Video goes viral of former ballerina with dementia dancing with her hands to Swan Lake

A video of a former prima ballerina with dementia performing with her hands to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake has gone viral.

Marta Gonzalez, who was a prima ballerina with the New York Ballet during the 1960s, is shown in the video listening intently to the music from Swan Lake which she used to dance to.

Straightaway she starts moving her hands to the music, doing the same graceful movements she did back when she was a ballerina.

The moving footage was filmed before Ms Gonzalez died last year and was shared by the Spanish charity, Asociacion Musica para Despertar, which uses music to improve the lives of people living with dementia.

She tells the care worker after her performance that she is emotional. Ms Gonzalez was living at the time in a care home in Valencia in Spain.

Actor Antonio Banderas shared the clip on Facebook, where it has been shared thousands of times, saying he hoped the video would result in “a well-deserved recognition of her art and her passion”.

The charity said: "The power of music is immeasurable. May she rest in peace."

Music is known for being particularly effective for people living with dementia, reducing anxiety and improving memory and the ability to concentrate.

The part of the brain that responds to familiar music is often the last to succumb to dementia.

To read more about music and dementia click here