Forget What You've Heard: Intergenerational Dance Works

Jun 7, 2011
Deborah Greenhut

Across the Ages Rehearsal - Marcie Mitler

Dancing at every age is the goal of these dance companies and projects in and around Boston. With participants from one to ninety, they showcase potential.

If people were slaves to the conventional wisdom, they might accept the idea that professional dancers need to retire before age 50, turning to choreography and teaching to remain active in the field. But a growing number of elder dancers in the Boston area are saying that they still want to dance professionally. Some even seek to include the youngest beginner dancers in intergenerational performances to keep the opportunities and challenges flowing.

Back Porch Dancers

These intergenerational projects are necessarily and joyously collaborative, and what the dancers learn from one group is likely to be carried forward to the next. Perhaps the earliest of these groups was Back Porch Dancers founded in 1985 by Joan Green and Vicki Solomon, and this interracial group of women spanning three generations dissolved in 2001. According to the Cambridge Women’s Heritage Project, their eldest performer was Evelyn Tyner.

Evelyn Tyner: World War II Welder, 21st Century Dancer

Ms. Tyner, a former World War II welder, was 82 in 2000 when the group performed a dance work celebrating women’s lives and work in Cambridge at MIT. The youngest Back Porch Dancer was a high school sophomore in Cambridge at the time. In this work of dance theater, combining movement and narrative, Ms. Tyner actually performed a story of her own experience, as reported by Iris Fanger in Dance Magazine (2000).

Prometheus Dance and The Elders Ensemble

Two years after the Back Porch Dancers began, in 1987, co-founders Diane Arvaintes and Tommy Neblett launched Boston’s venerable, internationally touring company Prometheus Dance, a group of 10 dancers, who continue to offer an athletic and graceful repertoire.

When the Back Porch Dancers disbanded, Joan Green moved on to join the Prometheus Elders, a company of 8 dancers.

These post-professional dancers range in age from 60-88 years old. In addition to performing original, narrative works, they give back to the community by performing at senior centers and other community service organizations. The special focus of this company on the elder dancer has enabled them to work on material and interpretations of human history that remain challenging and deep and assert the value of life experience in human enlightenment. In 2011, they performed a work called “Parish Blues.”

Across the Ages Dance Project

Prometheus Elders' post-performance discussions empower the audience members to achieve a similar enrichment. These elders also come from a rich dance heritage; many have studied with modern dance luminaries, including Martha Graham, Jose Limon, and Alwin Nikolai.

As a member of the Prometheus Elders, Joan Green made the acquaintance of post professional dancers Marcie Mitler and Eliza Mallouk. The three have currently joined forces to produce an intergenerational dance event called Across the Ages Dance Project (ATAD), which will feature participants as young as age 4 and well as elders. Mallouk and Mitler are co-producing ATAD and dancing in a number of pieces, while Green is choreographing a multimedia, intergenerational story.

Additional choreographers crossing generations include Cat Wagner, Audra Carabetta, Melody Ruffin Ward, and Daniel McCusker, a Tufts professor and Cambridge dance teacher who has danced with Lucinda Childs and currently instructs classes for many of the participants. Mallouk continues to dance with Prometheus Elders, and all have gained in confidence and desire since first testing the limits of child dancers and adult post professionals.

Back Pocket Dancers

Joan Green has expanded the creative synthesis in yet another direction by developing Back Pocket Dancers, who perform for elder dancers in common spaces found in elder venues.

Creative Aging

People throughout the U.S. and elsewhere are recognizing the value of performing arts for quality of elder life. Recreational initiatives in dance are exemplified outside of Boston by the Creative Aging movement, exemplified by Kairos Dance, founded by Martha Genne during 1999. Kairos is the only intergenerational dance company in Minnesota. Featuring participants aged 7-98, their work incorporates dance in elder care by including dancers, care teams, family members, and the elders in movement explorations that are beneficial to their health.

In Brooklyn, Spoke the Hub Dance offers dance mentoring for beginning, middle, and elder dancers. This company, featuring performances that include newborns through octogenarians, was founded by Elyse Long in 1979.

The Boston Area has long been supportive of modern dance, and, for the contra and swing dancing enthusiasts, the city hosts Boston Intergenerational Dance Advocates that promotes both traditional dance and intergenerational activity. Opportunities continue to grow as the population grows in the elder direction and people discover their natural gifts of movement.