Today was the second session of PALETTE in Motion. I couldn’t wait to enter the same judge-free-zone I had left two weeks earlier. The friendly and supportive atmosphere achieved during the first session had relieved all of my initial hesitations about dancing in front of strangers; I had quickly learned that no matter if you were a student or senior volunteer, we were all entering unknown territory and accepting the challenge at hand. I spent all morning anxiously awaiting the mid-afternoon movement arts class that I knew would make me feel joyous both mentally and physically. As I entered the dance studio today, I was excited to see new and returning faces.
Our task today was to move beyond spontaneous movements in order to try our hand at choreographed movements. The eye contact and coordinated actions required during the various exercises allowed me to connect with my groupmates on a deeper level than if we had simply talked amongst ourselves. My three person team composed of one senior volunteer, another student volunteer, and myself worked together to create a brief movement sequence – complete with a beginning, middle, and end. Our final product was achieved by giving equal consideration to each other’s ideas and communicating effectively. I noticed that the senior member of our group exuded confidence as all three of us engaged in this unknown world of choreography; not to mention, she had a huge smile on her face the entire time. After we completed our routine, we watched the performance of two student volunteers grouped with a senior volunteer of limited mobility. It was beautiful to watch as the two student volunteers structured their movements such that they framed the senior member dancing in the middle of the trio. I left today’s class feeling rejuvenated for the second time in a row. I only hope that I am as brave and confident as the current senior members when I’m old enough to be a senior member. Despite having only been with these wonderful senior ladies for such a short amount of time, they have taught me to never stop challenging myself, never underestimate myself, and most importantly, never stop having fun!
Kayla Miller, graduate student in Pharmacy
Today was the first PALETTE in Motion class and it was an experience that was completely different from what I expected. Because I am a pharmacy student, I do not participate in classes like this at all so it was a great change from the normal class setting. But beyond learning in a different style than lecturing, the PALETTE in Motion class showed me how I can learn about the older population through movement. All of the PALs that attended the class came in with a positive attitude and an openness to learn. My PAL, Alice, was vibrant and talkative from the moment we all sat down next to each other. All of the other seniors were also very excited to do different warm up exercises and flex their creative muscles. More than anything, they seemed to enjoy doing something that most of them were not used to. They were able to step outside their comfort zone.
Today was an extremely successful first movement based session of PALETTE in Motion. The class began with a brief introduction in which all participants sat in a circle. Sitting in a circle was a great way to ease everyone into the program because it automatically developed a sense of equality and community between senior, participant, dancer, and coordinator. From there, Melanie led us through a warm up that explored all parts of the body from the muscles in the face to grounding down through our legs. It was interesting to see the progression of the class; how everyone started out reserved and as time went on, personalities shined through. Sharing movement with a group of people who do not “study” dance was extremely humbling.
apprehension as no one really knew what to expect from this experience. This is the first time movement art classes are being offered through the PALETTE program and I am excited to be a part of this inaugural class. As I conversed with fellow participants before the start of class, I realized that regardless of our different backgrounds and experiences, we were all starting on the same page today. We were all a little nervous about what was to come, but also excited to be experiencing something new. The older adult sitting next to me commented about never being too old to try something new. I think this is true on many levels. For all of us today, trying something new was participating in a movement class without really knowing what that meant. As a child, it was learning to walk instead of crawl. As an older adult, it may be picking up a new hobby after retirement.
The first class today was a bit different than I had expected; I was thinking we would be having a dance class, where Melanie and the dance students would be teaching how to count music, showing positions, teaching basic movements, etc. However, I was surprised and excited to find out that the class was much more centered on individual creativity and improvisation. I was also very surprised how creative and unreserved the seniors danced. I had a preconceived notion before class that the older adults would be a bit shy, move a bit slower and wouldn’t be able to do some of the more advanced movements the students could do. I quickly found out this ageist opinion was very incorrect; overall the older adults were so much more free and energetic than the students! As I was dancing with my PAL, she was the one coming up with the quick, more advanced movements that I couldn’t keep up with! It was quite an eye-opener and it almost completely caused the generational-gap to disappear.