Creative Aging conversation with Quicksilver Senior Improv Dance Company at Dance Exchange

Join us at Dance Exchange (DX) on Friday, October 25, 2019 from 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. for a conversation about creativity and aging, featuring Quicksilver, Arts for the Aging's senior improv dance company. DX has convened leaders and practitioners in the field of creative aging and related fields for a lively discussion, sharing of best practices, and celebration of creativity in adults along the aging spectrum. All are welcome and encouraged to attend this free event, with a suggested donation of $20 to DX, located at 7117 Maple Avenue, Takoma Park, MD 20912.


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.


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.


AFTA Party and Exhibition at The Swiss Residence

On November 13, under the gracious patronage of His Excellency Martin Dahinden and Mrs. Anita Dahinden, Arts for the Aging exhibited artwork inspired by The Phillips Collection exhibition, Ten Americans: After Paul Klee, and created by participants in AFTA workshops at five of the 31 community and residential care settings we serve: Alexandria Adult Day Services Center, Alexandria, VA; Arlington Adult Day Services Center, Arlington, VA; Downtown Clusters Geriatric Day Center, Washington, D.C.; The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Adult Day Services Center/Easterseals of Silver Spring, MD; East County Community Center, Silver Spring, MD; Sacred Heart Home, Hyattsville, MD; Town Center - Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) and Montgomery residence of Rockville, MD. AFTA's artistic faculty, along with older adult participants with works featured in the exhibition spoke from the heart about the joy of self-expression and new friendships made through AFTA programs. Karla Kombrink talked about the renewed sense of purpose that she never had before; how she looks forward to the arts participation we offer because it combats the loneliness many older adults feels as they become less agile or mobile in the aging process. Photos from the night can be found here.