Images courtesy of Ellen Bromberg
From Vicky Shick:
My 60s:
I feel quite lucky to be able to be still dancing, still teaching, still performing and still making pieces. I feel more adventurous and less worried about riskier undertakings - not that I don’t fret. Performed with two choreographers with whom I had not yet worked (Andrea Kleine and Aynsley Vandenbroucke). I pretty much will do anything that anyone invites me to do - cherishing work in this 7th decade! Was able to tour a piece with 11 dancers—14 of us went on the road. Have a new wonderful crew of dancers - mostly women. Traveled to Angers, France to make a duet with former Cunningham dancer Robert Swinston. I am getting involved in more informal, improvisatory events in alternate spaces working with Meg Harper, Jon Kinzel and Cathy Weis.
From Douglas Nielsen:
My 60s:
Just before turning 60, I was honored with recognition that came as a complete surprise – on both coasts - West and East. It almost made me sense my dance life was over – like a memorial or something: the 2003 Lester Horton Dance Educator Award for excellence in teaching, and the 2007 American Dance Festival Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching. Soon after that I was asked by a stranger sitting next to me on a plane: “What do you do?”. I answered, “I’m a teacher." I had never said that before – always said I was a dancer, or a choreographer – but never said first and foremost that I was a "teacher."
Clocking in now, at this writing, @ 66 – I just received a letter from Social Security that clearly states “You have reached your full retirement age." Yet, I don’t feel it – feel like "retiring." It’s all so abstract – and relative to the moment.
From Stephen Koester:
The dancer I am today is one that I would never have imagined in my youth. Careers in dance are surprises to unwarp.
From Ellen Bromberg:
I now understand that the creative impulse supersedes obstacles, truly like water on its way to the sea. The important thing is to keep that energy moving inside, and the flow finds its way. I feel grateful to be old enough to hold this knowledge, and yet young enough to continue to develop my work, in whatever form it manifests. I’ve made dance films, I design video for live performances, and I’ve even started choreographing again, making site-specific works that engage space and time in differing ways. I continue to struggle with my physical body, but rather than be the direct vehicle of my work, it acts like a tuning fork that guides me in defining the energetic fields in which I am most alive and resonant. I learned this from dance and in this way I still feel deeply connected to my dancing self.
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