Help us Close Our Year in Movement with Your Donation by December 31
Did you know that dance can lower the risk of dementia? That is why 2019 was Arts for the Aging's Year in Movement. As teaching artist and singing actor Peter Burroughs says, "Dancing is allowing joy to escape from our bodies. Therefore, we can dance with our eyes if necessary. We cannot focus on what we can't do, we just need to keep dancing with whatever works!" Please contribute to our campaign to keep seniors and their care partners dancing, long after we tango into 2020. A donation of $175 pays for one workshop for 20 older adults. And every donation level makes a difference. Plus, if you donate as part of this end-of-the-year campaign, the Cafritz Foundation will match your donation, doubling your impact. A donation today will help us reach our goal of raising $30,000 by December 31, 2019. Thanks to your support, the lives and health of older adults in the Greater Washington D.C. region are enhanced through the power of the arts. Please help us tango from 2019 into 2020 with enough resources to serve the growing population of seniors in the Greater Washington, D.C. region. Click here to make your donation today.
Collaboration with Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
The spirit of legendary American singer Marian Anderson was brought to life by members of Arts for the Aging's artistic faculty, ROMEZ3arts, in the halls within the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery during this vibrant exhibition workshop about the remarkably ravishing, dignified, humble, and revolutionary contralto. "See Me" at the Smithsonian engages older adults with memory loss and their care givers in the art of slow-looking and conversation around masterworks in their various museum collections. Arts for the Aging partners with the Smithsonian by bringing additional artistic modalities to inspire music-making and dance-making evoked by the art and the stories they illuminate. We welcomed staff from the World Bank who joined us to engage with philanthropic recipients, like Arts for the Aging, of their generous Community Connections Campaign. Starting in the gallery, museum educators Vanessa Jones and Amy Lewis Castine sparked conversation, and ROMEZ3arts (Anamer Castrello, Peter Joshua Burroughs, Carlos Cesar Rodriguez) evoked singing around key works in the show about Ms. Anderson. Then we moved to the museum’s magnificent indoor courtyard where we sang, danced, and felt the joy of connecting through the arts. In a moving moment during the workshop, Eleanor Roosevelt’s historic 1939 letter to the Daughters of the American Revolution was read aloud, which lambasted and ended her membership there when the DAR refused Ms. Anderson a performance at Constitution Hall because of her race. It paved the way for the glory of her singing at the footsteps of the Lincoln Memorial. Together we acknowledged the importance of the shared beauty of our differences in this melting pot we call, to quote Ms. Anderson’s astute lyrical change, the “Land where ‘Thy’ fathers died.” View a clip from the program here
Embraceable Tango Pillows
Since the embrace, abrazos, is core to tango dancing, and we often have more seniors in our workshops than teaching artists, these pillows were created by artists during the tango series as alternative dance partners, fully outfitted in the festive spirit of the dance. Pillows were auctioned off in support of our mission and tango programs. See more photos from the program series here and view videos here.
An Afternoon with a Music Legend
Celebrated American composer and singer Dr. Ysaye Barnwell presented to a full house of Arts for the Aging Teaching Artists, Quicksilver senior improv dancers, and guests at this year's final workshop in our Teaching Artist Institute. Known for her 34 years singing and recording with Sweet Honey in the Rock, Dr. Barnwell has, for nearly as long, spent time off stage working as a master teacher and choral clinician in African American cultural performance. Her workshop "Building a Vocal Community®: Singing in the African American Tradition" has been conducted on three continents. Her work in the field is a significant source of inspiration for both singers and non-singers alike, and is a model of pedagogy for educators, cultural activists, and historians. During the workshop, Dr. Barnwell sang spirituals and gospel music and instructed on these pillars of African American tradition. The oral tradition of music-sharing lends itself well to older practitioners who may not be able to read or recall music and lyrics. Mixing singing exercises and Q&A during the afternoon, Dr. Barnwell elevated our wisdom and inspired us to take forward Spirituals, "they are the art song," into Arts for the Aging's community-wide programs. Not to be relegated to a singular musical interest she quipped, "Rap is our newspaper," as she stays relevant to the changing voices of our times. We express heartfelt thanks to Levine Music for hosting our workshop.
