Buzz
Keeping it moving with older adults in
New York City
BY TEQUILA MINSKY
Before the city shut down,
on Wednesday mornings,
the gym at Dapolito Recreation
Center was fi lled with older
adults dance exercising to one of
the liveliest playlists in town. The
MOVEMENT SPEAKS ® class
developed by founder of Dances
for a Variable Population Naomi
Goldberg Haas attracts a loyal
following.
With the City on Pause, class
instruction moved to Zoom
where these participants from
living rooms or bedrooms remotely
joined with MOVEMENT
SPEAKS ®’ classmates from the
other 18 citywide free class sites.
“I’m so impressed with our
older adults evolving new ways,
dancing and their resilience in
engaging on-line,” Hass says of
her now Zoom students, men
and women that range from ages
60-90.
By computer, tablet, or cell
phone and logging on to Dances
for a Variable Population’s website
click on “remote programs”
www.dvpnyc.org for schedule or
calling from a regular phone, and
after a one-time registration, class
entry is by following the link for a
particular day’s class.
In MOVEMENT SPEAKS ®,
every part of the body gets to
move— the routine starts with
warm-up exercises, adds music
for pep, and ends with a creative
segment.
“Enjoyment and creativity are
our goals,” says Haas. And what
makes Haas’ classes special from
other on-line classes? Actual
interactivity between teachers
and class.
Participants are directly asked
to “give us a movement —passing”
and are highlighted. By
Going through exercises, Movement Speaks students in Washington Square Park this September,
for a special class.
computer, classmates mirror
that movement. Another dancer
is then chosen, and eventually
one-by-one, all are asked to lead.
New York City Departments
of Cultural Affairs and Aging,
New York State Council on the
Arts, and foundations help in
supporting the two free classes
offered every weekday at 10 a.m.
and 1:30 p.m.
Trained in the MOVEMENT
SPEAKS ® methods, a bevy of
teachers, dancers holding higher
degrees in dance and specialty
certifi cations, lead the classes.
Daily attendees experience different
teachers on different days
and the personalized variations
keep the practice far from routine.
Meanwhile, gray skies and an
intermittent faint drizzle didn’t
prevent the curious or a devoted
cadre from taking Naomi
Goldberg Haas’ MOVEMENT
SPEAKS ® class recently outdoors
near Grants Tomb.
At the walkway at W. 122 St.
Haas guides the group through a
variety of exercises with socially
distancing, wearing masks and
bundled for the outdoor chill,
and happy to be outside after six
months of confi nement. The West
Harlem Development Corporation
supports the one hour classes
held at 11 a.m. on Wednesdays,
Fridays and Sundays and are
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
geared toward older adults. Haas
hopes to continue classes until it
gets too cold.
Also, Dances for a Variable
Population has adapted its annual
outdoor dance performance
to a daylong virtual festival on
Oct. 24, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.,
on-line.
The festival—Washington
Square Dances and Revival 4:
Fortitude— includes pre-recorded
performances by seasoned artist
dancers and who will also lead
live Zoom classes. Register for
the schedule and Zoom link
at—www.revival4.com/contact
The collaborative dance
by professional dance artists
titled Fortitude “is a testament
to the older adults and these past
months,” says Haas.
What is the effect of these
classes? Many reiterate board
member Mary Doty’s statement.
Particularly during those early
Pandemic days of isolation, “It
gave my day structure.”
Over the course of months,
some regulars have lost weight,
and many have gained strength
and agility and fl exibility.
Washington Square Park Conservancy
and NYU Community
Fund are supporting the Oct. 24
program.
22 Oct. 15, 2020 Schneps Media
/www.dvpnyc.org
/contact
/www.dvpnyc.org
