“Aging in Space” is a free, community-engaged, intergenerational exploratory movement project that began in the Fall of 2024. It is led by local choreographer and UNCG School of Dance Professor Janet Lilly and is held in collaboration with CVPA community partner, the Creative Aging Network-NC (CAN-NC).
The project is a series of creative movement workshops that celebrate the embodied experiences of movers over sixty years of age. The workshops are designed for all movers including artists, athletes, dancers, and anyone who likes to exercise their body and their imagination.
Each of the sessions begins with a simple warm-up in which participants work on balance and mobility while also noticing their interior and exterior spatial awareness through movement. The warm-up is then followed by creative prompts that tap into the participant’s memories and imaginations. Other activities include creating memory mappings that are used as spatial pathways for solo and group improvised dances, as well as creating movement inspired by words and images from a favorite poem.
Participants are in various stages of aging with a wide span of prior movement experiences. Jean Burns Pudlo likes how the workshop activities exercise both mind and body, which she feels is beneficial:
“I enjoyed the mental work of figuring out how to represent a poem in movement and enjoyed the movement overall. Laughter was involved, as were some ‘ooh’s and ah’s!’”
Julie Burke, Associate Professor Emeritus of Guilford College, says she was “overjoyed at the opportunity to take Professor Lilly’s class this past fall.” As a former modern dancer and creative movement instructor herself, it had been a long while since Burke attempted to start moving again:
“Janet facilitated comfort and support through her ability both to clarify and to leave open the possibilities of creating pieces within each of our abilities. For example, we were asked to make shapes and then interact within each other’s shapes, taking up and enclosing spaces. This was quite an intimate activity, and yet each of us participated to our comfort levels with both physical proximity and personal interpretations of the instruction. Janet was very responsive to the concerns of each participant and was able to modify instruction and expectations in the moment. I loved the class and hope that there will be another one soon!”
Professor Lilly is planning to offer more “Aging in Space” workshops at CAN-NC this year.
Story by Caitlyn Schrader
Photo credit: Janet Lilly
