These Holiday Celebrations are the conclusion to our summer and fall sessions of our MOVEMENT SPEAKS® program. A dance culmination, providing strong and creative movement for older adults of all abilities! Featuring Central Harlem Senior Centers (Tuesday, December 15); the Mott Street Senior Center (Wednesday, December 16); the William Hodson Senior Center (Thursday, December 17), and all invited older adults in NYC and throughout the country. The celebrations will be held virtually by Dances for a Variable Population (DVP) on Zoom at 1:30 PM each day. To receive zoom access links visit our website dvpnyc.org or send an email request to admin@dvpnyc.org.
MOVEMENT SPEAKS® classes offer a creative and joyful way to increase mobility, flexibility, balance and vitality. DVP classes promote individual expression and community empowerment through dance and movement. This fall, we have offered 20 weekly classes via Zoom and telephone conferencing – serving almost 500 adults each week!
Prior to Covid-19, in the Spring 2020 season, Dances For A Variable Population brought our free community based programs of creative movement, dance, and fitness to senior centers, libraries, and recreation centers to over 23 centers across the four boroughs of NYC. Based on the core values of appreciating one’s own body and moving with other people, the programs promote greater mobility, self-confidence, physical awareness, social interaction, expressiveness in movement, and a great sense of body empowerment. DVP begins by listening and acknowledging each individual’s history and takes each participant forward from that place; using the power of dance to connect communities.
The Holiday Celebrations are the winter counterpart of the spring celebration in which the classes culminate in public performances presented in iconic NYC spaces, such as Grant’s Tomb and Washington Square Park, alongside legendary guest artists. Older adults of all ages and abilities are encouraged to participate!
1:30 Tuesday, December 15
Featuring Central Harlem Senior Center
1:30 Wednesday, December 16
Featuring Mott Street Senior Center
1:30 Thursday, December 17
Featuring William Hodson Senior Center
Inquire for Zoom access links at admin@dvpnyc.org
Through this interactive experience, our older New Yorkers come as audience members and leave as passionate participants. Please wear comfortable clothing and shoes. Prepare your personal space with room to move!
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ABOUT DANCES FOR A VARIABLE POPULATION
Founded in 2005 by Naomi Goldberg Haas, Dances for a Variable Population (DVP) promotes strong and creative movement among people of all ages and abilities with a focus on seniors. The organization’s programming includes: a multigenerational performance company that engages the community as audience and participants; MOVEMENT SPEAKS® and Dances for Seniors, which are free community-based programs for modest and lower income older adults (annually serving over 700 seniors); Movement classes for adults of all ages offered year-round; as well as performance and training opportunities for older professional dancers and choreographers. DVP’s performances have been held in some of New York City’s most iconic public spaces, presented in Times Square, the New York Botanical Garden, Washington Square Park, and the High Line.
MOVEMENT SPEAKS® has been made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. This program is also supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York City Department for the Aging, in partnership with the City Council and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. Special support is provided by Speaker Corey Johnson and Council Members Margaret Chin, Vanessa Gibson, Mark Levine, Bill Perkins, Helen Rosenthal and Jimmy Van Bramer. Support is also provided by the Alpern Foundation, Jody and John Arnhold, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Alpern Foundation, West Harlem Development Corporation and Columbia Community Service. This program is supported by the Dance/NYC’s Dance Advancement Fund, made possible by the Ford Foundation. Naomi Goldberg Haas is the 2019-2020 recipient of a Dance/USA Fellowship to Artists, for artists addressing social change, which is made possible with generous funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.