Act naturally

I’m in a movie!  All I had to do was turn up and act naturally. First, I needed to learn some dance steps – which didn’t come naturally at all.

Oh come ON, Boudicca! Everyone else has got LOVELY first positions!”

How I felt for this little girl in my daughter’s ballet class. Some 30+ years earlier I was the awkward child in the leotard and cardigan who counted to nine when everyone else had turned round at eight steps. My mother crafted beautiful outfits – a snowflake, a flower fairy and a Czech peasant girl – but none could disguise the fact that I was rubbish at ballet. I would happily have traded places with Billy Elliot.

On my way home from ballet on Saturday mornings, I used to pass my friend Pamela coming back from her piano lessons. How I longed to be tickling the ivories rather than wrestling with entrechats and arabesques. Much later on, Pamela told me she had been very unhappy with piano lessons and would have loved to have been in my ill-fitting ballet shoes.

It didn’t help that I was already 5ft 8in with size 7 shoes by the age of eleven. So it was a big relief when I started secondary school and was picked to play hockey on Saturday mornings. At last, I could wave goodbye to Miss Sylvia and use my size and presence to fill up the goalmouth and terrify the opposition.  I saved a lot of goals, but my dancing has never improved.

My fear of dance studios was later compounded when, in the brand new Pineapple Dance centre in Covent Garden, I was lying face down and lifting head, shoulders, chest and legs off the floor in the classic yoga pose Salabhasana (locust). Ahead of me in the mirror, I saw my breasts slowly pouring themselves out of my leotard and on to the floor. Mixed class. Awkward.

In the seven years since my Parkinson’s diagnosis, I have become near-evangelical about the role of exercise in managing my symptoms and helping me to lead a happy life. I’ve had a go at new activities (boxing, table tennis, walking rugby, pickleball, tai chi, steam punk morris dancing). I’ve returned to running and orienteering, which I originally thought I’d have to give up.

But I hadn’t returned to the dance studio.  Till last November, when I pitched up for my first ballet class since 1963. In charge was Kate Hartley-Stevens, one of a team of teachers from the English National Ballet’s Dance for Parkinson’s programme.

Why me?

What was I doing there?  Regular readers, you know I’ll never tire of bigging up my pals Anna Kharin and Laura Douglas. During lockdown, these two entrepreneurial neurophysios set up Neuro Heroes to offer real-time online classes specifically targeting neurological conditions. They’ve just celebrated six years in business and I’ve been with them for five. Neuro Heroes classes underpin all the other crazy activities I do, as potent as any medication.

Now Anna and Laura have taken their skills to new dimensions, as movement consultants on the new movie Onwards and Sideways. The film tells the story of two people (played by Rhys Ifans and Laura Linney) diagnosed with Parkinson’s on the same day. It follows their stories over the next five years. The director is John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). The screenplay is the work of comedy writer Paul Mayhew-Archer (Vicar of Dibley, Esio Trot) now one of the Movers and Shakers podcast team, who has lived with Parkinson’s for 15 years.

 The real deal

Without technical support, films can be memorable for all the wrong reasons. Where was the Cockney voice coach when Dick van Dyke needed him for May-er-ree Paw-pins? The Neuro Heroes team were on set every day to help Rhys and Laura fine-tune movements that made them believable as people with Parkinson’s.

It was a tough ask for Rhys and Laura, who admitted their early fears about getting it right. But it works because they did their homework, attending dance classes and mixing with the Parkinson’s community. They act with their whole bodies (Rhys Ifans’ left eyebrow could win Best Supporting Actor all by itself.) Early reviews have praised their attention to detail. This, and Paul Mayhew-Archer’s screenplay, have ensured authenticity.

A key theme of the film is the ballet class of supporting artistes – people with Parkinson’s (pwP) recruited from dance classes, support groups, and (lucky me!) from Neuro Heroes. We were pretty authentic already, but we did need Anna and Laura there on set to spot hazards and inconsistencies and keep us safe and happy. And to remind me to stick my tongue in and not scratch my nose till director John Madden shouted ‘cut’!

Lovely people

John Madden was a joy to work with – many of the crew said he was their favourite director. Rhys and Laura were approachable and charming, and keen to find out more about our lives with Parkinson’s. One evening, they treated us all to pizza when we were running behind schedule. My co-stars in the corps de ballet were a mixed bunch of amazing people with whom I’ve made friends for life. The pastoral care was top notch and the crew treated us like royalty, dedicated to our every need. We lost track of time in a village hall that was filled with sunlight even when it was dark outside. But there was always someone to make sure we took our meds on time.

Onwards and sideways

Ballet is still not my thing, however. It’s a bit slow and calm, and there is no opposition to terrorise (see the 11-year-old hockey player, above).  For me ‘Onwards and Sideways’ means walking rugby, where I love wriggling a path through to the tryline without being touched. There’s a lot of shouting. But hey, each to their own.

It’s been a real privilege to take part in this film, which goes way beyond a warm and engaging evening’s entertainment. In between the comedy lines, Paul Mayhew-Archer raises many serious issues. They include dopamine agonists, deep brain stimulation, on-time medication, the quality and frequency of neurologist appointments, and hallucinations. The talking will go on for much longer both within and outside the Parkinson’s community.

You can see Onwards and Sideways in cinemas from Nov 6 and on BBC One and BBC iPlayer later in the year.

©2026 Ali Turnbull ParkyTracks

Photo BBC /@ Hilltop Screen; Photographer Jonathan Birch.  

Play > Act Naturally > The Beatles

Resources

Neuro Heroes

Live online, expert-led neurological physiotherapy and exercise classes for, MS, stroke, and other neurological conditions.  Empowering people to move more, grow stronger, build confidence and live well with Parkinson’s. Neuro Heroes Community Exercise Fund ensures that cost is never a barrier to accessing specialist neuro physiotherapy exercise classes.

Dance for Parkinson’s

Since 2010, the English National Ballet’s Dance for Parkinson’s programme has supported people living with Parkinson’s through dance, music and social connection. The programme now reaches more than 5,000 people each year through classes delivered at centres in London, Ipswich, Cardiff, Oxford and Liverpool, as well as online. Now, supported by Parkinson’s UK and Sport England, it is spreading out to local community centre