LMCC Creative Learning Grant: Across Generations: @ Carter Burden and La Corsi
What is aging? What are our feelings around death, illness, ability, and identity?
From the end of September to December 19, 2019 several practice groups met on a weekly basis to move in collective and share in a discourse around race and aging.
The project consisted of 2 groups of non-seniors adding up to 10+ people: a POC majority with mixed abilities. And 2 groups of East Harlem POC seniors with 8+ seniors who were consistent in the 8 weeks and 30+ others who came in and out of the classes over the 8 weeks. Shortly after the first couple weeks it became apparent that it would be near impossible to schedule a shared weekly time between generations. That said, as a whole, we were able to meet for a handful of intergenerational gatherings.
The practice spaces created a shared space to emerge in our fullness in our movement and shared conversations around illness, death, vitality, resistance and histories. We shared about our intergenerational relationships and found ways to recommit and deepen our connection to intergenerational relationships in our lives. During the final community share on December 19, those of us able to attend in the evening were able to share movement and stories of ourselves and others in the group not present around some yummy anise tea that Kimberly brought. All in all, the project felt like a wonderful opening for the Parcon Resilience community to connect "Across Generations."
Thank you LMCC and the Creative Learning grant for making this possible! The project was impactful and planted the seeds in our community for meaningful intergenerational anti-racist conversation and movement exploration to occur. Senior PR classes will continue with the La Corsi seniors in East Harlem on Mondays from 10:30a-11:30a, all are welcome to attend. Stay tuned for general open classes.
Sample inquiries from Intergenerational gatherings:
What is your felt sense of the 80’s or the 2035? Country of origin or American.
Our first warm up was by moving to the beautiful music of the Social hour club at Carter burden. They invited us in and we danced and played instruments to their salsa music.
After that we sought to find our felt sense for random objects we touched and tried to convey to an observer who had not seen the choice. The whole room of a dozen participants laughed and played with trying to figure out ways to express the qualities of an object through movement.
Then we moved to things that we tasted like fruit or milk. And finally to the prompts above…all while continuing to move to salsa music!
What is home? What is leaving home?
We used our core as our home and our limbs and body parts as things that could come to it or leave it. After warming up we played with our chairs being a place to return to and to leave. Then we all held onto the stick and left our home and shared with the group why we left. We ended class with fruit and drawing of our homes to share with each other.
What pulled you away or what pushed you away from home?
This was an amazing class. After warming up, we moved by pretending to pull each other’s body parts in various directions from a string. Then we drew pictures about why we left home. People shared so much of themselves. Elopements, escaping domestic violence, seeking opportunity where there were no jobs in their home country. Each person found a means into expressing themselves through the movement. We physicalized our pull away from home by using a stick that they actually pulled on.
Take aways: I want to support the seniors to : a. develop more grounding in their bodies to the earth and to objects and to each other b. understand the importance of ‘informed’ consent in people being able to go with you. c. Create a safe space for the seniors to share their stories…especially if they are intense or traumatic.
TESTIMONY:
Participating in Across Generations gave me a greater awareness to my external body’s relationship to my internal self and to the space around me. This awareness was integrated in my everyday life as I moved around the city. While participating I paid increased attention to how I "othered" people due to differences in age, ability, and identity, and how that othering manifested in my body and in relationship to them. For example, I could feel my physical anxieties about aging and mortality as I interacted with elders in my family over the holidays, and how that physical awareness led to a disconnection with them - an awareness that then could be used to remedy this disconnection.
Lisa Ko
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Across Generations is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Learning, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by LMCC.