To celebrate the United Nations International Day of Older Persons, older LGBQTIA people are taking part in The Creative Age globally
BY MAGDA KACZMARSKA, IMAGE BY HILARY BROWN-ISTREFI
It’s November 2022 and, in the heart of Jackson Heights, Queens, one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse areas in New York City, members of the Queens Center for Gay Seniors are coming together to dance. The class starts with just three people, but grows quickly. It is a mixed bunch, many identifying as LGBTQIA elders and others as allies, almost all first-generation or second-generation immigrants. Now it’s September 2024 and 11 members of this cohesive group of almost 30 are preparing for a debut, international performance of a dance they choreographed together. Let’s Move the World is inspired by their reflections on community and the sense of inclusivity the group has fostered together. This two-year journey has been transformative for many.
As a dancer, Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health and founding director of arts and health non-profit DanceStream Projects, I had created this dance and storytelling program anticipating the role dance can play in promoting brain health and wellbeing. Gathered around a table of chocolate zucchini bread recently, I listened to Rainbow Stories class members as they reflected on their shared experience, saying how dance helps them navigate their individual ageing journeys.
Social connection is one thing, as 72-year-old Aleksandra “Ola” Nosel shared: “We are more open. More open than we were before, right? This is very important for me. Because I am from another country that was not open. And especially this program, you teach us to be more open.”
The physical impact, often leading to improved mental wellbeing, is another. Barbara Moss, performing with us at the age of 77, adds: “One of the things about real health is that the thing to encourage it in our bodies is movement and exercise. Dancing not only helps your body, but it helps your whole demeanour. Dancing makes me happy more than any other activity.”
It’s taken a couple of months for Let’s Move the World to take shape, before it is performed online as part of The Creative Age, a programme of sharing between groups in the US, UK, South Africa and Brazil co-produced by Re-Live, based in Cardiff, Wales. This sense of collective purpose channelled to create a dance together feels meaningful and unique to this group and stands out to them from other programs they engage in. Grounded in a vulnerability and collective trust they have cultivated, our group emphasises that they feel like a family, proud of this sense that both newcomers and experienced members feel able to contribute openly.
In making the dance we will perform on 1 October; we focused in on that inclusivity and cohesiveness contrasting it with how the group felt before or outside the dance group and how they feel now. Constance V joined the group recently at 82-years-old and uses a motorised wheelchair. Despite being a longtime member of the Queens Center for Gay Seniors, she had been reluctant to join the dance group out of a concern she wouldn’t be accepted, but now says: “You didn’t make me feel like I couldn’t belong. And I love you. I miss dancing. I miss walking. But the feeling is there. I’m a creative writer. With the creative writing and the creative dance, for me it meshed.”
As someone who identifies as a lesbian and queer and approaching my 42nd birthday, I am humbled and honoured to collaborate with this community. They help me transform my own perspectives on what it means to age. Members of the class don’t identify with the number of their age focusing instead on how they feel when they dance and perform (“alive”, “like I’m flying”, “vivid”). Drawing from the supportive energy of the group, even participants who identify as shy and nervous to try something new, surprise themselves about how comfortable they feel performing.
In the group’s meeting room in Queens, the conversation ends with Robert “Bob” Misa, who is 85, proclaiming loudly “We won’t be forgotten!” Quick as a flash, Constance replies: “Honey, they’ll never forget me!”
The Creative Age takes place on Tue 1 October 2024, the United Nations International Day of Older Persons, between 16:00 – 17:00 BST. Co-produced by Re-Live and Global Brain Health Institute, free tickets for available now via Eventbrite.
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