partner to Parkinson’s. After this loss, Ineke walked a pilgrimage from Amsterdam to Rome in 2010 and with this raised 13,100 euros for the Dutch Parkinson’s Foundation.
In 2015 while studying dance at the University of Malta Natalie became aware of the Dance for PD program in Brooklyn, New York, and felt compelled to help people with Parkinson’s disease through dance movement.
In order to be able to host these classes free of charge, Natalie applied for funding and founded Step Up for Parkinson’s. In 2015 while studying dance at the University of Malta Natalie became aware of the Dance for PD program in Brooklyn, New York and felt compelled to help people with Parkinson’s disease through dance movement. In 2016 Natalie started a pilot study in Malta Parkinson’s Disease Association and realised how these classes could benefit not only the person with Parkinson’s disease but also their caregiver. In March 2017, with the guidance of the then President of Malta Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, the organization received funding to host two classes per week for two years. The organization grew rapidly from 8 to 200 participants, hosts 10 classes per week in Malta, and has eleven trained teachers working for the organization. In 2018 the organization received funding by winning the second price at the Malta Social Impact Awards and Natalie received the JCI award for her work with Step up for Parkinson’s. On the 13th of December 2019, Natalie received a State Award Honor for her service to the Republic of Malta during Republic Day.