Wellness Movement

The healing power of music is well-documented. But pairing it with the impact on mental and physiological wellbeing that movement provides, and you’ve got a combination that local performer Sydney Bartunek has tapped into to great success.

The founder of Move to Heal South Dakota and frequent dancer and instructor, Bartunek’s journey to developing therapeutic dance and yoga curricula aimed to improve health began at the age of five.

“My mom enrolled me at Judy’s Dance Studio in Yankton,” she said. “I started as a little ballerina, and I’d always dreamed of being a professional ballerina.”

It was under Judy O’Connell that Bartunek began her exploration of jazz, contemporary and pointe. And by the time she was a senior in high school, she was taking six classes and teaching four at any given moment. She credits her mother’s support as driving a great deal of this early opportunity.

“I grew up with a single mom,” she said. “She put me in dance and was working full-time. She cleaned the studio on the side so that I was able to take as many classes as I wanted to.”

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The accomplished performer comes by her dance background honestly—both of her grandmothers we’re dancers, and her grandmother on her dad’s side was a sundancer for many years.

“She really followed her Native American culture, so I feel like it’s a really beautiful part of my history, and that population is one I’d love to work with in the future.”

Dance proved just the outlet Bartunek needed in her early years. “I used it as an escape,” she said. “Every time I was in the dance studio, I just felt like anything was possible.

“Performers go through months and months of perfecting, and just being in the studio practicing and creating community with your fellow dancers, just to be on stage for one or two nights—it’s been about creating artistic, meaningful, intentional pieces that tell a story.”

Bartunek’s own personal story took its own left turns, including her introduction to yoga during a particularly down period of her life, and her own role as caregiver to an ailing parent for the better part of a decade.

“There’s so much to the reason why I’ve experienced yoga in my life,” she said. “My dad went through four open-heart surgeries. We used yoga techniques, breathing meditation and asana practice, starting when I was in high school, just to cope with the ins and outs of hospitals.”

That harsh reality meant trying to grasp for a little bit of hope amid the chaos.

“We used movement to heal situations that were full of anxiety,” Bartunek said. “I know I turned to dance and stretching and breathing when he was in surgery for eight to 12 hours at a time. It’s just unimaginable. It’s why I have this drive and fire inside of me.”

And though Bartunek’s father passed away in 2017, she recalls one particular memory that has stuck with her ever since—walking back to the hotel after a hospital visit with her father, he sat at the edge of his bed and said to her, “I know you’re going to do amazing things in life.”

“I kept remembering what he said. That there was something I needed to do with all my life experiences, my passion for dance and passion for helping others,” Bartunek said. “So Move to Heal was born. The idea and visions for where it would go just came to me. This is what I want to do.”

In the years since her father’s passing, Bartunek has launched the Move to Heal South Dakota program, with the help of advocates like local performer Lisa Conlin, who serves on the program’s board.

The mission of Move to Heal is to bring therapeutic dance and yoga sessions to healthcare and community settings across the state

“It’s crazy the amount of community that’s been built in this small amount of time,” she said. “It’s built on passion, but it’s built on science, too.”

The organization’s initial focus is on senior living facilities and children’s hospitals.

“If my dad as a grown man was going through so much grief and isolation and despair in those moments, I can’t imagine what the kiddos in the (Sanford) castle are facing. I feel for caregivers, too. We’re out to serve both of those populations. That is where the burning passion comes from.”

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Since its launch, Move to Heal has impacted more than 200 seniors, and, despite the pandemic restricting the amount of work Bartunek and company can do with children’s hospitals, the organization was able to start free programming with qualified instructors—beginning with in-person sessions in February and shifting to virtual in April.

Since the pandemic restricted Move to Heal’s abilities to provide in-person classes, the team has persisted by serving more than 60 participants virtually over the early summer, as well as delivering an uplifting outdoor show in partnership with Augustana Spirit Squad, LiRa Dance Theatre Company and Amaze Dance Studio on the grounds of Good Samaritan Society’s Prairie Creek locations this past May.

“It was purely just to bring them joy and hope and to let them know we’re praying for them,” Bartunek said of the event, which allowed residents to watch from their windows. “We’re serving one of the most vulnerable populations during COVID-19.”

Once the pandemic’s effects have subsided, though, Bartunek is ready to roll out more opportunities for Move to Heal and the larger dance, yoga and wellness communities to keep impacting positive change in the Sioux Falls area and beyond.

“I would love to see Move to Heal South Dakota studios or partners in every major city as a space for making movement possible for everyone,” she said. “For everyone to experience that same kind of healing and joy growing up.

“Yoga provides grounding and focus. And when you mix it with dance, it’s just a beautiful combination.”

Stay in the know on what Move to Heal South Dakota is up to at MoveToHealSouthDakota.org.