the ball. Then we explored the movement language of basketball – dribbling the ball, aiming and shooting the ball in the basket. Phil, one of the participants at Jill’s House, offered to share the proper form and process of bowling – how to hold the ball, set up and release the ball which either rolls to strike the pins down or rolls into the gutter. “And then you sit down in disappointment.” All of these movements connect to make our first dance story. Oftentimes, other stories will appear during this dis- cussion. We learn that one participant grew up less than a mile away from Yankee Stadium. Another participant was a pitcher in his youth. And another participant played baseball in her front yard with all the neighborhood kids when she was a child in Tucson, Arizona. Our exploration of Sports at the Queens Community House in Forest Hills brought in some unexpected ideas. Our dance story included every imaginable tennis swing – the “high throw and swing”, the “side to side”, the gen- tle “bounce” and the “SLAM!”; a refreshing dive into the swimming pool– or a lake – “I prefer fresh water,” one participant stated – with free-style and breast and back strokes; and finished with a surprising foray into fencing, where in the manner of Zorro, we signed the initials of every participant in the space around us. Each time we connect, we assemble and perform our dance story together. A 2-3 minute moment in time. The focus in Stories in the Moment is on the shared process and the experience rather than the end product. There is no sin- gle author – this story was created in unity with shared ownership – and it is unique to this moment. The same group, another day would make another dance story. It is ephemeral and like all dance, lives in the moment. Barb, a lifelong educator, reflects on the co-creative dance and storytelling experience in Stories in the Moment : “… The whole community together creating something more than 100%. The learners are totally involved in the learning process. But that’s what teaching is all about – a facilitator, not somebody who lectures at you.”
We finish each class with once again returning to our bodies and taking a moment for gratitude for ourselves, for one another and for the creativity and stories that we shared with one another. Before we part ways, we com- plete the ritual of a shared thank you and goodbye. Disappearing dementia At a recent event of Stories in the Moment in partner- ship with the Mindful Connections program at The Rubin Museum of Art, an in-person program for people living with dementia and their care partners, we were explor- ing the Mandala Lab, an interactive exhibit designed for socio-emotional learning. This session, we were exploring the Gong Orchestra quadrant of the exhibit: multiple metal gongs suspended over a pool of water inviting us to explore channeling anger and releasing it, transforming it into mir- ror-like wisdom. Together with museum docents, experts in Himalayan art and Buddhist practices, we explored these concepts in discussion and in embodied experiences. Two younger visitors joined our group of 6 – three people with dementia and three care partners. We shared stories of when we were angry, created movement stories to reflect them, and joined together in collectively transform- ing them in co-created movements of release, reflection, rip- pling – waves, gurgles, ebbs and flows. It was a beautiful, shared moment of intergenerational mirror-like wisdom – each of us reflecting the best of one another, together. Later as we were leaving, we discovered that the younger participants who had joined us, were not aware that they were joining a program for people living with dementia. They shared how fortunate they felt for having joined. Dear reader, can you imagine if more people could learn about new meaningful content together with people liv- ing with dementia? I think we’d go a long way in releasing harmful narratives and stigmas. We can learn a lot from this community and from these individuals. As one of the partic- ipants stated at the end of our DAA Stories in the Moment class: “All along we can make it. All of us together.” MAGDA KACZMARSKA is a dancer, creative aging teaching artist and Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health. Magda received her MFA in Dance Perfor- mance & Choreography and BS in Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics from the University of Arizona. She founded DanceStream Projects, a community arts and health organization, with a mission to spark brain health and build creative community through dance and movement. Magda created Stories in the Moment, which combines dance, movement and storytelling, out of a de- sire to ally with and amplify the creative voices of people living with dementia. magdakaczmarska.com . References: 1. Kontos P, Grigorovich A. Integrating Citizenship, Embodiment, and Relationality: Towards a Reconceptualization of Dance and Dementia in Long-Term Care. J Law Med Ethics. Sept 2018;46(3):717-723. 2. Livingston G, Sommerlad A, Orgeta V, Costafreda SG, Huntley J, Ames D, Ballard C, Banerjee S, Burns A, Cohen-Mansfield J, Cooper C, Fox N, Gitlin LN, Howard R, Kales HC, Larson EB, Ritchie K, Rockwood K, Sampson EL, Samus Q, Schneider LS, Selbæk G, Teri L, Mukadam N. Dementia prevention, intervention, and care. Lancet. Dec 2017 ;390(10113):2673-2734.
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In Dance | May 2014 | dancersgroup.org
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