The Transformative & Healing Power of Music

Music can awaken the deepest parts of our memories—even if those moments seem gone forever. Marta C. González proves this in a poignant video that has recently gone viral. The emotional moment was shared by the Asociacion Musica Para Despertar, a Spanish charity which uses the music of dementia patients’ lives to improve their mood and memory. It shows González—a former New York City Ballet prima ballerina living with Alzheimer’s disease—as she recognizes Tchaikovsky’s classic Swan Lake.

Upon hearing the music, González begins to move her arms and dance the routine she performed so long ago. Though hesitant, with a bit of encouragement, she continues. The short video is interspersed with clips of González listening to Swan Lake in her wheelchair as well as archival performance footage from when she danced it in 1967. To watch her, with her profound memory loss, remember the choreography and perform it with such grace is amazing; it shows that there are just some things that will never be forgotten. But beyond this recognition, the video serves as a poignant reminder of all that is lost when someone has Alzheimer’s disease and what can be reawakened and re-imagined…