Fall 2019 Events Celebrating the Art and Freedom of Expression in Tango
Arts for the Aging's Milonga at the Embassy on October 10, 2019 was a rousing success. The Embassy of Argentina in Washington D.C. partnered with us to co-create programs and celebrate the culmination of a community workshop series in tango for older adults. Since a milonga is a lively style of tango, and it can also mean a party, the embassy event featured live tango activations, ravishing performances, presentation of the 2019 Lolo Sarnoff Founder's Awards, and a video premiere featuring the workshop series. Click here for photos from event.
At our Milonga by the Lake on September 14, 2019, board chairman Don Wright and Lezley McIlveen hosted friends of Arts for the Aging in their beautiful lakeside home in Virginia for a look-in to the beauty, art, and health of tango, including exquisite performances and tango activations. With multi-cultural roots in African and European immigrant slave populations, and far-reaching music and dance characteristics, the art form is rich with "entry points" --- ways to create connection, joy, and healing in Arts for the Aging programs. Below, Liza and Alex Semyonov with Tango Mercurio demonstrate the dance for friends of the organization. Click here for more photos from the evening. Stephanie Williams Images.
Island Dreams
Arts for the Aging programs returned to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Senior Center and Knox Hill Apartments in Washington, D.C.'s Ward 8. Residents took part in specially designed programs bringing works from The Phillips Collection alive through music, dance and art-making. Participants focused on the museum's retrospective of 92-year-old Cuban artist Zilia Sánchez. Ms. Sánchez reflected on her life and 70-year career in her exhibition Soy Isla (I am an Island). At the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Senior Center, teaching artists Peter Burroughs and Fairouz Foty brought their experiences performing in Cuba to the group through music and dance, and teaching artist Marcie Wolf Hubbard connected the content with hands-on art-making. At Knox Hill Senior Apartments, participants enjoyed Moving Art, merging modern art and movement to explore how the modalities connect. Teaching Artists Nancy Havlik and Marcie Wolf Hubbard brought works from the Zilia Sánchez exhibition to life-inspiring collaged art books. Both groups took field trips to The Phillips Collection for a special tour led by museum educator, Donna Jonte. They interacted with several large pieces by Sánchez, including her Lunar con tatuaje (Moon with Tattoo), creating imaginative storylines connecting images (the 'tattoos') drawn on the sculpture. Arts for the Aging teaching artists led them in turning those stories and ideas into movement in the gallery space. Click here for photos from the series. What's next? Program participants at Alexandria Adult Day Services Center eagerly await a September visit to the Phillips to see The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement. They are already creating art inspired by the exhibition's theme of inclusion for migrant populations.
Community Look-In with Arts for the Aging at Dance Exchange
Friends, families and community members experienced a Quicksilver rehearsal during our Community Look-In on May 6 at Dance Exchange in Takoma Park, MD. Quicksilver is Arts for the Aging's improvisational senior dance company. Guests were invited to join Quicksilver on the dance floor for movement warm-ups. Later the company performed a piece lovingly created in memory of Quicksilver dancer Jaya Adiga, who passed away earlier this year, that incorporated her collection of colorful scarfs. The event concluded with a presentation, talk-back, and reception with Quicksilver co-directors and dancers. Thank you, Dance Exchange, for hosting our dance company’s weekly rehearsals this year. We look forward to continuing and growing our partnership next season.
Vote for AFTA: Named Finalist for Major Award
Arts for the Aging is honored to be named a finalist in the 2019 #RenewalAwards from @TheAtlantic and @Allstate. We are among just 15 nonprofits across the country being recognized for driving positive change through social innovation around America’s most pressing problems. Five winners, to be announced at a national symposium and ceremony in spring 2019, will each receive $20,000 in funding from Allstate. Please vote for us, between now and March 1, at https://therenewalawards.theatlantic.com/ and help us spread the word!
