Incredible moment former prima ballerina now suffering from Alzheimer’s is transformed

Incredible moment former prima ballerina suffering from Alzheimer’s was transformed when she heard music from Swan Lake

  • Marta C Gonzalez, who died in 2019, is shown at a care home in Valencia 
  • She is visibly moved as Tschaikovsky’s Swan Lake begins to play on headphones 
  • Ms Gonzalez remembers the choreography that she danced to in 1967

This is the incredible moment a former prima ballerina suffering with Alzheimer’s is transformed when she hears the music from Swan Lake. 

Marta C Gonzalez, who died in 2019, is shown sitting in her wheelchair at a care home in Valencia. 

A carer places headphones on her and begins playing Tschaikovsky’s Swan Lake – which Ms Gonzalez danced to in her youth.

She had been a prima ballerina with the New York Ballet in the 1960s. 

Marta C Gonzalez, who died in 2019, is shown sitting in her wheelchair at a care home in Valencia

A carer places headphones on her and begins playing Tschaikovsky's Swan Lake - which Ms Gonzalez danced to in her youth

A carer places headphones on her and begins playing Tschaikovsky’s Swan Lake – which Ms Gonzalez danced to in her youth

As the music floods through her, Ms Gonzalez is visibly moved. 

Within moments, her hands instinctively reenact the graceful movements she had performed on stage in 1967. 

She continues to follow along with the music and remembers the choreography she danced to decades ago.   

The emotional moment, captured before Ms Gonzalez died in 2019, 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, among other things.

In the video Ms Gonzalez listens to the music through a pair of headphones and soon begins to replicate the choreography she danced to all those years ago.

As the music floods through her, Ms Gonzalez is visibly moved

As the music floods through her, Ms Gonzalez is visibly moved

Within moments, her hands instinctively reenact the graceful movements she had performed on stage in 1967

Within moments, her hands instinctively reenact the graceful movements she had performed on stage in 1967

Actor Antonio Banderas shared the clip on Facebook, writing that he hoped the video would serve as ‘a well-deserved recognition of her art and her passion’.

He wrote: ’53 years ago she was a NYC Ballet dancer. Tchaicovsky’s music managed to mock his Alzheimer’s. It’s been a year since all of this.

‘Now on the occasion of your passing, serve the dissemination of these images as a well deserved recognition of your art and your passion.

‘RIP Marta C. Gonzalez.’ 

After finishing her performance, she is met with applause by those present at the care home in Valencia.

She is then comforted as she tells a care worker she is ’emotional’,

‘The power of music is immeasurable,’ the charity said. ‘May she rest in peace.’

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