{"id":948,"date":"2024-10-01T04:02:53","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T04:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/societyforritualarts.com\/website_799ab241\/?page_id=948"},"modified":"2024-12-20T11:04:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T19:04:46","slug":"an-expressive-body","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/societyforritualarts.com\/coreopsis\/autumn-2024-issue\/an-expressive-body\/","title":{"rendered":"An Expressive Body"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Top thru Author” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_enable_image=”off” min_height=”250px” custom_margin=”0px||-40px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true|false” saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/societyforritualarts.com\/website_799ab241\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/coreopsis-winter-2019-header.png” title_text=”coreopsis-winter-2019-header” admin_label=”Coreopsis logo” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_5,3_5,1_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Title & Author” module_id=”author” module_class=”noindent” _builder_version=”4.27.0″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

An Expressive Body:
\nThe Beauty of Dancing in Elder Life<\/h1>\n

L. Martina Young, Ph.D.<\/span>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Content Block” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” background_enable_image=”off” custom_margin=”0px||0px||true|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true|false” saved_tabs=”all” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Abstract” _builder_version=”4.27.0″ header_2_font=”||||||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/h2>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.0″ custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”]As persons over the age of sixty-five become the predominant demographic in the United States\u2014a trend being mirrored around the globe\u2014private and public sectors in health, family and urban planning, strategic economics, and workforce aspirations are keen to respond to the needs, challenges, and concerns of aging well, physically, mentally, and psychologically. This essay identifies the role and importance of aesthetic dance experiences throughout the lifespan, and in particular, its impact on human beings in older life.
\nFocusing on the transcendent qualities inherent in experiences of beauty, this writing submits personal accounts of elders dancing, underscored by theoretical edification to amplify the subjective, communal, ethical, and meaning-making power of aesthetic dance experiences for older adults. <\/p>\n

Keywords:<\/b> Elders Dancing; Aging and Dancing; Lifelong Dancing; Bodies and Memory; Expressive Beauty<\/b>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.0″ header_2_font=”||||||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Prelude<\/h2>\n

[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.0″ custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

May 1958. I was three. Seamlessly my mother navigated the Los Angeles rush hour every morning wending her way to my nursery school before work. Saying \u201cgood-bye\u201d was never pleasant as I watched her get into the car and drive off. One day a dance teacher visited my little world: Joan Chodorow.\u00a0 Her married name then was \u2018Smallwood\u2019\u2014Joan Smallwood. Once, maybe twice a week she came and gave us little ones a marvelous dancing experience following nap time.<\/p>\n

From then on, I looked forward to going to nursery school knowing I\u2019d be dancing! \u2014moving to ideas, music\u2014being in contact with the hidden parts of myself.<\/p>\n

Joan\u2019s prompts and soft lyrical voice laid a red carpet for my inner life to find harmony with the exterior world\u2019s coarser lines and angles. We were all enchanted. I\u2019ve been enchanted ever since. I danced my way into a magical place, an in-dwelling place. It was a reverie, \u2014wholly being with my authentic self and discovering a language that allowed me to move through the world without words.<\/p>\n

Since then, I have enjoyed not only a rich and fulfilling career as a dance artist and choreographer, but I have also had the privilege of teaching for a spectrum of diverse populations\u2014Head Start and K-12, persons with special needs, university students and older adults\u2014always thrilled to translate the exquisite beauty of dancing.<\/p>\n

Teaching and dancing with older adults inspire this essay, in particular, witnessing the generative beauty of expressive dancing in our elder years. As my childhood reveries confirm, the transformative experience ushered by the beauty of expressive dancing has particular impact on our overall wellbeing. Australian dancer Eileen Kramer, age 107 at the time of this writing imparts: \u201cI\u2019m no longer my ordinary self, . . . I\u2019m transformed into something wonderful\u201d (Young, 2024).<\/p>\n

As teacher of The Flow\u00ae\u2014my Expressive Dance Movement Chair Class initially developed for persons living with Parkinson\u2019s Disease\u2014I\u2019m interested in investigating the feeling of beauty. In a text message (personal communication, February 23, 2023), a 78-year-old student of The Flow\u00ae writes:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI cannot tell you enough how beautiful I feel when taking your classes.<\/p>\n

I emerge as another, sprouting with beauty, allowing myself to absorb every note, every chord, every sound. That which you emote I take in with<\/p>\n

all-knowing of my beauty, now I am gorgeous. It\u2019s that Tuesday hour that makes me so and beyond. Thank you for filling my heart with it all.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

While much research documents the benefits of movement as exercise for older populations\u2014be it walking, Tai Chi, Yoga, Pilates, bicycling, or rowing\u2014little attention has been brought to the more nuanced impact of aesthetic dance movement performed by older persons. We are aware of how music boosts cognitive function for persons living with Alzheimer\u2019s Disease, for example. What we know less about are the effects on our wellbeing as a result of moving beautifully. Aligning expressive gestures with gorgeous music not only calms the nervous system like Tai Chi, but also raises our spirits by engaging cognitive and imaginative skills by opening a portal to a language of our souls. Our inner lives breathe in the light of day through our bodies. \u201cIf it does not lift the psyche [soul],\u201d asserts poetics theorist Gaston Bachelard (1988), \u201cit will not transform it.\u201c As we dance, so our souls levitate, renewing ways of being alive!<\/p>\n

Critical thoughts guiding my writing are:<\/p>\n