Photo: Katy, age 90: Resilience after the first pandemic winter. This image speaks for all of us.
by Greacian Goeke October 2022
A Note from the Editor: Sections of this article are included in a chapter of “Texts on Theory and Practice of Orff-Schulwerk, Volume III: The Role of Movement and Dance in Orff-Schulwerk,” edited by Barbara Haselbach and forthcoming in 2023 from the International Orff-Schulwerk Forum Salzburg and Pentatonic Press. The chapter focuses on older adults and is co-written with Andrea Ostertag, Christine Shönherr, Insuk Lee and Sr. Joannita (Hyeon-Kyeong Kweon).
“We dance together. We are together.”- Twyla Tharp
Origins
“Impromptu No Tutu Movement Ensemble” began in 2008 as a movement improvisation class I taught at Albany Senior Center near Berkeley, CA. A center member had admired my “Art of Play” t-shirt (designed by Susan Kennedy for the 2007 AOSA National Conference in San Jose) and said, “We need a class like that!” Before I knew it, I had a time slot, a beautiful movement space and five women who were ready to play. I’ve since learned how hard it can be to start something new in a community center, so this was pure luck, sparked by the gorgeous t-shirt design.
Spontaneously named by a class member, Carol Guenot, the class has evolved over the past 15 years into a committed group of twelve to twenty creative collaborators meeting weekly, always embracing new members and intermittent participants. The name “Impromptu No Tutu” expresses our inclusive “dance as you are” philosophy: all ages and abilities are welcome, no special costumes needed. Men have rarely attended though they are always welcome. Our ages range from 59 to 90+ and we include retired and non-retired writers, painters, social workers, nurses, librarians, scientists, and even Orff teachers!
The development of this group has fulfilled my long-held dream to create an older women’s dance ensemble to show the world what dance in later life can be. It is built on the humanistic Orff Schulwerk philosophy of nurturing joyful creativity in every person. While the “No Tutu” class began as a laboratory for my own ideas, now it is a creative cauldron fired by the imaginations of all participants. Orff training has equipped me well to invite many women who did not view themselves as dancers into movement. Others had danced in college or earlier and resonated immediately with my approach, regaining their joy and freedom in movement.
Pandemic Adaptations
“No Tutu” has continued to meet weekly, uninterrupted, during the pandemic years of 2020 and forward, shifting to Zoom when the senior center closed down. For the past year we have been meeting outdoors in spacious Blake Garden in Kensington, CA. I have no doubt that moving together in community has kept us alive during the stresses of the ongoing pandemic. We remain energized by our mission to embody the crescendo of life, inviting all generations to dance. Time slows down and we can savor life more fully. As older movers we are present to all that is and all that can be lost.
A Pillar of Our Practice: Ikebana Dance
Inspired by ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, this dance exploration emerged from participants’ ideas, and has become an important ongoing tradition in our group. Before “No Tutu” class one day, Alice was telling Louise about her latest ikebana arrangement, using her hands and arms to show how she creates contrasts with the carefully chosen array of branches, flowers, leaves, pods and tendrils. Alice has studied ikebana for over 20 years. She came to it after the sudden death of her husband, and it is a creative wellspring in her life as a widow.
Louise watched the play of Alice’s arms in space and exclaimed, “It’s a dance!” By the time they came into class they had a plan: Alice would create an Ikebana arrangement and we would use its form as an inspiration for movement improvisation, a kind of notation. This idea was immediately embraced by the class and we held our first “Ikebana Dance” the next week. I chose koto (Japanese zither) and flute music to alternate with silence as we responded in movement to the arrangement which I had placed on a table in the center of the room. It was exciting to discover that all the design elements of ikebana are present in dance and music and vice versa: symmetry/asymmetry, straight lines and curved, staccato/legato, near and far, small and large, levels, directions, separation and connection, positive and negative space. These are art forms whose languages entwine.
Our class meetings begin with a tradition of “shedding burdens” through movement and sound and then silently dedicating our movement that day to a person, idea or event. This sets an introspective tone that allows movers to listen within and start with impulses from each moment. Working with the visual inspiration of ikebana then deepens internal responses and the movement becomes a meditation. We might start by walking around and viewing the arrangement up close from all angles, reflecting the smallest details of shape, line and texture. As we move farther back, duets arise as the dancers reflect juxtapositions of the plant materials. These transforming shapes alternate with stillness. It is valuable to have half the group watch at various points. Rotating movement leaders allows the group to acknowledge each person’s presence and unique expressive vocabulary. Later, groups of dancers reflect a particular view of the arrangement, moving into an interconnected shape. We also play with the dancers as ikebana elements with one designer who creates a large group tableau. The experience of “Ikebana Dance” has given our group a new awareness that anything can be an inspiration and score for moving—the lines in a room, patterns on clothing, garden pathways, city sounds–in much the same way young Orff students learn to use whatever is at hand as an instrument.
We have held “Ikebana Dance” twice a year, when indoors, and now, since the pandemic, we meet in a vast natural landscape that inspires us in new ways. Like Haiku poetry, ikebana responds to the seasons and allows us to immerse in time passing in an aesthetic and emotional way. Class members have commented that dancing to ikebana has sharpened their attention to the intricate, infinite details of plants and flowers and has brought them closer to the cycles of the nature and each other. They find it totally natural to dance in the garden, echoing the forms of trees, plant groupings, hedges and a reflecting pool. The “No Tutus” are well versed in Rudolf Laban’s eight “effort action drives” and archetypal shapes (ball, wall, spiral and arrow) and enjoy analyzing ikebana and the garden through these lenses as a way of expanding their movement responses. With abundant natural materials at hand in the garden we have all started to design small arrangements or mandalas for dancing, scattered through the environment.
It is meaningful to our group that Alice shares her creative passion with us, broadening our movement repertoire and introducing an artistic practice and music from Japan. The group knows that if anyone has an inspiration they are welcome to bring it to class for us to explore. Poetry, artworks, recipes, masks, colors, bird calls, and a wide range of props inspire our movement. When working with older adults there is always long life experience to draw from, and these diverse, personal contributions deepen the content of the class and strengthen bonds among members. Our group looks forward to a post-pandemic time when we can return to senior centers and schools to share our joy in movement, particularly the “Ikebana Dance” exploration, with the broader community.
*Third Age theory: https://thirdagecommunity.weebly.com/basics.html
Below are some of the traditions of our group that have evolved over the past 15 years:
Opening:
- Baggage at the Border: In movement and sound, we shed heaviness and troubles, release them to the sky
- Silent Dedication: Dedicate your movement that day to a person, idea or group you wish to honor (Kaethe introduced us to this practice)
- Dancing for absent members
- Emotional Weather Report (inspired by Tom Waits’s song by the same name): Brief mood check-in through words and movement from each person echoed by the group
- Molecule Dance (free radicals moving in the cosmos) Enter the energy field of another, interact, spin away.
- Reflections: “Haiku-length” phrases woven into a group movement sequence
Closing:
- Touch earth; touch sky; gesture toward everyone around the circle; embrace self with “butterfly hug” (a soothing gesture contributed by Kaethe from her trauma work with children)
Statements from “No Tutu” participants:
We have evolved more deeply through movement than through discussions.
What stands out to me is the joy that the Schulwerk instills in people of any age. We connect on an artistic and a personal level and come away renewed.
“Yes we can!” We are free to move and dance regardless of our age.
No Tutu has given me joy in the moment like nothing else can. Freedom from worry about the difficulties of aging.
Dancing, I feel younger, whether or not my body can move the way I imagine the movement in my head. My brain blends what my body can do and what my mind imagines.
This is an opportunity to truly move freely, without sensing any judgment, expectation, pressure or anxiety to “perform” or accomplish anything.
I have new ranges of freedom of expression even as my body evolves into a smaller range of motion and slower pace.
WHEN I DANCE I AM MORE
A “No Tutu” group poem inspired by Cosi Fabian’s poem “Qadesha”
When I dance worlds crumble
When I dance worlds rebuild
When I dance my garden grows
When I dance I float in the waves
When I dance the trees dance with me
When I dance my pain takes a holiday
When I dance my soul opens
When I dance I forget my worries
When I dance my world expands
When I dance I see colors
When I dance the sky deepens
When I dance pelicans fly
When I dance I am more
When I dance I am
Acknowledgements
With gratitude to Alice Yang, Louise Donleavy, Kaethe Weingarten, Beth MacLeod, Jutta Wiemhoff, and all past, present and future members of Impromptu No Tutu for your fearless commitment to creativity and growth. – Greacian Goeke
A basic Orff toolkit for working with older adults:
Resources and Publications for teachers interested in working with older adults:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TfaU7XyGamHpqztjFLTqDJhsSA39dpET?usp=sharing
Greacian Goeke is a former president of NCAOSA, also the original editor of the PlayNotes magazine. She is a movement and music specialist working with all ages.
Follow Impromptu No Tutu’s photo journal on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreacianGoekeImpromptuNoTutu/
Greacian Goeke ggoeke@mac.com
All are welcome to join our weekly Friday class, 10:15 – 11:30 am in Blake Garden, Kensington.
More info on Dancers‘ Group listing:
https://dancersgroup.org/2020/06/free-to-move-expressive-movement-for-full-heath-and-resilience/
NCAOSA PlayNotes 