BUENOS AIRES – Tango is the national dance of Argentina, known for its passion, precision and heart. At a hospital in Buenos Aires, it has another purpose: as therapy for patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Once a week, about a dozen patients come to Ramos Mejia Hospital to dance – a session that uses the movements of tango to help address issues of balance, stiffness and coordination.

The goal is to give them approaches to movement they can use in their daily lives, as well as a social and emotional boost from moving to music.

The programme began about 15 years ago, inspired by a patient who had danced tango since her childhood, and found it offered strategies that improved her mobility and gait problems, said Dr Nelida Garretto, a neurologist who helped spearhead the sessions.

Dr Tomoko Arakaki, another neurologist leading the programme, said Parkinson’s patients can struggle with the stop-and-start motions of walking and benefit from practising the “slow, short steps” and pauses of tango.

Dr Garretto said that because tango involves multitasking with motor, visual and auditory stimuli, it can help patients execute the series of small movements used in everyday activities.

First, warm-up exercises, usually in a circle, “try to tune everyone in, to prepare the body, to awaken the body”, said professional tango dancer Manuel Firmani, who leads the workshops.

Some are done standing, some seated, depending on the state people are in, he added. “Every day is different for their bodies.”

After exercises focusing on posture, balance and other skills, dancing begins. Each patient is paired with a partner who does not have Parkinson’s – often friends, relatives or volunteers.

Dance therapy is used for other medical conditions, including multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s. Dr Debora Rabinovich, a psychologist and researcher who helped create the Argentinian programme, said her research has found that tango uses the...